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The European Road Safety Charter 

30 July, 2004

The European Commission is currently seeking tenders for the operation of the Charter and the 'Description' has been posted here so that it may give road safety professionals from outside Europe an insight into the logistics of the campaign.

Description/object of the contract:  

The charter campaign has the following three tasks:

a) Promoting the charter among potential signatories and public relations

The European Road Safety Charter addresses practically every group or entity of civil society from international organisations to individual schools or workshops. 

In order to activate potential signatories the Charter message has to be communicated via different channels. One of these channels comprises relevant associations at European or national level. Some of them have already signed the Charter (e.g. the city networks Polis and Access or the Comité Européen des Assurances) committing to make their members sign the Charter (typical commitment of such organisations). Nevertheless, many European and national umbrella organisations are still to be contacted directly and proactively. 

It is also conceivable that big companies or other stakeholders are directly contacted if a new group of potential signatories can be thus stimulated or if these companies can contribute significantly to the common target by signing the Charter. 

In any case, the Charter shall be presented and promoted to a wider public on relevant occasions, e.g. automobile fairs or big road safety conferences, by press releases or articles in relevant magazines or even directly to the citizen. 

We expect other organisations (e.g. the city networks POLIS and ACCESS have made 31 of their members sign the European Road Safety Charter during a meeting of their members in London on 7 April 2004), regions or even Member States to come up with their own official signing ceremonies. Such events are supported by the Commission with administrative and ceremonial advice. In any case, the commitments of signatories signing at such occasions have to go through the normal procedure (see b). 

A regular event of the charter campaign is the yearly award. The most promising commitments in different categories (e.g. schools, automobile clubs, etc.) are submitted to a jury and the winners are awarded in a prestigious award ceremony.

b) Operating applications and managing signatories

Usually, an application is submitted via the Charter website. Applicants fill out an application form containing general information about the applicant and the actual commitment. The Commission examines whether the commitment complies with the guidelines (see introduction) or not. If it does not comply the applicant is contacted in order to specify and/or to re-draft the commitment according to the guidelines. 

If the commitment complies with the guidelines, it is inserted in the Charter text, which is sent to the applicant for signature. The signed Charter is then sent back and the applicant has become a signatory of the European Road Safety Charter, which entitles them to benefit from the promotional tools of the Charter: signatories may use the Charter label either in the context of their names or of the action(s) they have announced in their commitment. The label must not be used to directly promote a product or a service. 

Signatories and their commitments are published on the Charter website. They receive a quarterly newsletter and are eligible for the yearly charter award. The commitments are monitored, normally by asking the signatory for a short interim and a short final report (normally after 1,5 and respectively 3 years). 

In very few cases a visit on the spot might be necessary in order to ensure the seriousness of the campaign. During the validity of their commitments the signatories are informed about the Charter progress and relevant aspects of road safety policy.

c) Reporting and evaluation of the Charter campaign

Regular reporting is crucial for the campaign both to the Commission and to the public (regular press releases). The reporting is the basis for the evaluation of the success of the campaign and for establishing a database of good practices in road safety applied by groups of civil society. In fact, the charter campaign's objectives are not only raising awareness for road safety among civil society and stimulating concrete actions but also to learn from good practices and making them public.

END

Contract and tender details available here.

European Road Safety Charter website home page

Source: Energy and Transport in Europe -- No 105 - 30 July 2004