This year, the 52nd regular general meeting of the Swiss Aerosol Association was held on September 25 in Geneva. More precisely, it began the evening before in the Hotel Royal with an aperitif and dinner in the Restaurant Edelweiss. The FEA, the European Aerosol Association, invited members to dinner in conjunction with its regular general meeting. And thus, on that evening, the crème de la crème of the international aerosol industry gathered in Geneva. Furthermore, in addition to New York City, the city of Geneva is home to the most international organizations in the world, including the United Nations (UNO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN), the International Red cross (IKRK), and the World Trade Organization (WTO), to name just a few. There are also 175 countries with diplomatic representation here. After Zurich, Geneva is the second-largest financial center in Switzerland and Geneva occupies 26th place on the ranked list of the world’s most important financial centers.
It was clear that this city provides the necessary “inspiration” to put participants in the right mood and provide an ideal framework for everyone participating in this year’s annual meeting. This was true in particular because before the actual regular general meeting, all participants were invited to tour UNO headquarters; this invitation was accepted with enthusiasm.
ASA President André Keller started by greeting the participating representatives of member companies and he announced that the meeting had achieved a quorum. Then Keller presented his report for 2018. The President underscored the association’s various activities in the past year and made special mention of the topics of disposal of aerosols and recycling. The goal should be to create a uniform situation within the association and adopt a uniform position that can be represented to the outside world. At the moment, there is no such uniform situation in Europe. In addition, the aerosol manual was completed and distributed to all members. Work on the new website was also completed and the future of the ASA office was clarified. Many questions were answered, said Keller. Finally, Keller thanked everyone who participated in these processes. The FEA also did considerable work in the past year, and the fact that there is now also an ASA member on the FEA board is especially pleasing. Urs Hauser has assumed this position and is responsible for representing the small associations within the FEA. Hauser then named the focal points that were discussed in the working groups; these included the topics ADD guidelines, REACH, CLP regulation, GHS. E-commerce was also a topic, and naturally also recycling.
Finally, Dr. Martin Wenner, Managing Director of the ASA, reported on the association’s financial situation, then presented the annual financial statement for 2018 and the 2018 fund accounting for acceptance. This was followed by the audit reports and the relieving of the Executive Board, Manging Director, and Auditors of their duties; the vote was unanimous. Dr. Wenner completed his remarks with the presentation of the budget for 2020.
This year’s regular members meeting concluded with a gourmet lunch in the legendary restaurant Le Richemont in Geneva. Numerous conversations accompanied this culinary highlight.
