"Our purpose is to promote Natural Mineral Waters and Spring Waters as the best source of healthy hydration"

Patricia Fosselard

Secretary General of the European Federation of Bottled Waters - EFBW

June 23, 2014

As far as the quality of the product is concerned, the key priority for EFBW is the notion of original purity: Natural Mineral Waters must be protected against any pollution and contain no contamination whatsoever at source.

  • WE

    How long have you been in the bottled water industry and with EFBW?

  • Patricia Fosselard

    In total, I have spent 13 years working in the bottled water industry, 3 years of which were spent with Spadel. I joined EFBW in February 2005, so this is my tenth year as Secretary General.

  • WE

    What can you tell us about EFBW?

  • Patricia Fosselard

    EFBW is a not-for-profit trade association based in Brussels, Belgium (close to most EU institutions), representing the interests of the European packaged/bottled water sector before EU and international stakeholders.

  • WE

    What is EFBW’s history?

  • Patricia Fosselard

    EFBW was founded in 2003 to represent all types of packaged waters across the enlarged European Union. However, representation of the bottled water sector dates back to 1953 when an earlier not-for-profit association, UNESEM, was founded to represent European Natural Mineral Water producers.

  • WE

    What are the objectives of EFBW?

  • Patricia Fosselard

    Our purpose is to promote Natural Mineral Waters and Spring Waters as the best source of healthy hydration. EFBW’s objectives are to: - represent the interests of the bottled water industry before relevant national European and international institutions, or any other stakeholder, wherever the need may be; - promote the image of the sector and its products; - identify issues likely to affect members and propose solutions with due regard to the members’ diversity; - promote good manufacturing practices; - encourage socially responsible and sustainable management practices; - promote the industry’s role in protecting the environment; - facilitate the communication and collaboration between the different actors in the sector.

  • WE

    Who are EFBW’s stakeholders and what are their interests?

  • Patricia Fosselard

    EFBW’s most important stakeholder is DG ‘Sanco’ (i.e. EU Commission Directorate-General for Health and Consumers) which is tasked with EU policies relating to Natural Mineral Waters and Spring Waters. Other important stakeholders are DG Environment, DG Enterprise and DG Trade. These DG’s have a wide variety of objectives. Some which are relevant to us: - DG Sanco: Making sure products manufactured are safe and consumers receive adequate information on their composition. - DG Environment: Ensuring safety and availability of drinking water, set targets for packaging recycling rates to limit waste, encourage sustainable production and consumption by manufacturers, setting harmonised life cycle analysis (LCA) rules so that environmental claims made by the industry are substantiated and products’ performance can be compared by consumers on a credible basis. - DG Enterprise: Ensuring that EU member states do not jeopardise the free trade of goods by unilaterally adopting new technical rules. - Codex: Setting standards for food products to ensure their safety and to enable international trade of products which meet applicable standards.

  • WE

    What are the key current issues for EFBW?

  • Patricia Fosselard

    As far as the quality of the product is concerned, the key priority for EFBW is the notion of original purity: Natural Mineral Waters must be protected against any pollution and contain no contamination whatsoever at source. When the legislation was adopted in 1980, zero detectable pollution was a tenable assessment. Today, with the sophistication of laboratories and test equipment - their detection capability has increased 10,000-fold in the past thirty years - there is no longer such a thing as absolute zero in detecting contaminants. Even in the best protected areas/sources, traces of human activity are now detectable. This has nothing to do with health concerns, but if any trace of a contaminant is found by the laboratory of a controlling authority, the recognition of a Natural Mineral Water could potentially be challenged. The matter has been addressed in some EU countries, but not all, and each time with different parameters and values (limits). EFBW has adopted a common industry position on the issue and is currently discussing the matter with DG Sanco with a view to obtaining a guidance document to interpret this notion of ‘original purity’ across the EU. A positive outcome, meaning a single guidance document approved by the EU authorities, would bring legal certainty to the sector whilst preserving consumer safety. Another issue on the regulatory front is that of nutrition and health claims. There are several pieces of legislation applicable to water and Natural Mineral Waters in relation to claims. The interaction between these regulations is sometimes unclear and there is a danger that they may be interpreted in a way which is not favourable to the industry. EFBW wrote to DG Sanco’s Director General on this topic and is expecting a reply shortly.

