Orgalime - In Brief
Manufacturing a Stronger and Greener Europe 
The European Engineering Industries Association

Edition 43, March 2013
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Manifesto
Orgalime Manifesto - Manufacturing a Stronger & Greener Europe

 
Welcome
 

Orgalime In-Brief edition 43.


On 14 March, industry and consumer groups acted together to express their common concerns at the suggested Environmental Footprint Methodology, based on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, and its envisaged use in EU policy making, including in the context of the Commission Communication 'Green single market for green growth' envisaged later on in March 2013. 

ACEA, ANEC and Orgalime wrote to President Barroso indicating that the suggested methodology does not represent a reliable tool for creating demand for 'better and greener products' in the EU, while it risks exposing companies to unfair competition and market distortion as consumers would base their buying decisions on misleading information [more]

 

Please continue  to let other colleagues know about In-Brief by using the 'forward e-mail' link at the bottom of the page.

Commission's General Report on REACH (COM/2013/49)

In the context of REACH, Orgalime represents a major EU downstream user industry of chemical substances and preparations as well as EU producers and importers of final articles including many of their components for both, professional customers and private consumers. The EU engineering industries are clients of the chemical industry and supplier of capital goods to all other industry sectors, including the automotive, aerospace, chemical, food or textile industries as well as to the health and environment sectors.  

 

Orgalime welcomes the Commission's General Report on the REACH Regulation and its main recommendation to not change the main terms of the REACH Regulation in order to provide stability. We fully support this commitment towards legislative stability and predictability. In line with the EU industrial Policy, we believe that regulatory stability is necessary to allow the manufacturing sector to continue adding value with a strong prospect of jobs and growth. [more] 

Towards a Europe-wide database of accidents and injuries

On 14 March, Orgalime collaborated with 27 other European organisations to call for the setting up of a Pan-European Accident and Injury Data System.

 

Specifically, Orgalime wishes to highlight that avoiding accidents is not only a question of product safety.   Adrian Harris, Director General, Orgalime, the European engineering industries association: "We are delighted to be able to count once again on objective data. We know that with the extensive body of health and safety legislation we have made enormous progress, but accidents still occur and therefore this will help consumers to be more aware of the risks that remain and which they must manage".  

 

The broad coalition of European organisations came together to call on the European Commission to make the proposal -  they are convinced that such a system would contribute to fewer accidents and injuries.  Moreover, the cost of creating such a system would be more than offset by reductions in health care costs.

 

The Joint Call was formally presented this morning to Tonio Borg, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, at the European Consumer Day Conference in Brussels, organised by the European Economic and Social Committee [more

Joint Industry Statement on EMF Transposition          

Orgalime, in conjunction with 8 other industry associations and in connection with the trialogue process underway, present our (joint) view relating to the transposition date of the new electromagnetic fields (EMF) Directive.

 

In order for businesses and notably SMEs, to adequately protect the health and safety of workers against electromagnetic fields, it will be necessary for them to have the practical guide (see Article 13) available to them, when they are preparing to implement the Directive......

[more]  

 

Industry's view on the Roadmap on Substances of Very High Concern
The first industry experiences with the authorisation process are that this process is not just limited to manufacturers and/or importers.  Downstream users also clearly play a much more important role than ever anticipated.  It is in the authorisation process that the complexity of REACH is becoming increasingly evident across the entire supply chain. Experience so far with entering substances on the Candidate List and afterwards prioritising for Authorisation by inclusion in Annex XIV, have shown an underestimation of the complexity of the supply chain and demonstrate unforeseen impacts right down to the end of the supply chain, including recycling [more]

Ensuring a truly complementary, coherent and consistent implementation of REACH and RoHS2  

 

Electrical and Electronic Equipment falls in the scope of both, Directive 2011/65/EU (Recast RoHS Directive, or 'RoHS2') and Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH).

 

Manufacturers of such equipment therefore have to implement the requirements stemming from both pieces of legislation. To be in a position to ensure full and timely compliance with all requirements applying on their products and processes due to either regulation, industry needs legal certainty, consistent requirements and no redundant overlaps in requirements.

 

Legislative overlaps and inconsistencies are however ever more imminent as REACH and RoHS2 implementations progress, especially in two areas:

  • Existing and potential new restrictions on the use of certain substances in EEE and the related preparatory substance evaluation processes in RoHS2 and in REACH.
  • The obligation on EEE manufacturers to seek REACH authorisations in addition to RoHS exemptions for same substances in same products and processes [more]
European Conference 'SMEs and Standardisation' - 28 May 2013 (save the date!)

European Standards offer a wide range of benefits to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).  They enable companies to improve their efficiency and competitiveness, minimise waste and reduce costs.  They ensure the quality and safety of products and services, and make it easier to sell them throughout Europe and around the world.  They help to create a level playing field, allowing SMEs to access more markets and attract new customers. SMEs can take full advantage of the benefits and opportunities offered by European Standards, but often don't know how.

 

The European Standards Organisations, national standards bodies and business associations are working together to improve the value of standards for SMEs, and to make sure that every business can take full advantage of all that standards have to offer [more]
"Rare that I see 2 Commissioners [one being the President] within 24 hours" says Hans Hess, President of SWISSMEM
Hans Hess, President of SWISSMEM
Find out why Orgalime is attracting new members....

Intended to be more dynamic, the new Orgalime website design offers easy to find content on the issues that are important to European engineering.  Be it our latest position papers, news or events or what's hot in the legal publications produced by Orgalime and widely sought after, the intuitive navigation gets you there quickly.

 

Once you found what you want, why not share it?!  Easy to do with the site fully integrated with social media tools.

 

Want to know what's happening in the various member states?  Our members' feeds are integrated into a 'network news'.  Additionally, there is a dynamic 'engineering news' feed [more]

 



Sincerely,


Orgalime Secretariat  
Orgalime, the European Engineering Industries Association, speaks for 39 trade federations representing some 130,000 companies in the mechanical, electrical, electronic, metalworking & metal articles industries of 23 European countries. The industry employs some 10.2 million people in the EU and in 2011 accounted for some €1,666 billion of annual output. The industry not only represents some 28% of the output of manufactured products but also a third of the manufactured exports of the European Union.