The latest annual meeting of Cotance was held in Glasgow in June and reviewed EU policy developments with a view to further empower the Brussels-based office.
Representatives attended from Italy (UNIC), Spain (CEC), France (FFTM), Germany (VDL), the Netherlands (FNL), Finland (FLIA), Sweden (SG) and the UK (BLC).
Cotance has decided to provide increased and new services to fulfil the needs of European tanners and will set clear priorities in the various areas of EU policy development, notably with issues regarding raw materials.
Cotance will vigorously pursue any protectionist measure applied by third countries and will look at suspect attitudes in CEEC (Poland) and MEDA countries (Morocco) in order to set precedents for the next WTO round. They will also give priority to an internal empowerment plan before enlarging Cotance to Türkiye and will slim the organisation to those effectively participating in Cotance networks.
They intend holding an extraordinary Assembly General in December in Brussels to finish up the adjustment of Cotance as a tool for satisfying future needs of the European leather industry.
