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Minutes of the Executive Committee meeting
held in Amsterdam on 26 March 2015, 09:00 – 17:30 hours
ATTENDING:
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE COATING INDUSTRY
AL MEKDAD, Modar (for Mr. Ram) MIDDLE EAST
BARBAROSSA Gianpaolo (for Ms. Bertoli) ITALY
BECKER Alexa (Ms.) GERMANY
BOI Riccardo (Technical Director) ITALY
COLOMBIER Caroline (Ms.) FRANCE
GHALEM Adel (replacing Ms. Godan) FRANCE
LI JERRY (Ms.) CHINA
PANAM Mohammed (President) UK & IRELAND
STREMMELAAR Egbert NETHERLANDS
VERMEEREN Ivo BELGIUM
VIESTER Frank NETHERLANDS
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE POWDER AND PAINT INDUSTRY
BERNABÉ Juan Antonio SPAIN
JELONEK Andrzej POLAND
WEHNHARDT Michael GERMANY
REPRESENTATIVE OF CHEMICAL SUPPLIERS
SEQUEIRA António PORTUGAL
GUESTS
CASQUEIRO Margarida (Ms.) PORTUGAL
FAHMEED Nasir MIDDLE EAST
GVOZDENOVIC Milica (Ms.) QUALIBAL
JUGOVIC Branimir QUALIBAL
MIDDELKAMP Ywona (Ms.) POLAND
SCHOTHUIS Jeroen NETHERLANDS
SECRETARIAT
BELLOT Pascale (Ms.) SWITZERLAND
SCHOPPIG Josef (Minutes) SWITZERLAND
APOLOGIES:
ARRANZ Andrés SPAIN
BERTOLI Silvia (Ms.) ITALY
GANAKOU Ellie (Ms.) GREECE
GODAN Aurélie (Ms.) FRANCE
LEGIDIS Savvas SWITZERLAND
ULUCAK Timur TURKEY
YATSENKO Marina (Ms.) RAEA
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A G E N D A
1. Antitrust reminders
2. Minutes of the meeting held in Zurich on 6 November 2014
3. SEASIDE/QUALIMARINE equivalence
4. Projects (current state of affairs)
5. QUALIDECO – meeting held in Zurich on 14 January 2014
6. Requests and proposals from the Working Groups (non-technical matters)
7. QMEA’s request for financial support
8. Financial matters (provisional accounts for 2014)
9. Proposals from the Future WG (future structure of the Secretariat)
10. Preparation of the QUALICOAT/QUALIDECO congress in London in 2016
11. PR activities in 2015
12. Any other business
13. Resolutions of the meeting
14. Next meeting
The Chairman, Mr. Panam, welcomed the delegates. He ascertained that 14 out of the 20
Executive Committee members were present or represented.
1. Antitrust reminder
By signing the attendance sheet, those present acknowledged that they had been
made aware of competition compliance guidelines applying to the meeting.
2. Minutes of the EC meeting held in Zurich on 6 November 2014
The minutes were unanimously approved.
3. SEASIDE/QUALIMARINE equivalence
Mr. Ghalem explained the reasons why ADAL had argued in its letter dated 2 February
2015 that QUALIMARINE and SEASIDE were equivalent in terms of the pretreatment
processes, but that QUALIMARINE was a label whereas SEASIDE was only an
endorsement. For that reason, ADAL had requested that the text of the common
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understanding published on the QUALICOAT website be amended to acknowledge the
equivalence of the chemical pretreatment results of QUALIMARINE and SEASIDE. He
reminded those present that several members of ADAL had challenged the agreement
reached before the previous EC meeting and that ADAL had engaged a lawyer to defend
its rights against those members who had also attacked the association with the
assistance of another lawyer. Another important difference between QUALIMARINE and
SEASIDE was that QUALIMARINE was part of a well-defined quality chain. Mr. Ghalem
confirmed that all members had agreed with the revised wording and that nobody would
further challenge the equivalence from a technical point of view.
