A.I.S.E. Charter for Sustainable Cleaning

Questions and Answers

Structure

General framework and Objectives
Target companies
Advantages
Quality Assurance
Costs

General framework and Objectives

1. Why did A.I.S.E. develop the Charter?
A.I.S.E. has demonstrated through the Code of Good Environmental Practice and the HERA initiative its commitment to the sustainability agenda. The A.I.S.E. Charter has been developed to build on these initiatives and promote and demonstrate continual improvement in the industry's sustainability profile. We believe that industry, through its European association has a leading role to play in promoting best practice sharing on sustainability whilst encouraging innovation and competition. In addition, the Charter also addresses the call from society to be responsible, pro-active and transparent.
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2. Did A.I.S.E. consult any stakeholders prior to launching this initiative and what did they tell?
We have indeed consulted the European Commission (DG Enterprise, DG Health & Consumer Protection, DG Environment), individual Members of the European Parliament, UNEP and some NGObs and independent sustainability consultants. They have all been very receptive about our approach, especially as to the involvement of external verifiers.
With the publication of the A.I.S.E. Annual Sustainability Report (as from 2006 onwards) we will have an excellent opportunity to continue this dialogue with our stakeholders. Any further suggestion we receive will be carefully considered in any updating of the Charter after reviewing its performance and delivery.
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3. What targets, in terms of number of companies adhering to the Charter does A.I.S.E. have? What if only a small number of companies commit to the initiative?
It is an ambitious project which took a few years to develop. We also want to be sure that it is a relevant project, matching the expectations of stakeholders as well as our own members.
We are convinced that the vast majority of our industry will be in a position to implement the principle of sustainability in all their operations in the near future and therefore we will be aiming to persuade many companies, large and small to participate in the Charter. At this stage of the project it would be premature to indicate any target. However, A.I.S.E. aims for a balanced geographical spread (companies from Western and Eastern-Europe) as well as the participation of a high number of small- and medium-sized companies.
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4. What concrete and tangible activities is A.I.S.E. going to provide with the Charter?
We have invested heavily in developing the Charter, including training programmes and we promote it through our National Associations to our companies, at workshops and training seminars. These events offer a good insight and guide the companies, be it household, I&I or SMEs, on implementation.
A.I.S.E. also promotes the use of the best / safe use pictograms and sentences, an important Charter activity aimed at all sections of society. During 2006 A.I.S.E. will start a broader consumer campaign to inform the consumer on the changes in the labelling of our products, required by the Detergent Regulation and the introduction of the Charter logo as well as of these best/safe use pictograms.
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5. How will the annual sustainability report benchmark with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines? Did A.I.S.E. consult GRI on your initiative and what was their reaction? Will A.I.S.E. write the report itself?
The GRI has been taken into account when developing the KPI's. We have not formally involved GRI but we are confident that this sector approach (which does not exist for our sector in GRI) is in line with their criteria.
Once the aggregated reporting results are available in 2006, we intend to publish the first edition of the annual A.I.S.E. Sustainability Report. The report will be prepared internally but we intend to involve an external auditor to ensure that the process is robust.
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6. Where is risk management of chemicals integrated in the Charter?
Risk management decisions are a direct consequence of risk assessment. Risks for consumers can arise if the product is misused or not used correctly. To manage risks we are actively providing sensible advice to consumers on how to use products safely through the use of pictograms and text. We actively promote the sensible advice messages and pictograms in consumer campaigns and we endorse them in information campaigns run by authorities and consumer organisations. Risk management in professional use is part of downstream legislation such as occupational health & safety regulations (e.g. 98/24/EC).
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7. How does the Charter relate to REACH?
A.I.S.E. and other downstream-users of chemicals are very committed to work constructively with all interested bodies to make REACH a successful, workable system. We have addressed chemicals safety in the Charter, building on the learnings from the HERA programme and we are also actively involved in the "RIP", "SPORT" and other REACH working groups and schemes. ^{back to top}

8. How long does the Licence last?
There is no fixed time limit; as long as the participating supplier(s) and the distributor fulfil all obligations of the Charter and the licence agreement.
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9. Can a manufacturer sub-licence the Charter symbol to a distributor?
No. There must be a direct contractual relationship between the A.I.S.E. and the distributor.
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Target companies

