With 2021 drawing to a close, the drafting and delivery of the second implementation report to spiritsEUROPE’s Memorandum of Understanding on consumer information – the MoU - is just around the corner. The sector committed to an ambitious 50% labelling objective to be reached by the end of 2021 – this includes the back-label of spirits drinks bottles for energy per portion and 100 ml, language free, and extensive on-line information. To deliver on the on-line commitment, companies and regulators alike were looking forward to see a digital solution that would allow companies of all sizes, members of an EU or national trade association or not, to create QR Codes via which information on nutrients and ingredients, but also sustainability credentials, could be accessed via smart phones. The launch of the U-Label platform on 30 September 2021, was therefore highly appreciated and marks an important milestone in spiritsEUROPE’s delivery on the MoU.
As digital consumer information is new to some but not all spirits drinks producers, spiritsEUROPE will facilitate peer to peer information sessions on a monthly basis. Active users of the U-Label platform will show how they create their digital labels and will – together with the staff of the spiritsEUROPE secretariat – answer questions.
We expect that digital consumer information will be in full swing as of now and look forward to scanning QR-codes in supermarkets across the EU. The second implementation report, to be finalised before the summer 2022, will indeed provide facts and figures and will guide our sector towards the future.