Some delegates wondered whether the proposed change of wording was significant.
They could live with the new wording provided that non-discrimination of coaters who
wanted to sell in France with SEASIDE was assured.
Mr. Panam was sick and tired of the endless discussions about the equivalence. He
reiterated that all the technical investigations had been carried out in full accordance with
ADAL, but that the results had always been contested. QUALICOAT had invested a lot of
time, effort and money, but ADAL had continuously built up one hurdle after another. He
had also been very disappointed that no ADAL delegates had attended a special meeting
that had been organised in Paris in summer 2013.
Ms. Colombier affirmed the strong support of QUALICOAT by herself and the other
delegates against resistance on their own board. However, their lawyer had concluded
that legally there was an issue regarding the matter of being a label or not. She would
submit the lawyer’s assessment to give us a better understanding of the legal issues.
Ms. Colombier would submit the original French version and prepare an English
translation.
If necessary, the Secretariat would provide for an improved English version and
distribute the documents prior to the next EC meeting in London. At that meeting, a
final decision would be taken as to whether ADAL’s proposals could be accepted or
not (see Resolution No. 1).
4. Projects (current state of affairs) Correlation between accelerated and outdoor weathering for classes 2 and 3
after Florida exposure
Mr. Boi commented on the status of this project, which had been developed by the
Powders WG under the responsibility of Ms. Anne Banuls. The Powders WG’s latest
proposals would be discussed at the next TC meeting in London, and the EC would then
be informed accordingly.
Investigation on corrosion protection behaviour
Mr. Boi said that the Statistics WG would prepare a summary of the data collected by the
General Licensees, which would be submitted to the TC and EC meetings in London.
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5. QUALIDECO – meeting held in Zurich on 14 January 2015
Mr. Bernabé gave a comprehensive overview of the progress with QUALIDECO in 2014.
The most important technical matter was the evaluation of classes 1 and 2 after six
months and one year of outdoor exposure in Florida for approval year 2013/2014. There
was a good correlation between outdoor exposure and the results of the accelerated
weathering test. The procedure for granting an approval for class 2 powder-on-powder
systems had also been elaborated.
Recently, the German testing laboratory, IFO, had also been approved as a
QUALIDECO laboratory capable of carrying out all the relevant tests for granting
approvals to powder and film suppliers. In 2015, QUALIDECO would organise the first
special session for the inspectors of the Decoration section as part of the next
QUALISURFAL meeting. The experts from the testing laboratories would already meet in
Madrid in April this year.
Ms. Becker informed those present that a German film supplier had recently applied for a
QUALIDECO licence. She could not understand why the German testing laboratory was
only allowed to carry out inspections together with an Italian inspector now that the
German laboratory had been approved. Such a double inspection would cause additional
costs.
Mr. Boi explained that an Italian inspector had visited IFO for training purposes and
ascertained that this testing laboratory was able to perform all kinds of QUALIDECO
inspections and tests. However, it was important for the first inspection at a film
supplier’s plant to be carried out together with the Italian expert.
Mr. Panam pointed out that the additional costs of this first inspection should be borne by
the testing laboratory under training.
In order to avoid any misunderstandings in the future, QUALIDECO should prepare
clear guidelines for granting and renewing licences and approvals. QUALIDECO
issues had to become more clearly compartmentalised (see Resolution No. 2).
6. Requests and proposals from the Working Groups (non-technical matters)
6.1 Strategy & Accreditation WG – meeting held in Zurich on 9 December 2014
New website
Ms. Bellot displayed the content of the new website. She focused on the content of the
“members only” section, for which the members had recently received their individual
passwords. She pointed out that the proposed access to documents by the various
stakeholders (GL, EC, TC, WG and QUALISURFAL) needed to be approved.
