European Retail Round Table
Defunct European retail trade association
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The European Retail Round Table (ERRT) was a Brussels-based association that brought together the chief executives of major European retail groups to engage with EU institutions on single market, competition, sustainability and supply-chain issues.[3] It merged into EuroCommerce in November 2019 and ceased operations in 2020.[4]
| Abbreviation | ERRT |
|---|---|
| Merged into | EuroCommerce |
| Formation | 1999[1] |
| Dissolved | 2020 |
| Type | Trade association |
| Headquarters | Brussels, Belgium[2] |
Region served | Europe |
| Website | errt.org (archived) |
History
ERRT was active by 1999 and was based at Square de Meeûs 35, Brussels.[5][6] Its policy work addressed the European single market for retail, including digital and cross-border issues, as set out in a 2015 position paper to the European Commission.[7]
In 1999 ERRT convened a GMO working group (chaired by Lucy Neville-Rolfe of Tesco) and, in consultation with EuroCommerce, issued a discussion paper on GMOs in food setting out retailers’ views on labelling and risk communication. The paper supported an EU-wide labelling regime (including derivatives and additives), a very low threshold for adventitious presence, validated testing methods, and segregation/traceability along the supply chain; it also reported several large retailers removing GM ingredients from own-brand products in response to consumer concerns.[8]
ERRT was a founding association behind The Supply Chain Initiative (2013), promoting fair-trading practices across the food supply chain;[9] worked with the Commission and EuroCommerce on the Retail Forum for Sustainability and the Retailers’ Environmental Action Programme (REAP);[10] and acted as secretariat to the Timber Retail Coalition (Carrefour, IKEA, Kingfisher, Marks & Spencer), which advocated EU rules on legally and responsibly sourced timber.[11] Under the Retail Forum for Sustainability, ERRT coordinated the voluntary Retail Agreement on Waste and published a 2016 report summarising signatories’ actions to prevent and reduce waste across operations and supply chains.[12]
On 7 November 2019, ERRT and EuroCommerce announced that they would merge their activities, with ERRT's functions integrated into EuroCommerce; ERRT ceased operations in 2020. [13]
Members
| Company | Membership | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ahold Delhaize | 1999–2020 | As Royal Ahold until 2016, when merged with Delhaize Group. |
| C&A | 1999–2018 | |
| Carrefour | 1999–2016 | |
| Delhaize Group | 1999–2016 | Merged with Royal Ahold in 2016. |
| Dixons Group | 1999–2009 | Rebranded as DSG international in 2005; now Currys plc. |
| Kingfisher plc | 1999–2012 | |
| Marks & Spencer | 1999–2019 | |
| Metro AG | 1999–2019 | |
| J Sainsbury | 1999–2005 | |
| Promodès | 1999 | Merged into Carrefour in 1999. |
| Tesco | 1999–2018 | |
| El Corte Inglés | 2000–2020 | |
| IKEA | 2000–2019 | |
| Gruppo Coin | 2002–2004 | |
| Asda | 2004–2017 | |
| Inditex | 2005–2020 | |
| H&M | 2006–2016 | |
| Mercadona | 2006–2019 | |
| Auchan | 2013–2016 | |
| ICA Gruppen | 2013–2020 | |
| Jerónimo Martins | 2013–2020 | |
| Lidl | 2013–2019 | |
| Dansk Supermarked | 2014–2016 | Company now known as Salling Group. |
| Ceconomy | 2017–2020 | Spun off from Metro AG in 2017. |