Dutch food sector boosts sustainability efforts for international production chain

02 Jul 2018 --- Various stakeholders in the Dutch food products sector are joining forces to ensure responsible business conduct in the international production chain. The International Responsible Business Conduct (IRBC Agreement for the Food Products Sector has been signed by a broad coalition made up of sector organizations, including the Dutch Retail Organization (CBL), the Federation of the Dutch Grocery and Food Industry (FNLI), Royal Dutch Spice Association (KNVS), the trade unions FNV and CNV, the Ministers of Foreign Trade and Development and Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, the civil society organizations ICCO, Woord en Daad, Global March Against Child Labour and IDH the Sustainable Trade Initiative. 

The negotiations for the agreement were facilitated by the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER).

The IRBC is intended to foster cooperation throughout the entire chain to minimize the risks of negative impacts such as human rights violations and damage to the environment, thereby working towards increased sustainability in the production chain.

Sigrid Kaag, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation says: “It is a positive development that the sector itself is indicating that it wants to work on sustainability. These agreements need to result in the food sector – from supermarket chains to SMEs – to be stricter on labor conditions, fair wages and climate-conscious production.”

Marinus Verweij, Chair of ICCO notes: “The food products sector is a vast one, with an increased risk of child labor, unsafe working conditions, displacement of small farmers and unfair pricing. With this agreement, we are taking concrete steps towards addressing these human rights violations.”

The Dutch food products sector as a whole has committed to taking the initiative to launch projects in this area. Efforts are also being made to enhance IRBC risk management to prevent problems in the production chain where possible and tackle them where they do occur. All member companies of the CBL, FNLI and KNVS are covered by the Agreement, which has been signed by the sector organizations on behalf of the whole sector. It is the responsibility of these sector organizations to ensure that all member companies identify and respond to these risks. The sector organizations and the companies involved will act in cooperation with the government, trade unions and civil society organizations to address the problems that the companies prove unable to resolve individually.

Joint projects on living wage and climate
This agreement is aimed at helping the sector to make changes in business operations that are required for responsible business conduct in the production chain. The Agreement establishes that in the first year, the parties will launch joint projects on the issues of climate and living wages.

Sixth sector agreement on international RBC
The IRBC Agreement for the Food Products Sector is the sixth IRBC agreement that has been formed. It follows agreements in the textile, banking and gold sectors, which were enacted under the supervision of the SER. Agreements on insurance, pensions, floriculture, natural stone and metallurgy are currently being prepared. The agreements conform to the SER’s 2014 advisory report on International RBC.

FNLI director Marian Geluk concludes: “The IRBC Agreement represents a sector-wide approach to International Responsible Business Conduct. Our sector is sending a strong signal to the world. The Dutch food industry is aware of the challenges that we face beyond our borders and we will tackle them consistently. This is a bold statement from the biggest manufacturing sector in the Netherlands.”