Call for greater integration of European coatings industry

Citation

Bean, J. (1999), "Call for greater integration of European coatings industry", Pigment & Resin Technology, Vol. 28 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/prt.1999.12928faa.001

Call for greater integration of European coatings industry

Keywords: Coatings, Paints, Inks, Conferences

Speaking at the recent annual conference of the European Council of the Paint, Printing Ink and Artists Colours’ Industry (CEPE), President Professor Franz Joseph Rankl called for greater integration of business across Europe. Most enterprises of the coating and printing ink industry consider the European Union a common market, he said, but despite the introduction of the Euro, there remains a lot to be done, “before we can start to compare ourselves with the USA”. Within the European Union, significant discrepancies remain between member states with regard to salaries and performance as well as regulations for safety, health and environment (SHE).

Jean Schoder, secretary general of CEPE, pointed out that in view of the rising amount of legislation coming from the European Union, “the importance of CEPE’s work at European level has grown, too”. Mr Schoder presented an overview of CEPE’s current work.

“The key to success is to cooperate between CEPE, its member associations, the association of neighbouring industries and the European authorities”, he said. “A recent example for this is the VOC Directive of 11 March 1999. After ten years of intensive negotiations we reached a compromise acceptable to all parties concerned.”