Membership January 2003

Enham Industries are no longer members as they have ceased manufacture. It is understood that Prices Patent Candle Company Ltd. has ceased trading. Julius Mellor have requested application forms

Some members (eg.BP.) have difficulty paying subscriptions without receiving a formal invoice. This will be raised with the Hon. Sec.

Federation Website

The President had received some proposals from Thomas Hudson about the possible structure for this. It is planned that the first phase should be in place by the AGM. Members were asked to ensure the President had up to date email addresses and website details, if these differed from the information on the membership list.

Candle Testing & Quality Standards

The meeting noted the letter from Dr. Andrew Coupland. It was hoped he would consider joining the federation.

The German Candle Quality Association was continuing work on the soot test method and apparatus demonstarted at the last AGM. The detector has been modified and new apparatus will be available in May. A meeting was planned in Frankfurt to review the progress towards a DIN standard. It is hoped that IKEA would adopt this new method in place of their existing, unique, method. The President was due to attend.

The President reported that he had attended a meeting of the European Candlemakers Technical Committee in Frankfurt which had discussed the plans for a European candle quality system. At this meeting it was proposed that, instead of starting a new organisation, the existing German Candle Quality Association would expand to cover the whole of Europe. This should be much more cost-effective than starting a new organisation but would need approval of the European Candlemakers Association and the German Gutegemeindscaft Kerzen. This will be proposed at the next board meeting of the European Association in March.

The President also reported that the Technical Committee felt that there should be some means of allowing suppliers to join the European Association. This topic would also be raised at the ne xt European meeting.

Bernd Laudi reported that the Finnish Government had issued new regulations concerning candles. These followed reports of an increasing number of flares involving tealights and outdoor candles. Some sections ere unclear and others would be onerous to the industry. If the industry had reacted sooner, they could have influenced these regulations and made them more realistic.

These issues reinforce the need for a robust common European quality system for candles.

European Association

The next European AGM will be in Antwerp on 13/14th June, 2003. Application forms will be sent with the next mailing.

N.C.A.

The President hopes to attend the next NCA meeting in Baltimore in April. He has been asked to speak to the NCA on the European Industry.