All members of the European Travel Retail Confederation (ETRC) active in the manufacturing or retailing of alcohol have now confirmed their commitment to the Duty Free World Council (DFWC) Self-Regulatory Code of Conduct for the sale of alcohol in duty free and travel retail.

 

This follows the decision at the June 2017 AGM to replace the former ETRC Alcohol Code of Conduct with the DFWC Code, developed by DFWC in close cooperation with its regional associations.

 

In addition, ETRC is engaging with its national and regional associations to ‘spread the spirit and values’ of the DFWC Code across Europe and to actively promote its adoption by their own members.

 

“ETRC is confident its members will take a proactive and responsible approach in their endeavours to comply with the provisions of the DFWC Code,” says the confederation.

 

“The alcohol category is under increasing scrutiny by regulators in Europe, with calls for textual and pictorial health warnings, structural separation in shops and restrictions on sales to name a few.”

 

DEFENDING THE INDUSTRY

ETRC says that the new code of conduct has been designed to respond to those challenges and to complement any existing codes and guidelines being followed by individual alcohol manufacturing companies and other bodies.

 

“We strongly believe that the DFWC Code will be a valuable tool when defending any future challenges to the industry both regionally and globally and will help demonstrate the unique nature of duty free and travel retail,” said Erik Juul-Mortensen, Vice President Brands of ETRC and Vice President of DFWC.

 

“It will also show that efficient self-regulatory rules are already in place in our retail channel, hence the importance of strict compliance by the industry.”

 

“The DFWC Code is now the only code of conduct for the sale of alcohol in the duty free and travel retail industry globally providing a unique standard for the promotion of responsible retailing and demanding the highest degree of responsibility and ethics from both retailers and suppliers operating in this channel,” added Frank O’Connell, President of DFWC.

 

“In addition, DFWC is currently in discussion with APTRA with a view to adapting their Responsible Training Programme for use by a global audience and providing additional support for the implementation of the Code within our industry.”

 

The DFWC Self-Regulatory Code of Conduct for the Sale of Alcohol Products in Duty Free & Travel Retail, can be obtained at this link:

http://dfworldcouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/DFWC-Global-Code-of-Conduct-Alcohol-final.pdf