On 22 April 2021, the EOTA members got together virtually for their 18th General Assembly.
For the first time, EOTA welcomed an observer from across the Atlantic, the International Code Council Evaluation Service (ICC-ES), headquartered in the United States and represented by its President Shahin Moinian. This was made possible by an amendment to the EOTA statutes adopted in the run-up to Brexit. It allows assessment organisations from countries outside the sphere of the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) to obtain observer status in EOTA. The British Board of Agrément (BBA), now acting as UK Assessment Body, also took this opportunity to remain part of the EOTA family.
“Aligning technical specifications across market spheres will go a long way towards streamlining assessment procedures for manufacturers of construction products in all markets. That is what we are all committed to,” said EOTA President Sebastian Wall (ITB, Poland).
The General Assembly also voted on several personnel matters:
After four successful and very busy years in office, Luisa Morfini’s term as the Technical Board chair drew to a close. Luisa (ITC, Italy) passes on the baton to Matthias Springborn (DIBt, Germany). For her part, Luisa moves on to head the new PT 16 project team. The objective of this team, composed of experienced EAD drafters, is to support and accelerate the citation of EADs in the Official Journal of the European Union. To achieve this aim, a roadmap for reducing the backlog of EADs pending for citation has been agreed with the European Commission.
Georg Kohlmaier (OIB, Austria) has been confirmed as a member of the Executive Board. The General Assembly also formally appointed Karsten Kathage (DIBt, Germany) and Luisa Morfini. Previously, both had been part of the Executive Board as officers. Karsten Kathage as the former EOTA President (until December 2020) and Luisa Morfini as outgoing chair of the Technical Board. We wish all nominees the very best for their new tasks and functions!
From a technical perspective, EOTA looks back on a successful year 2020. 60 EADs were adopted by EOTA and a record number of 44 cited in the Official Journal. With 1210 ETAs issued, assessment numbers proved resilient in the very challenging conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic. The same goes for the organisational performance of EOTA. Last but not least, several agreements were reached with the European Commission that will contribute to improving citation timelines as well as the quality and consistency of EADs.