RONG>The Western-European Institute for Wood Preservation, WEI, held its 54th General Assembly and annual congress in York (UK) from 15 to 18 September 2004. The event attracted around 100 delegates from European and North American timber treatment companies and suppliers. The four-day event was perfectly hosted by WEI member company Arch Timber Protection.

In his opening speech, WEI President Tommy Karlsson (Rundvirke Poles AB, Sweden) highlighted that the wood preservation industry has changed over the last 15 years. In the past, sleepers and poles formed the majority of the market, but for several years already the construction and gardening market has been emerging, with demand for treated timber growing faster than the demand for non-treated timber. This is reflected in increasing consumption figures each year. To pursue this positive development, Mr Karlsson urged the European wood preservation industry to drop the defensive strategy and focus more on the good story that treated wood has to tell.

In this context, WEI Secretary General Filip De Jaeger stressed that the current situation clearly shows that it is perfectly possible to run a wood preservation business that is fully in line with the current requirements on environmental protection, safety and health issues etc. To achieve this, however, companies have had to invest massively, both from a financial as human resources point of view.

Safeguarding the competitiveness in a sustainable way will certainly be one of the key priorities for WEI for the next couple of years. Therefore, it will try to link as much as possible into the Roadmap 2010 process launched by CEI-Bois.

Specific activities in the wood preservation field will, however, be needed too. Mr De Jaeger emphasized that such actions can only be done through cross-border European or international co-operation. In Europe, the WEI presents itself as a fitting vehicle for this. He therefore launched a strong appeal to further strengthening the organisation, thus allowing it to tackle the various challenges ahead.

Presentations during the Annual Meeting included CE marking for treated timber, the EU's biocidal products directive, European standards for pole production, and latest developments in the wood preservation field from the European Co-operation in Scientific and Technical Research organization (COST).

The Wood Protection Association, the new division of the British Wood Preserving and Damp-proofing Association, presented its activities aimed at keeping the UK timber industry up to date on timber protection developments and in the promotion and use of treated wood products.

The next Annual Meeting of WEI will be held in Camogli (Italy) from 14 to 17 September 2005.

More information:
WEI
Allée Hof-ter-Vleest 5, box 4
BE-1070 Brussels
info@wei-ieo.org

News-ID: 08Q4DN7REA

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