Alcohol Open Forum - 17 April 2008
The Commission has published the first announcement on the ’Open Forum’ to be held on Thursday 17 April 2008. The Open Forum is open to the press as well as non participating organisations. Deadline to register is 21 March 2008 at SANCO-C4-HEALTH-DETERMINANTS@ec.europa.eu. For more information, please consult DG Sanco’s website.
Task Force on Youth-specific aspects of Alcohol - 20-21 February 2008
On 20 February 2008, a workshop was organised to prioritise the work of the Task Force by presenting ’good examples’ in the priority areas of the Task Force. On 21 February 2008, the Task Force continued with a meeting to discuss the issues raised at the workshop. EPHA is a member of this taks force represented by Professor Mark Bellis (Royal College of Physicians). For more information, please consult DG Sanco’s website
Task Force on Marketing Communication - 5 March 2008
Please read the report of the meeting on 11 December 2007 at DG Sanco’s website EPHA is a member of this taks force represented by Professor Gerard Hastings (Royal College of Physicians).
The Task Force will organise a workshop which will take place on 4 March (pm) and 5 March (am). The Workshop will be followed in the afternoon of 5 March by a meeting of the Task Force, with the objective of extracting from the activities presented at the workshop those which would particularly lend themselves for replication or adaptation by Forum members, and translating these into concrete recommendations for commitments.
European Alcohol and Health Forum - Plenary meeting - 17 October 2007
On 17 October 2007, the European Alcohol and Health Forum held its first plenary meeting in Brussels chaired by Robert Madelin, Director General for DG Sanco. Participants were asked to submit the commitments for the forum electronically before 31 December 2007. The different Taks Forces were explained with their role. EPHA will register for membership of the Task Forces by asking its members for expert input. To read the full report, please consult DG Sanco’s website. The next meeting will take place on 16 April 2008 followed by the Open Forum. The next plenary will review a first summary of commitments, discuss the science group, look at the Taks Force reports and review the way forward on consumer education.
Background
On 7 June 2007, a charter establishing the European Alcohol and Health Forum has been signed. Please consult EPHA website to read more on the establishment of the EU Forum. The aim of the platform is to adopt voluntary action to protect children and young people, and to prevent irresponsible commercial alcohol communication and sales. The Forum, an initiative of the European Commission, is to provide a common platform for all interested stakeholders at EU level that aims to reduce alcohol-related harm, especially in the following areas:
strategies aimed at curbing under-age drinking
information and education programmes on the effect of harmful drinking and on responsible patterns of consumption
possible development of efficient common approaches throughout the Community
provide adequate consumer information
actions to better enforce age limits for selling and serving alcohol
interventions promoting effective behavioural change amongst children and adolescents
cooperation to promote responsibility in and prevent irresponsible commercial communication and sales
The Forum is scheduled to meet twice a year in order to evaluate the marches. Once a year an Open Forum will give to non-member organisations the opportunity of working and expressing their opinions to the Forum. Furthermore, the charter foresees the establishment of a Scientific and Peer Review Group. This group, under the request of participants, will give advice and guidance on the matters discussed in the Forum.
In addition, the Forum presents two task forces: the first one, on marketing communication to pursue the work of the Advertising Roundtable 2006; the other one, focused on the drinking habits of young people.