Ms. Bellot explained that, contrary to dates and venues of the plenary meetings (EC, TC
and Meetings of Association Members), the dates of the various WG meetings could not
always be guaranteed. It was sometimes necessary to change the dates or order of
meetings if several meetings were taking place at the same time and same venue.
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Delegates should therefore check these dates again with the Secretariat before booking
flight tickets.
Ms. Becker requested that Executive Committee minutes should be distributed to EC
members only. Those present endorsed this proposal and asked the Secretariat to make
sure that the rules stipulated for the Intranet section were applied when distributing
minutes and documents (see Resolution No.3).
Environmental aspects in the Specifications
The discussion about consideration of environmental aspects had already started in
2009, and several ways to implement sustainability matters in the QUALICOAT scheme
had been debated. At the latest WG meeting, it had been agreed that QUALICOAT
should not be perceived as an organisation whose members were in partial breach of
ethics. In addition to the “hard requirements” (quality of the coated products), “soft
requirements “(respecting ethical rules) should be implemented too.
One proposal had been to refer to an international code of ethical responsibility and also
to consider the safety and personal protection of the inspectors.
Mr. Modar agreed that such requirements should become mandatory in the future and
that QUALICOAT should at least already show some concerns in the short term.
Mr. Vermeeren was also in favour of a green label, but argued that this would not be
easy to achieve due to the additional costs it would entail. He also said that ESTAL was
dealing with these issues.
Mr. Schothuis proposed making a statement that our products had a long lifetime.
Mr. Panam requested the meeting to consider how to go forward and how to act
proactively. He proposed developing an environmental and ethical charter. The dialogue
about these issues should be continued in the Strategy & Accreditation WG, which
should prepare guidelines and mission statements (see Resolution No. 4).
Training of plant personnel and inspectors
Mr. Panam reminded those present of the discussions about training issues at various
previous EC meetings. In the past, Mr. Heitzelmann had submitted proposals regarding
training at several levels. Regular training courses were carried out in Germany and
Switzerland.
At the WG meeting, Mr. Boi had proposed that training courses be introduced for all
inspectors working for the approved testing laboratories. The WG had asked him to
prepare a training programme for trainers. Mr. Boi insisted that already approved
inspectors should be trained continuously. The first level of training should be managed
by QUALICOAT and directed at the inspectors and testing laboratories.
Mr. Boi also raised the issue that unfortunately not all the inspectors from all parts of the
world regularly attended the annual QUALISURFAL meeting even though participation
was mandatory. At least one inspector from each approved testing laboratory should
attend.
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Mr. Panam trusted in the competence of the inspectors and testing laboratories and
therefore did not consider such training to be a priority.
Mr. Schoppig reminded those present that training or at least monitoring of the level of
the inspectors was assured as this was a major function within the framework of AC-
Treuhand AG’s ISO 17065 accreditation. He always accompanied new inspectors in the
various countries and gave feedback on his observations, not only to the inspectors or
GL concerned but also directly to the EC, if necessary. He agreed that the Technical
Director should typically monitor this function once QUALICOAT had achieved its own
accreditation.
It was ascertained that QUALICOAT had around 40 approved inspectors worldwide. A
few testing laboratories had several inspectors. It was also pointed out that attendance
at the annual QUALISURFAL meeting had always been mandatory.
Several other delegates felt that QUALICOAT should primarily focus on training the
laboratory and plant personnel in the licensed coating plants.
Mr. Vermeeren wondered why a coater should be interested in training of his staff as
long as the results of the inspections were satisfactory, whereas Mr. Panam welcomed
regular training of the laboratory staff since there were always people who needed such
training.
Mr. Boi was finally asked to further develop a training programme focusing on the staff
and especially the people working in the laboratories of the licensed plants. The aim
should be to help the GLs train the laboratory staff of licensed plants (see Resolution
No. 5).
