Twelve global beer, wine and spirit companies have today formed an alliance with twelve prominent global and regional online retailers, and e-commerce and delivery platforms, who operate across six continents and 100 countries. The aim is to set global standards for the online sale and delivery of alcohol in order toreduce harmful drinking and promote understanding of responsible drinking.
The alliance is part of the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD), headquartered in Washington D.C, which is a not-for-profit organization that actively supports international goals to reduce harmful drinking, including the target in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD) Global Monitoring Framework” of reducing the harmful use of alcohol by at least 10% by 2025 and UnitedNations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.5.
Members include all major brewing groups including AB InBev, Heineken, Carlsberg, Molson Coors, Kirin, Asahi as well as well as leading wine and drinks groups including Diageo, Pernot Ricard, Brown-Forman, Beam Suntory, William Grant & Sons, and Bacardi.
Henry Ashworth, IARD president and CEO, said: “This partnership marks a ground-breaking coalition to develop global standards for the online sale and delivery of alcohol. IARD is proud to be uniting the world’s leading drinks producers with leading online retailers, and e-commerce platforms in raising global standards of responsibility. In coming together, we believe the partnership can facilitate greater change across our wider sectors.”
Albert Baladi, president and CEO of Beam Suntory and chair of IARD CEO Group, said: “By building on safeguards that have already proven effective in certain countries and sharing new solutions and best practices, we can raise standards globally, from the point of purchase through to delivery. We encourage others to join this global collaboration, the first of its kind.”
Heineken said in a statement today to be “proud to be part of a new ground-breaking partnership and the world’s first coalition to develop and enhance safeguards to prevent the online sale and delivery of drinks containing alcohol to minors and to reduce harmful drinking among adults. The global CEOs of 12 leading beer, wine, and spirits companies, online retailers, and e-commerce and delivery platforms are united to set and live up to the highest standards of responsible business practices for customers. Through our joint efforts we are committed to working together to develop global standards as a resource to develop in-country codes that build on local and national regulation.”
