19-07-2011 EPPA: setting new standards
EPPA works on the development of an European standard for social and environmental responsibility, framed in a so called certifiable ‘code of conduct’. A workteam from companies in our industry is making huge progress. The team consists of Michel van Bavel from Van Bavel Business Gifts (B), Annette Hodde from Giving Europe (NL), Francois Druenne from Midoceanbrands (S/NL), Soeren Langhoff, Managing director of Langhoff Promotion A/S and President of IPPAG (DK) and Cees Martens of PF Concept (NL). As you will know these are experienced names and companies that are active members of our industry. Recently the team had another meeting in which the working model for the code of conduct was agreed. The criteria to include are now fixed e.g human rights and labour practices, the timeline and yearly stages that a company has to meet to continue its certification is set including reporting on the intermediate steps.
In the whole set up off course the supply chain plays an important role. In the end with this code of conduct we will have a recognizable and secured way to show our customers what we do to safeguard their supply chain. That will be your benefit and your customers’ benefit.
We have strong ideas as to how to ensure and verify that, once a company joins in the code of conduct program all criteria and intermediate steps are met and its supply chain is ‘secured’. We will verify the thinking with external parties in the next few months to make final decisions on how to best guarantee compliance.