Page 60 - FINAT Yearbook 2011

globalisation of the label community
establishing a ‘micro cosmos’ of our own
The on-going evolution of our sector from an emerging, pioneer driven manufacturing industry to the mature, professional service oriented sector of today is reflected in the development of the trade associations that represent us. Recently, two collaborative platforms were established with the aim to strengthen the connection between label associations in Europe and worldwide: the L9 and the European National Associations Board. What has happened since then and how is the collaboration perceived by the participating associations?
In Europe, national label associations are providing the ‘home base’ for label printers alongside their European ‘hub’ FINAT. They service the local needs of our industry, and several of them like the associations of Germany, France, Italy and Spain now have a professionalised structure in place. Globally, FINAT has shared most of its history with its counterparts from North America and Japan as well as Australia, but more recently also emerging label giants like India, China, Brazil and Mexico have organised themselves to drive the development of the label industry in their country.
the label universe
One could well argue that the global label industry is on the way of est- ablishing a micro cosmos of its own. Looking at the European situation, ‘Planet FINAT’ is surrounded by ‘satellites’ from the different countries. Worldwide, FINAT itself is one of the
satellites sharing its ‘orbit’ with the trade associations from the different regions. If we then put the two images together, we see FINAT and its European satellites as part of a global ‘Label Universe’.
Both in Europe and globally, our association has a role to play: as a ‘clearing house’ of association activities; as a hub for knowledge exchange; or as collaborative platform with other stakeholder associations to address issues of common interest. In 2009, FINAT therefore took the initiative to explore the common interests and work more closely together.
addressing common interests on the european scene
In Europe, Board members engaged themselves in a series of face-to-face interviews with national association deci- sion makers. The results of these interviews were the starting point for a joint brainstorming session in Frankfurt in December of that year, where the National Associations Board was created. Since then, meetings have been held in Hamburg (May 2010), again Frankfurt (December 2010) and Amsterdam (May 2011). Some examples of the achievements so far:
• Since the beginning of 2011, FINAT has been collaborating intensely with the national associations and other stakeholders to address the European Commission and especially its DG
European Presidents Summit, December 2009
Environment about the proposed amendment of Annex I of the Pack- aging and Packaging Waste Directive, that would classify release papers for self-adhesive labels as packaging materials (at the moment of writing, the lobby is ongoing).
• FINAT and the national associations are actively sharing information about Recycling Solutions for spent liner materials and jointly raising awareness towards their members and customers about the benefits of recycling and then promoting the solutions available. The idea is to connect local recycling networks across Europe and to support clustering of liner collection.
• The National Associations Board is serving as a vehicle to possibly ‘upgrade’ national programmes to the European level, such as the Occupatio-
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