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The Supply Chain Initiative - one step closer to fair and efficient markets

At a special event in Brussels on 16 September 2013, The Supply Chain Initiative was formally launched in the presence of 150 representatives from manufacturers, retailers, the European Commission and the European Parliament. On the day of the launch 82 manufacturers and retailers from across the EU had already supplied letters of intent confirming their intention to register as signatories. Taking into account the subsidiaries of the international groups this means that as much as 457 operating companies are signed up.

Roger Scarlett-Smith, President of AIM – the European Brands Association, said: “Brand manufacturers want to conduct their business with suppliers and customers on the basis of fairness. By adhering to the Supply Chain initiative’s simple principles of good business practice, manufacturers, suppliers and retailers should be able to devote their time to better meeting the needs of shoppers, as opposed to managing resolutions to business disputes. This is why our European trade association AIM and so many of us have been strong supporters of this initiative from Day 1.”

In their interventions at the launch event the representatives from the European institutions expressed their support for The Initiative (on the photo above MEP Anna Maria Corazza Bildt gives an interview after her intervention).

In a comment to the launch of The Supply Chain Initiative AIM’s Director General Alain Galaski said: “The Initiative is now open for registration, and we encourage all our members in the food supply chain to sign up. To make it as easy as possible for companies to engage we have developed a number of tools including an e-learning module. A link can be found on the website of the initiative together with all other relevant information about registration and how The Initiative operates”.