Training of GLs’ staff
At the WG meeting, Ms. Bellot had proposed drafting a template for GL staff on how to
interact with the QUALICOAT Secretariat. She felt that training of the GLs’ staff was
also crucial as there had been several staff changes in some countries. Such changes
always caused a lot of extra work for the Secretariat in Zurich. She said that some
countries had sent their new staff responsible to the QUALICOAT Secretariat for
practical training and an introduction to their tasks.
Ms. Bellot presented the draft of such a template, which referred to the most important
documents available (website, guidelines, specifications, flow chart).
6.2 Joint Aluminium/Pretreatment WG meeting held in Amsterdam on 27 January 2015
There was currently no need for further discussion as all the proposals first had to be
debated at the next TC meeting.
6.3 Powders WG – meeting held in Barcelona on 17 and 18 February 2015
There was currently no need for further discussion as all the proposals first had to be
debated at the next TC meeting.
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6.4 Specifications WG – meeting held in Barcelona on 18 February 2015
There was currently no need for further discussion as all the proposals first had to be
debated at the next TC meeting.
6.5 Meeting of GL Secretaries and Managers held in Amsterdam on 25 March 2015
The findings and proposals from that meeting would be discussed at the next EC
meeting.
7. QMEA’s subsidy application
Mr. Modar commented on the latest concrete proposals for PR activities to be
subsidised, which had initially been submitted and discussed at the previous EC meeting.
The first phase of PR activities would cost CHF 20,000 and the second CHF 25,000.
Mr. Modar pointed out that there was still large potential for growth in several of the
countries encompassed by QMEA so subsidising could be considered a kind of
investment.
Mr. Schoppig reiterated the subsidy rules established in 2009, under which no more than
€5,000 could be granted to support more than one project per year.
Several delegates appreciated the initiative taken by QMEA and wondered whether there
was another way to support QMEA’s initiative more substantially while observing the
current rules. It should also be taken into consideration that QMEA encompassed
several countries and not just one.
It was finally agreed that QMEA would be subsidised with an amount of €5,000 in 2015
as support for the PR activities planned during the first phase.
Messrs. Panam and Schoppig would attend a meeting in Dubai in June when they would
meet with key people from India with the aim of relaunching QUALICOAT in that region.
At the same time, they would also ascertain with QMEA what financial support was
needed. A report would be given at the EC meeting in November 2015 with a view to
taking further decisions regarding QMEA’s request (see Resolution No. 6).
8. Financial matters (provisional accounts for 2014)
Mr. Schoppig commented on the accounts for 2014 and the provisional budget for 2015.
He explained the reasons for the deviations as some expense items were higher or
lower than budgeted. Regarding the high meeting and travel costs, he pointed out that a
considerable part was due to intensive PR activities in various regions.
Those present acknowledged the accounts for 2014. The budget for 2015 should be
reviewed as it did not reflect the new exchange rate between the euro and Swiss franc
for all items.
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9. Proposals from the Future WG (future structure of the Secretariat)
Mr. Panam informed those present of the considerations made at the two meetings held
in December 2014 and January 2015. The WG had concluded that the future Secretariat
should remain in Zurich. Another important issue was the decision whether QUALICOAT
would apply for its own ISO 17065 accreditation. This would be done with the assistance
of an Italian expert.
The timescale aimed at becoming fully independent from the end of 2019. By then, a new
Secretariat consisting of a Managing Director, a Technical Director, an Office Manager
and at least one assistant should be operational. Double staffing in the last year of the
transition period, 2019, would generate quite considerable costs.
Mr. Panam made it clear that, from now on, the findings of this WG would be submitted
for information like those of all other Working Groups.
Mr. Vermeeren wondered whether Zurich was the best location as costs were higher
than in other European countries.
Mr. Panam confirmed that the WG had carefully balanced pros and cons regarding the
future premises and come to the conclusion that Zurich was still the best place for an
international organisation. The same applied to the question of whether QUALICOAT
should obtain ISO 17065 accreditation.
