Portugal | Association

The APCV – Associação Portuguesa de Produtores de Cerveja (Portuguese Association of Beer Breweries) – is a non-profit sector organisation based in Lisbon. It represents the companies in the national territory active in the industry of manufacturing and bottling of beer. This industry employs 2,206 workers (directly employed at beer manufacturing establishments). Indirectly, it involves some 7,200 employees in the area of service provision.

1. Given the absence of information on the effect of alcohol on driving, we undertake to explain the relationship between alcohol and the loss of drivers’ capacity to react by publishing articles to raise awareness and prevent road accidents in newsletters of five member companies of the APCV. The target audience shall consist of workers and their families, clients on the distribution list and points of sale of the respective brands associated with this sphere, to be determined in a study.
   
2. To increase the educational dissemination of information on the effects of alcohol on driver behaviour and on the increased risk of accidents, we will distribute leaflets with tips on traffic accident prevention at points of sale of APCV member companies, with the target audience being their local customers. This measure will be evaluated by assessing the impact of including 100,000 leaflets in the distribution chain of the beer sector.
   

We will also carry out a campaign during the bank holiday weekends in June to raise awareness on alcohol and driving. This will involve putting up billboards along major motorways in the Algarve, the target audience being drivers and passengers from all over the country. This measure will be evaluated by the amount of circulation of thousands of vehicles during this period, with the implications that this impact has on the drivers’ social entourage – that is, the passengers, which can be family, friends or car pooling groups. Ten billboard locations shall be exhibited during the course of 14 days.

These initiatives will take place during the period between the months of June and December 2006, with subsequent evaluation of results with an effective duration of two years and stepped up communication. The APCV commits to publishing the results on its website at www.apcv.pt.