  • WE

    Is the environmental debate around bottled water a priority for EFBW?

  • Patricia Fosselard

    Yes, absolutely. Two important objectives we have are to establish bottled water’s low environmental impact and also to encourage packaging recycling. To achieve those aims, EFBW carried out two water use surveys across the industry to measure the water use ratio (WUR) at factory level. These surveys showed a low and consistently declining use of water in the bottling process. Last month, EFBW was also officially selected by the European Commission, alongside ten other food sectors, to help develop and test harmonised product category rules to determine the Product Environmental Footprint for ‘packaged water’. This exercise will cover all packaged waters whether in PET, glass, polycarbonate or aluminium cans. Water coolers are included so we very much hope to be able to collaborate with WE’s experts on this ambitious project. EFBW has also recently joined an EU-funded project called Polymark (1.4 million EU funds received), consisting of nine members under the leadership of Petcore Europe. Under the project, research will be carried out to develop a marking and reading system which should enable the sorting of non-food packaging from food packaging; thereby increasing the value of both streams and increasing the available of high quality PET available for bottle to bottle recycling. So as you can see, we are going to be busy in the coming couple of years!

  • WE

    What have been the main changes/challenges that you have witnessed in your tenure with EFBW?

  • Patricia Fosselard

    A big challenge was to meet increased expectations from our membership. Originally, EFBW was set up as a lobbying body. A few years later, bottled water was heavily challenged by NGO’s etc. - in particular for its environmental credentials – and the need to extend our activities became apparent. It was clear that the sector needed to educate both the regulators and consumers on the specificities of Natural Mineral Waters and Spring Waters as compared to tap water, particularly with respect to purity, natural hydration, best environmental practices etc. To meet those needs, and under the leadership of EFBW’s current president Hubert Genieys, an ambitious Roadmap was implemented and new working groups created with dedicated industry experts. Our structure was also changed from a federation of national associations to a mixed structure of both national associations and direct company members. The other big change was to adopt a communication strategy which adequately promoted the various milestones achieved by EFBW. A Communications Officer was hired, tools and materials developed and press statements are now frequently circulated.

  • WE

    How do you see the evolution of the bottled water industry in Europe?

  • Patricia Fosselard

    I feel very optimistic about the future of bottled water in Europe. Bottled water will increasingly meet the consumers’ quest for healthy hydration and for naturalness. On the health front, the obesity epidemic means consumers will increasingly turn to water to satisfy their hydration needs while avoiding calorie intake. This is already clearly visible in some markets. EFSA’s (European Food Safety Authority) recommendations on water intake, and its positive position on allowing some health claims for water, is adding scientific support to the crucial role of water in healthy hydration. Additionally, when it comes to water, European consumers have traditionally preferred Natural Mineral Water and Spring Water (i.e. unprocessed waters, coming from a protected underground source and linked to a unique place or origin) to processed water, which is widely available in other regions of the world. In fact 97

  • WE

    What do you see as the future challenges for EFBW?

  • Patricia Fosselard

    One of the key challenges will be to ensure that the European Commission grants the industry satisfaction on the two topics mentioned above - original purity and claims. Another is ensuring that national policies reflect the importance that the drinking of water has to consumer health. This can be done via the adoption of national guidelines to promote water and by lowering the VAT and other taxes on water, where they exist. Finally, we must ensure that EFBW continues to attract both the human and financial resources required to carry out the ambitious projects it has embarked on.

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EFBW
Place de Barricades 1
Brussels
Belgium
Web: www.efbw.eu
Email: Patricia.Fosselard@efbw.org
Tel: +32 2 880 20 30

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