Ms. Becker regretted that it had not been made clear prior to the meeting on which
concrete matters the EC had to vote at this meeting.
VOA’s delegates therefore abstained from voting, whereas all the other GL
representatives endorsed the proposal that the QUALICOAT office should remain in
Zurich and that QUALICOAT should obtain its own accreditation to replace AC-Treuhand
AG’s by September 2017 (see Resolution No. 7).
10. Preparation of the QUALICOAT/QUALIDECO congress in London in 2016
Mr. Panam briefed the delegates about the preliminary investigations carried out by
himself, his wife Susie Panam and Mr. Schoppig. After assessing several hotels in
London, it was proposed that the congress and May meetings be organised there. The
target dates for the congress were 17 and 18 May 2016, and the selected venue was
the Millenium Hotel in London Mayfair.
Ms. Becker, Mr. Bernabé, Mr. Panam and the Secretariat would prepare the congress,
and additional proposals for the content and programme would be presented at the next
EC meeting in London.
Mr. Panam proposed allowing sponsorship to keep the organisation of the congress
as cost-neutral as possible. Those present endorsed this proposal (see Resolution
No. 8).
11. PR activities in 2015
GSB
Messrs. Panam, Boi and Schoppig had attended a formal meeting with the Managing
Director and President of GSB while in Amsterdam for a QUALICOAT meeting in
January 2015. EN 1090 had been addressed and identified as being a topic of common
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interest. Both organisations could prepare statements regarding this matter, but they
should be aligned prior to publication.
Mr. Boi urged that QUALICOAT should prepare its own position.
It was agreed that an ad hoc WG consisting of Mr. Boi and Mr. Stremmelaar would
present some proposals at the next EC meeting (see Resolution No. 9).
Andean countries
Mr. Bernabé confirmed that Ecuador and Colombia were currently ready, with two and
four coaters respectively, whereas Bolivia and Peru would join at a later stage. He
intended to attend the next preparatory meeting and to give a final push towards forming
an international association. He had supplied the committee in charge of its formation
with documents from the former Spanish coaters association and was giving advice on
the best way to build up such an association. The target was not to lose momentum and
to establish a new association with two countries for the time being.
Those present appreciated the new initiative and confirmed these arrangements and his
participation at that meeting in Medellin on 30 March 2015.
Cooperation with SABS (South Africa)
Mr. Schoppig had held a meeting with a SABS delegate in Geneva in December 2014. In
the meantime, SABS had submitted an official statement denying having infringed any
copyright of the QUALICOAT Specifications.
Those present thought that copying text from our Specifications was not such a serious
problem as if SABS had used or referred to the logo, which was not the case.
Ms. Becker asked for it to be checked whether QUALICOAT was protected in South
Africa. If this was not the case, then any further intervention would not make sense. If
QUALICOAT was protected, then the Secretariat could check with its specialised
trademark lawyer whether further intervention should be considered.
QUALIBAL
The QUALIBAL delegates attending the meeting outlined the developments in the
countries encompassed by this new General Licensee. So far, the Spanish testing
laboratory, DECOTEC, which would carry out the inspections in future, had not been able
to perform an actual inspection. This was mainly due to a difficult economic situation in
some of the countries. QUALIBAL delegates had already visited four potential plants in
Croatia and three in Slovenia. Concrete interest in obtaining a licence was being shown
by a coater in Serbia and one in Bosnia.
QUALINDAL
Thanks to Mr. Modar’s initiative, Mr. Panam and Mr. Schoppig would be able to meet with
key Indian people in June this year when the next QMEA meetings were held in Dubai.
After this meeting, it should be clear whether QUALINDAL could be relaunched or not.
QUALICOAT USA
The first licence had recently been granted to a coater in the USA. With the assistance
of that coater, QUALICOAT could organise an event either this year or next in order to
found a chapter and, later on, a General Licensee.
