The third Plenary Meeting of the European Commission's Alcohol and Health Forum, took place on 13th November 2008.

The full report as well as presentations given during the meeting can be found here

The report of the Rapporteur, Ms Renate Sommer (EPP-Ed, DE), on the proposal for a regulation on the provision of food information to consumers is now available in English.

In her report, Ms Sommer proposes to exempt from the obligation to provide information on ingredients and nutritional values, alcoholic mixed beverages, liqueur wines, sparkling wines, aromatised wines and similar products obtained from fruits other than grapes and fruit beer.

An independent review carried out by KPMG of the alcohol industry social responsibility standards found that voluntary agreements are not being followed.It also found evidence of poor practice in the way alcohol is promoted.

26 November 2008. The European Spirits Organisation – CEPS today presented its third annual report documenting members’ progress on their social responsibility commitments. The CEPS Charter implementation report highlights industry activities to tackle alcohol related harm in Europe from August 2007 to July 2008.

The Parliament’s report calls for the Council to reduce traveller allowances by 50% (i.e. 5 litres of spirit drinks, 10 litres of intermediate products, 45 litres of wines and 55 litres of beer) and rejects the possibility that private individuals have alcoholic beverages transported on their behalf from another EU Member State and still be exempted from paying taxes in the country where the goods will be consumed.

From the 1st of July 2009, Sweden will for six moths hold the presidency of the EU. As it did in 2001, Sweden will have alcohol on the agenda.

The third Plenary Session of the Alcohol and Health Forum was held in Brussels on Thursday 13th November.

As part of the preparatory work for the release of a Global Strategy to reduce alcohol related harm, the WHO will hold a round table meeting with NGOs and health professionals on 24-25 November 2008 in the WHO headquarters in Geneva.

In particular, the Resolution notes that:

1. Although on the whole the health of young people in Europe is satisfactory, certain fields are of particular concern such as nutrition, physical activity, alcohol abuse, sexual and mental health;

2. Particular attention should be paid to promoting a healthy lifestyle and preventive measures, especially in the context of sexual activity, alcohol abuse and drug use, smoking, eating disorders, obesity, violence, gambling and addiction to information and communication technologies;

Eurocare welcomes the initiative of the WHO in coordinating a global response to reducing alcohol related harm.

Deadline for submissions has been extended to 15th November
http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/activities/hearing/en/index.html

To read the full response sent in by Eurocare click here

See also some of the contributions sent by Eurocare members: IAS, IOGT-NTO, NORDAN, STAP. Actis