EFFAT and FoodServiceEurope, the Social Partners in the European contract catering sector, have updated their Agreement on Corporate Social Responsibility and a new text has been signed during the annual Plenary Meeting. With this new agreement the social partners have renewed their commitments in this area.

The initial Agreement on Corporate Social Responsibility in the Contract Catering Sector was signed on 31 January 2007 between EFFAT and FoodServiceEurope (then FERCO). The joint work of the EU social partners has since been based on this Agreement, which reflects the acknowledgment by both parties that contract catering companies are not only responsible for their products and services, but also for the conditions under which these are produced. The agreement therefore sets voluntary minimum standards in a number of suggested areas, such as continuous training, health and safety, food safety and hygiene, working conditions, awarding of contracts in public procurement among many others.

The new Agreement reinforces the Social Partners’ previous commitment and is intended to bring the text up to date taking into account EU developments in this area. While the main purpose of the revision was to update our longstanding agreement, the new text also expands the areas of joint cooperation between the Social Partners to include now as well environmental protection and sustainability considerations. The Social Partners will now also be working to exchange best practices in ensuring that measures taken in contract catering enterprises to improve the environmental protection also take into account the improvement of the working environment where feasible.

As part of our joint cooperation at EU level and to ensure the good implementation of our agreement, EFFAT and FoodServiceEurope will continue to regularly collect and share examples of good CSR practices developed by contract catering enterprises across Europe