On 24 July, WFA announced a set of voluntary commitments to the European Commission detailing the areas of activity in which WFA would engage to help tackle the challenges raised by the EU Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health.

 

The European Commission had requested that members of the EU Platform submit ‘Action Plans’ outlining ‘Voluntary Commitments’ that they are prepared to make in the framework of the Platform.

 

As a founding member of the EU Platform, WFA is committed to the cooperative and action-oriented approach that the Platform seeks to foster in relation to tackling obesity.

 

The WFA Action Plan 2007 has been drafted to detail both the extension of existing activities and the development of new initiatives, while setting clear targets for the implementation of these commitments. These activities constitute a significant increase in resources beyond the baseline activities and the voluntary commitments underlined in the Action Plan 2006.

 

The submissions outline WFA’s areas of activity with regard to advertising, focusing on four main areas:

1. Establishing effective advertising self-regulation across the European Union

2. Implementing and monitoring food and beverage advertising Codes of Practice

3. Teaching media literacy

4. Facilitating a social marketing campaign designed to promote healthy lifestyles

 

Information about WFA commitments and monitoring reports are available on the Platform database at: http://forum.europa.eu.int/Members/irc/sanco/dietphact/library

 

In addition to the WFA Action Plan 2007, a list of actions in the field of marketing communications taken by individual WFA corporate members has been included as an Annex. This is not an exhaustive list of actions but serves to demonstrate how some individual companies are responding to the challenges highlighted by the Platform process.

 

A full copy of the document can be downloaded below. For more information please contact w.gilroy@wfanet.org