Tong Tana December 1999 - Bruno Manser Fonds
Tong Tana December 1999 - Bruno Manser Fonds
Tong Tana December 1999 - Bruno Manser Fonds
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Switzerland<br />
JUMBO MIGROS COOP<br />
correct declaration<br />
partly correct<br />
declaration<br />
no declaration<br />
insufficient<br />
declaration<br />
wrong/misleading<br />
declaration<br />
BMF investigation<br />
db – It is astonishing how Swiss market leaders hold<br />
their promises. In autumn 1998 and on the occasion<br />
of Swiss TV’s “Kassensturz” (consumer’s rights) program<br />
of October <strong>1999</strong>, the <strong>Bruno</strong>-<strong>Manser</strong>-<strong>Fonds</strong> investigated<br />
and evaluated the labeling according to<br />
species of wood and country of origin of 120 wood<br />
products in one of the branches of the three largest<br />
Swiss shops selling building and hobby products:<br />
Migros (annual turn over Swissfrancs 400 million),<br />
Coop (SF 403 million) and JUMBO (SF 480 million).<br />
The investigated products included tools, furniture,<br />
building material, hobby materials and household articles.<br />
In the process it became clear that the three<br />
wholesale shops fulfill the consumer’s rights to objective<br />
product information differently. The differences between<br />
the shops as to how they kept their almost 10<br />
year-old promises to reduce the use of tropical wood<br />
and to declare products according to species and origin<br />
became obvious.<br />
species and origin as well as the production methods<br />
is useful information which enables us to make our decision<br />
for a purchase. In the field of agriculture we are<br />
already quite progressive, only in the case of wood<br />
products we have not yet succeeded, although opinion<br />
polls show that the consumers are willing to pay more<br />
for wood produced using good forestry practices.<br />
Because the “voluntary” declaration approved by the<br />
Federal Council did not work, Swiss Parliamentarien<br />
Christoph Eymann submitted the Motion “For a mandatory<br />
declaration according to species and origin for<br />
wood and wood products” to the National Council in<br />
November 1997, the limitation period of which expired<br />
this autumn after not being treated within two years’<br />
time. Christoph Eymann immediately submitted another<br />
Motion with the same wording (Motion Eymann<br />
No. <strong>1999</strong>.3542). Transparency in trade and the right to<br />
objective product information must become more than<br />
catchwords during the next millennium – for the sake<br />
of the forest!<br />
12<br />
Mandatory declaration<br />
jk – The 1990s were marked by<br />
the unleashed forces of global<br />
free trade. Even the best laws<br />
cannot help if the industry emigrates<br />
to areas with a “Wild West”<br />
economy where no environmental<br />
protection, no labor laws, no human<br />
rights hinder the capital from<br />
multiplying. Now suddenly goods<br />
from the furthest reaches of our<br />
planet dominate our markets, displacing<br />
native products and causing<br />
many a branch of the domestic<br />
economy to die out. Neither the<br />
Swiss consumers, highly sensitized<br />
if compared internationally,<br />
nor the local producers are willing<br />
to accept this and call for transparency<br />
in trade and – depending<br />
on the scandal involved – even for<br />
an import ban. The composition,<br />
Fire-raiser in the rainforest: Protest against JUMBO