|
CIAA welcomes German deposit review
Risk management, stock price drive sustainability
EU to spend 166m euros on food research
Trade
CIAA welcomes German deposit
review
European food and drinks industry
body, the CIAA, has welcomed the European Commission’s decision to test
the legality of Germany’s controversial deposit system for “one-way”
drinks containers, mainly cans and plastics bottles.
The EC believes Germany’s system
may breach EU law that bans discrimination against imports from member
countries. German retailers are reluctant to stock imported single-serve
drinks, up to 95% of which are packed in “single-trip” containers,
because they bear the cost of disposing of them. As a result, they have
restocked goods packed in refillable containers, mostly from local
suppliers.
“Imports of carbonated soft
drinks, water and beer have therefore significantly decreased and the
choice of German consumers is consequently limited,” the CIAA said.
EC internal market commissioner
Fritz Bolkestein said he isn’t against the deposit system. But after
months of discussions with the German authorities, a national collection
and disposal system is still not in place, and that this created an
indirect barrier to trade for non-German drinks suppliers.
Germany has two months to respond
to the EC’s formal request for information. If the commission is
unsatisfied with the response, it could send a formal request for changes
to the system. If Germany does not comply, it could take the case to the
European Court of Justice.
Sustainability
Risk management, stock price drive
sustainability
Less risk and a winning run-up in
the share price are the main reasons for operating a business on a
sustainable basis. Environmental concerns are way down the list.
These insights come from a survey
of members of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
just out. The council has 170 members from 30 countries and includes most
global brand owners.
In terms of selling sustainability
internally, respondents risk reduction ranked top with 39% of the vote,
followed by market opportunities (19%) and operational efficiency and
effectiveness (18%). Other factors were enhancement of brand and creation
of goodwill (13%), recruitment & retention of talent (6%), and
protecting the resource base of raw materials (6%).
Two-thirds believe that operating
“sustainably” would lead to a high share price compared to its
competitors within five years. One in 10 said it doesn’t hurt the share
price, and 9% said their share price had already improved.
Although about one in five said
their top managers bang the sustainability drum constantly, half said they
don’t do it consistently. A third were sceptical about their bosses’
real motives.
Research
EU to spend 166m euros on food
research
The European Commission is to fund
36 projects to the tune of 166m euros to research quality and safety of
the complete food chain. This follows a call for research proposals in
July.
The EU said many diseases and
disorders prevalent in Europe can be linked to diet, genetic make-up and
lifestyle. Two projects will look at how to prevent human degenerative
diseases. The first will explore how diet can promote healthy ageing. The
EU hopes this will improve quality of life for the elderly, cut public
health costs by preventing nutrition-related diseases, and encourage
development of nutritionally-balanced food products for the elderly.
The second project will study the
nutritional impact of zinc, which is known to control the development and
function of the immune cells, and helps to maintain genomic integrity and
stability. However, ageing decreases the intake of zinc and causes
frailty, general disability and more age-related degenerative diseases
such as cancer.
Other projects will focus on the
formation and effects of acrylamide in heat-treated carbohydrate-rich
foods and aim to improve animal welfare. More details are at http://ftp.cordis.lu/pub/food/docs/p5_1c_overview_en.pdf.
Price of knowledge approaches zero
If the representatives of the
European research institutes who met yesterday in Berlin follow through,
access to knowledge could drop to the cost of an Internet call.
The Berlin Declaration on Open
Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities says "Our
organisations are interested in the further promotion of the new open
access paradigm to gain the most benefit for science and society.
Therefore, we intend to make progress by encouraging our researchers/grant
recipients to publish their work according to the principles of the open
access paradigm."
The move follows the open systems
movement in the information technology industry. This has seen a rapid and
massive development and improvement of software based on the “free”
Linux operating system, and “free” content on the Internet.
"The Internet now offers the
chance to constitute a global and interactive representation of human
knowledge, including cultural heritage and the guarantee of worldwide
access," says the declaration.
Under the declaration, readers may
access, copy, and distribute research papers freely, subject to proper
attribution of authorship. Rather than charge readers to access research,
researchers pay open-access publishers to publish their results.
Signatories include all major
research institutes in Germany and France, and others in Europe, including
Norway and Hungary. US research firms are still studying a similar
document and plan to discuss a response in April 2004. This delay probably
reflects the fact that in the US much funding comes from private sources
that have a commercial interest in the results.
Click here for the Berlin
Declaration and here for the list
of signatories.
|
McDonald’s
boss Jim Cantaloupo has been careful not to throw out the baby with the
bathwater. Following massive changes to its menu, its ingredients and its
marketing message after its first-ever loss, the world’s top fast food
chain has bounced back with record earnings per share of 43 cents, up 13%
on the previous period.