10. How will A.I.S.E. ensure that potential new companies can join the Charter and how will this be reflected in the aggregated data and in the annual sustainability report?
The Charter remains an open and 'living' scheme; it also remains a project that may evolve with time, according to the level of implementation by the companies and the feedback received from stakeholders.
The KPI's have been defined in such a way, by using unit based ratios (f.e. tonnages produced, number of products put on the market, etc.) that performance data of individual companies can be easily compared and calculated into a set of aggregated industry data and thus published in an overall industry sustainability report.
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11. Can a distributor apply the Charter logo to products having not been manufactured by a company member of the Charter (even if it is the same brand)?
No.
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12. Can a manufacturer apply on behalf of a distributor?
No. The distributor must apply directly to A.I.S.E. A manufacturer may assist the distributor by obtaining the documents on its behalf, but the documents must be signed by the distributors and returned direct to A.I.S.E.
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13. How do retailers and other distributors participate?
Distributors (retailers, importers, other distributors, etc.) can apply via the Charter website and participate in the Charter via a special associate membership agreement with A.I.S.E. If their supplier(s) have been admitted to the Charter and the distributor has committed to provide the relevant CSP and KPI data to their supplier and has signed the licence agreement with A.I.S.E. they will be authorized by A.I.S.E. to use the Charter logo, also on the packs of their private label products.
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14. Whom exactly does A.I.S.E. want to address with the Charter?
Our aim is to reassure consumers and customers that they can have confidence in the products which carry the Charter logo as they are produced by a company which can demonstrate that it takes sustainability into account at all stages of the product life cycle. The Charter also has an immediate impact on our own industry, its employees and shareholders as well as other industry partners (raw material suppliers, retailers, etc.) with whom we work closely together. Companies in the near future will be urged to systematically implement the principle of sustainability in all their operations.
The Charter is also addressing our stakeholders with whom we have regular contacts (European and national authorities, consumer groups, NGObs, etc.). Apart from specific Charter initiatives for which we ask their active support (e.g. the promotion of best / safe use messages to consumers and users of our products) we hope to establish a permanent dialogue by presenting the aggregated industry results to them through the publication of the annual A.I.S.E. Sustainability Report. This offers both sides a unique opportunity to exchange new ideas and suggestions for improvement of the Charter.
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Advantages

15. Why should companies commit themselves to the Charter? What is the added value in comparison to for example ISO or EMAS certification?
These schemes indeed address the idea of continuous improvement in the environment (EMAS), or quality and environment (ISO) and the application of management systems. In fact these systems have been used as a reference in order to tailor the Charter specifically to the soaps, detergent and maintenance products sector. The Charter has been designed to integrate health, safety and environment across the whole life cycle of the product and have the management systems verified independently. The Charter also requires committed companies to report on a set a standard Key Performance Indicators (KPI's).
The Charter is applicable to companies active in the soaps, detergent and maintenance products industry. Therefore, the A.I.S.E. will be able to report on the aggregated performance of the industry on an annual basis and companies will be able to benchmark themselves against the rest of the industry.
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16. Do products with the logo provide more safety for the consumers?
The Charter logo means that companies have committed themselves to continually improve their manufacturing process, have safety evaluation systems in place and provide the relevant best / safe use sentences and / or pictograms on their packs; this should provide more safety for the consumers.
Companies which participate in the Charter have also committed themselves to report on the chemical ingredients they use and have to indicate to which amount these chemicals have been risk-assessed via the HERA methodology. Companies active in the I&I business have to indicate the number of cleaning systems sold with controlled dosage systems. These requirements should further add to the safety of consumers and users.
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Quality Assurance

17. How credible is the control system on the implementation of the CSPs by each participating company?
We have an independent control system, consisting of accepted verifiers who visit each participating company at the beginning - for the Charter Entrance Check - and subsequently every three years to check whether all CSP's are still in place and whether the companies are correctly reporting on the KPI's. The verifiers are selected on a set of professional and fully transparent criteria and will report on the individual company performances in a neutral way, through the protected Charter extranet reporting system, without any risk of internal and / or external influences.
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18. On the KPI's, is A.I.S.E. sure to be able to demonstrate progress?
The KPI's are chosen to demonstrate progress on all domains of sustainability (economic social and environmental) and are specific for our industry. By aggregating the individual company results into an annual sustainability report for the whole industry we will be able to measure such progress. We are confident that participating companies, will pay specific attention to these KPI's and by improving themselves on a continual basis help the industry to lower the overall (environmental) burden, resulting in a downward trend over time. After all, it makes a lot of economic sense as cost-efficiencies can be identified and generated through the regular reporting on KPI's.
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Costs

19. What costs will this all have for companies? Is A.I.S.E. sure that SME's will be interested and can afford to participate?
The implementation costs of the Charter have been kept to a minimum. There are no registration costs for companies which are members of an A.I.S.E. National Association and the participating companies do not have to pay for the use of the logo. The verification costs will be modest as it should be feasible to carry out the verification checks within one day if the company is well prepared. There are some artwork costs related to the change of the labels on packs necessary for the printing of the best / safe use pictograms and the Charter logo.
When correctly implemented the Charter should result into cost-efficiencies as companies will be able to better analyse and define elements for improvement. This should be very attractive to both large and small companies.
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20. Are there any costs involved in the grant of the Licence?
The Licence is granted free of charge to distributors and other companies but if the participating supplier(s) to the distributor is (are) not a member of a NA the supplier should pay an annual administration fee of 1500 Euro. The distributor does not have to be a member of A.I.S.E., or a National Association member of A.I.S.E. nor has to pay an annual administration fee.
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