Minutes of the Executive Committee meeting held in …€¦ · · 2015-04-17Minutes of the...

H:\AC2\Q-COAT\PROTOK\VORSTAND\2014 2015\EC-03 2015 (PENDING APPROVAL).DOC 1/13

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

Executive Committee (26 March 2015) Q U A L I C O A T

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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




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6.4 Specifications WG – meeting held in Barcelona on 18 February 2015



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.


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.


EC asks the Strategy & Accreditation WG to address the environmental issue again and submit concrete proposals (for instance guidelines, charter).


EC asks the Technical Director to develop the training programme submitted at this meeting.


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.


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.


EC agrees to seek sponsors for the QUALICOAT and QUALIDECO Congress that will be held in London on 17‒18 May 2016.


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.


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EC agrees to apply for membership of FAECF.


EC instructs the Specifications WG to include a right of appeal in the Specifications.

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