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Those present were in favour of organising such an event provided that the licensed
coater found a sufficiently large number of coaters and suppliers interested.
Membership of FAECF
A meeting between the Presidents and Managing Directors of both organisations had
been held in London in December last year. FAECF had promised to encourage its
members to recommend QUALICOAT licensed coaters. As a service in return,
QUALICOAT would become an associate member of FAECF. The annual costs would
be approximately €2,000.
Those present were in favour of this membership as many of the GLs already had a
close relationship with their national window and facade manufacturers associations.
Mr. Panam would prepare a letter asking FAECF to undertake to recommend
QUALICOAT licensed coaters (see Resolution No. 10).
12. Any other business
Right to appeal
VOA had requested that a right of appeal be included for the licensed coaters and
suppliers of approved materials. Unlike Qualanod, such a right was not included in the
QUALICOAT Specifications.
Those present endorsed this proposal bearing in mind that the vast majority of failures
and consequently the claims would relate to non-conformities, which essentially could not
be challenged. Nevertheless, it was agreed that a right of appeal should exist. The
Specifications WG should prepare a wording proposal (see Resolution No. 11).
Request from QUALUBEL
Mr. Vermeeren explained QUALUBEL’s request to prescribe an acceptable Delta E
range for colours from various batches produced by a powder supplier. When a coater
used several batches for the same object, it could happen that there was a considerable
visual colour variation for that coated object.
Mr. Panam asked the Powders WG to work on this issue. Some sort of tolerance for
specific colours should be established and limits fixed which the coaters could accept.
Request from Axalta
Axalta had recently sent a letter indicating some practical problems with the
implementation of the requirements for the Powder manufacturers (Update Sheet No. 2
of the 14th Edition of the Specifications). It was argued that the requirements (especially
on the labels) necessitated some significant alterations in industrial set-up (packaging
process). For this reason, Axalta had asked for the introduction of these new rules to be
postponed until 1 January 2016.
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Those present appreciated the arguments and explained that there would be no
practical consequences until the end of this year for powder suppliers who did not fully
comply with the content of Update Sheet No. 2.
13. Resolutions of the meeting
All resolutions passed at the meeting were fully endorsed (see attached list of
resolutions).
14. Next meetings
The next meetings would be held in London on 20 May and in Zurich on 5 November
2015.
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EC’s resolutions – 26 March 2015
Resolution No. 1/EC 26.03.15
EC requires ADAL to provide QUALICOAT with a report prepared by its lawyer. A final decision on ADAL’s request will be taken at the next EC meeting.
Resolution No. 2/26.03.15
EC asks QUALIDECO to prepare guidelines for the General Licensees.
Resolution No. 3/26.03.15
EC approves the rules proposed for access to the various Intranet sections and asks the Secretariat to apply these rules when distributing the minutes of the meetings.
Resolution No. 4/26.03.15
EC asks the Strategy & Accreditation WG to address the environmental issue again and submit concrete proposals (for instance guidelines, charter).
Resolution No. 5/26.03.15
EC asks the Technical Director to develop the training programme submitted at this meeting.
Resolution No. 6/26.03.15
EC agrees to support QMEA’s project with an amount of 5,000 euros, according to the rules for subsidising PR projects. Other support possibilities will be investigated and submitted for approval at the November EC meeting.
Resolution No. 7/26.03.15
EC approves the Future WG’s proposals for an independent QUALICOAT Secretariat located in Zurich and including a Managing Director, a Technical Director, an Office Manager and at least one assistant.
Resolution No. 8/26.03.15
EC agrees to seek sponsors for the QUALICOAT and QUALIDECO Congress that will be held in London on 17‒18 May 2016.
Resolution No. 9/26.03.15
EC decides to create an ad hoc WG consisting of Messrs. R. Boi and E. Stremmelaar to prepare a document on EN 1090 for the next EC meeting to be held in May 2015.