The 50th General Assembly of Eurovent, organised by ISKID, the Turkish Association of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturers, was held in Istanbul on 28th, 29th and 30th May.

Eurovent

The following table shows, by way of introduction, that it is Eurovent, a European association that brings together the national associations of manufacturers of air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment and an outline of its governing bodies and working structure.

As on other occasions, the holding of the Assembly, the annual meeting point for the different national associations in the sector, gave rise to numerous meetings, including those of the Environmental Commission, the Executive Committee and the General Assembly itself.

The working days of the 29th and 30th were preceded by a welcome dinner, on the 28th in the afternoon, on a ship while it was making a tour of the Bosphorus.

The following is a brief summary of the content and topics covered during the aforementioned working days.

Environmental Commission

As usual, part of the meeting was devoted to reporting on the current situation of the implementation, in some cases, and the development in others, of the different European Directives and Regulations affecting the sector. These include the Directives:

• EEA, on Energy Performance of Buildings.
• WEEE, on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment.
• RuSP, on Restrictions on the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment.
• PUE, on the Ecological Design of Energy-using Products.
• Regulation 842/2006, on certain fluorinated greenhouse gases.
• Etc.

The exposition of the situation and of the actions carried out by the Commission along the exercise 2007, they carried out it the representatives of the different national associations that participate regularly in said Commission, among the ones that was found, in name of AFEC, José Mª Ortiz as responsible for the follow-up of the three first Directives cited.

A common position was agreed, in relation to the consultation issued by the European Commission regarding the revision of the EEA Directive and the revision of the WEEE Directive, and important aspects were discussed in relation to the different "LOTS", groups of equipment or products, which are under consideration in the EuP Directive, and the position that Eurovent should adopt in these preliminary studies which analyse the measures that will subsequently become law once the Directive is approved.

Issues relating to the future of the Commission, its budget and structure, and the need for the Commission to act more quickly and with a greater level of participation by national associations were also addressed.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee held one of its most important sessions in recent years, since among other important items on its agenda was the approval of the "Business Plan", on the content and scope of which meetings and exchanges of proposals had been taking place between the different national associations over the last few months.

The project presented was finally approved with some detailed corrections, and its content is analyzed in more detail in the corresponding section dedicated to the General Assembly.

During the meeting, special attention was paid to the relations between Eurovent and Eurovent Certification Company, including the composition of the committee called CPPC (Certification Programs and Policy Committee), whose mission is to ensure the integrity of the certification programs, and their accounting statements.

The analysis of Eurovent's financial situation, including the financial statements for 2007, the evolution of the profit and loss account for the current year and the budget for 2009, the first year in which the "Business Plan" came into force, also consumed a large part of the time of the attendees, who also analyzed an initial advance of the budget for 2010.

It was agreed to renew the agreement with AGORIA, so that Felix Van Eyken will continue to act as Secretary of Eurovent, and to extend the presence of Mr. Dieryckx for a few months at the head of the Environmental Committee, until a replacement is presented.

The relations with AHRI, Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigration Insitute were analyzed, in relation to the certification programs that both institutions maintain.

The Executive Committee meeting, preparatory to the General Assembly, closed with the approval of the proposal to create two new working groups and the designation of the date and place of the next Committee.

General Assembly

The General Assembly, continuing the Order of the day, approved in first place the act of the previous Assembly, celebrated in Madrid and organized by AFEC, and listened and approved, likewise, the reports of activity presented by the President, the Director of Operations, the Secretary and the Director of the Environmental Commission.

Approved the accounts of the year 2007 with the approval of the financial controllers, gave step to the discussion on the "Business Plan" that included the budgets of the year 2009 and an advance of the year 2010.

The Assembly also approved, with some minor corrections, the Eurovent Certification Manual and the proposal for the nomination of Eurovent representatives, as shareholders, on the Board of Directors of Eurovent Certification Company, as well as the appointment of Mr. Railio as head of the aforementioned CPPC.

The chapter dedicated to the certification was closed with the annual report of activities of the mentioned company, presented by its Director Mr. Benoist.

With the President's speech and the presentation of the preliminary agenda of the next assembly to be held in Slovenia, by the representatives of the association of that country, a very tight General Assembly was closed which, without a doubt, will mean an important step forward in the future of Eurovent with the progressive application of the so often mentioned "Business Plan".

Eurovent Business Plan

Over the last few years, the need to update and promote the activities of the Association has been discussed at the various meetings of the Eurovent Executive and Management Committee, as a vehicle for the expression of European manufacturers and as a body representing them in the European institutions and forums, where measures and legislative texts are discussed and approved which, as experience has shown, have a great influence on the future of our industry.

None of the different proposals presented, obtained the approval of the associations until on the occasion of the assumption of the Presidency of Eurovent on the part of Francisco Muñoz of Leyva, in representation of AFEC, this fixed, as main objective of its mandate, the renovation of the Association by means of the submission to approval of a "Business Plan".

This should gather in its preparation, the structure and the objectives that should have and to pursue, respectively, Eurovent, to give to its associates, the European businesses through its national associations, the services that these expect and demand. The imminent renewal, for reasons of age, of the association's Secretary and Director of Operations was also part of this objective.

Numerous consultations, drafting changes, modifications and suggestions have resulted in a text accepted by all national associations which voted positively, as mentioned above, at the General Assembly.

The approved structure includes the change of name of the Working Groups to Product Sections with the idea of addressing, in a general way, different topics related to each product, without focusing excessively, as has been the case until now, on very defined aspects of the products.

The figure of the Executive Director also stands out, as the main and only person responsible for the activity and day-to-day running of the Association, reporting to its governing bodies, with the help of a future Technical Director and a General Secretary who reports to him. Throughout 2009, the change from the current situation to the new one will begin and therefore this year will see the implementation of the Business Plan.