Diageo MD John Pollaers says he wants to hold discussions with all relevant parties on social issues related to alcohol consumption.

The bodies will be charged with formulating legislation and researching social issues related to alcohol consumption.

Diageo is the world's leading premium alcoholic beverage firm with Johnnie Walker and Guinness among its many well-known brands.

John Pollaers, managing director of Diageo Asia, said the company would open discussions with all relevant parties, including government agencies, the industry and community groups to harmonise agreements to set up the Alcohol Advertising Co-Regulatory Organisation (Aaco), the Alcohol Consumption Patterns Research Organisation (Acpro), and the Alcohol Social Aspects Organisation (Asao).

These three bodies would regulate the local alcoholic beverage industry and conduct research on related social concerns. They should be successfully adopted within the next six to 12 months, he said.

Pollaers said the Aaco would be a multi-stakeholder organisation tasked with establishing and monitoring alcohol advertising and promotion standards, while Acpro would conduct research on consumption patterns and related problems.

Acpro will eliminate any disagreements based on the facts and findings of its research, he said, adding that the industry-funded Asao would simultaneously develop and implement social responsibility initiatives based on the research findings of Acpro.

Pollaers said that central to the co-regulatory approach was the development of institutional capacity.

All individual players involved in the local alcoholic beverage industry will take responsibility in setting up an alcohol co-regulatory steering group, which would directly oversee the funding of those key institutions, he said.

"We [Diageo] are fully committed to combating any negative effects caused by the misuse of alcohol and to engage in educating Thai consumers in drinking sensibly and responsibly," said Pollaers.

Diageo would also like to be a driving force in bringing the government, industry and society together to set up legislation and benchmarks on the issue of alcohol and to encourage better and more responsible ways of marketing alcoholic beverage products, he said.

Industry accountability is essential, and it is recommended that the government set out a reasonable timeframe against which industry progress can be measured, he said.

Pollaers said the co-regulatory model and the measure proposed here-in present all stakeholders with the opportunity to work in partnership to develop truly sustainable and effective policy solutions, and for Thailand to set the standard for multi-stakeholder engagement in the region.

"The co-regulatory model has been successfully introduced in Australia over the past two years and in the past six months in the UK. Thailand, however, should play an active role in the introduction of co-regulatory bodies for the rest of Asia," he said.

He said the alcoholic beverage industry had successfully regulated itself in many different markets around the world and the success of these examples had prevented excessive government legislation and its damaging economic consequences.

Conversely, conditions in Thailand are not currently conducive to such a scenario, Pollaers said, adding that a co-regulatory rather than self-regulatory approach between the government and the alcohol industry be adopted.

Pollaers also said that he agreed with the principle that the local taxation system should be based on alcohol content, which would lead to such market environment where low alcohol and higher quality products were encouraged.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation