National Secretaries met on 26th May 2022 in Limassol, Cyprus
After a long period of online meetings, the Secretarial Working Group (SWG) finally met on Thursday, 26th May 2022 in Limassol, Cyprus.
Mr. Olivier Mazoyer, President of IUCAB, Mr. Matthew Tickle (The MAA, UK & Ireland), the designated Chairman of the SWG, and Mr. Christian Rebernig, Secretary General, welcomed the National Secretaries from 9 countries, who gave an overview on important issues and developments in their national associations.
At the meeting Mr. Jacques Delétang (FNAC, France), Mr. Alkis Iliadis (FICAB, Greece), Ms. Tintti Ikonen (FFTAF, Finland), Mr. Nicolas Philippou and Mr. Zacharias Manitaras (CCRA, Cyprus), Ms. Alexia Scotto Di Carlo (APAC, France), Ms. Damjana Sever (GZS, Slovenia) and Mr. Bror Wiliam Stende (Virke, Norway) were present.
Mr. Rebernig opened the SWG Meeting by presenting the current developments referring to the commercial agent profession. The updated Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and Vertical Guidelines (VGL) comes into force on 1st June and will be valid until 31st May 2034. Commercial agency agreements are still excluded from anti-trust rules.
Furthermore, he informed about the cooperation with GL Events, which organises exhibitions worldwide. In the meantime, IUCAB took the opportunity to participate in the SIRHA Lyon and Global Industrie Paris exhibitions in order to increase the visibility of the profession. The Secretaries agreed to continue this cooperation.
The Secretary General summarised the information shared during the webinar for administrators of the IUCAB B2B Platform on 5th April this year. He invited the participants to promote this networking opportunity in their countries. In particular, he invited the Secretaries to promote the possibility to create a public profile and to use this account for postings.
Mr. Rebernig stated that six further training programs of National Member Associations were (re-)approved according to IUCAB standards. Additionally, Mr. Delétang took the chance to exchange with the attending Secretaries on their experience with the national trainings in their countries and invited them to provide information on how to raise the importance and quality of the training programs.
Ms. Sever was invited to present the further steps on the “ARAA – Adriatic Region Agents Association”. The objective of this project is to bring commercial agents and manufacturers from different Southeast-European countries under one umbrella association, which is welcomed and supported by IUCAB.
The next SWG meeting will be held on 27th January 2023 in Lyon, France.
