FACE2FACE
Dr Volker Lederer
President, European Fastener Distributors Association
Volker Lederer was elected president at EFDA’s fourth triennial conference in Paris in May 2012. At the same conference, before stepping down as president, Bernhard Berrang presented plans for significant changes to the EFDA organisation. As 2012 closed Phil Matten caught up with Dr Lederer to find out how the new structure was developing.
Phil Matten (PM): What motivated EFDA to make significant changes to its organisation? Volker Lederer (VL): “One very practical reason for the changes is that Bernd Stapf, who has acted as EFDA’s secretary since its formation, will retire from that role at the end of 2012. I am glad to say we will not lose his services immediately. He will accompany our new structure until the middle of 2013 so his wealth of experience and knowledge will be available to me and to the new administration. The other motivator for change was the recognition that in its
previous structure EFDA had not been as successful as we would have wished or needed to be in Brussels – certainly not as successful as our counterparts in the European Industrial Fastener Institute. EFDA was created 12 years ago in recognition that the national
associations were focused on providing necessary services for the members but were not strong enough to be influential and effective at the European level. Brussels is making decisions that have a direct and very
real impact on the European fastener distribution sector and on its customers. The 2009 anti-dumping case on carbon-steel fasteners from China was the obvious example. Right now there is a circumvention investigation on stainless steel fasteners and the way the Commission appears to be approaching this in relation to long-established, major factories is a source of considerable concern. There are many other examples where EU decisions seriously affect the businesses of European fastener distributors. In the past EFDA has always reacted each time a new trade
defence issue was raised in Brussels but we feel that was often too late and made it very difficult under short timescales, and also the constraints of the investigatory process, to ensure our arguments were properly heard. EFDA needs to make those arguments heard continuously to help decision makers recognise that it represents a very large industry in Europe, employing many people in businesses that contribute very substantially to the economies of the EU. We needed to consider how we could conduct our business
in Brussels far more effectively and to ensure a crucial balance between the interests of European fastener manufacturers and fastener distributors.”
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PM: So how will the new structure operate? VL: “The concept that was developed to resolve these
two needs was that EFDA should engage with the BGA (the Federation of German Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services) to provide it with secretarial services and to advise and act on its behalf in EU matters. The German fastener distributors association FDS
(Fachverband des Schrauben-Grosshandels) has been working with the BGA for eight years. The BGA provides their managing director and the FDS is based at the BGA’s Berlin offices. Now the BGA will provide an expert to work for both the FDS and EFDA specifically to increase the effectiveness of our representation in Brussels. This will be Dr Helena Melnikov, who replaces Mr Stapf as EFDA secretary. Her expertise is in legal matters and the general administration of associations. So far she has not yet accumulated specific know how in the fastener field, this may come with the teamwork within the associations. The BGA already has general representation in Brussels, which will be important in terms of information flow, but Dr Melnikov will be specifically responsible for liaising with the European Commission and other EU institutions on behalf of EFDA and the FDS. In considering how to become more effective in representing
the interests of the huge fastener distribution sector in Europe, it was important that representation was highly professional but also that it was clearly independent from the other interested parties in trade defence cases. In the BGA we believe we have exactly the right partner to fulfil both those criteria. We also concluded that the engagement of the BGA would offer the most effective and value for money approach. The other side of the new structure, again aimed at
substantially improving our effectiveness over time in EU matters, is the EFDA Task Force. Members of this are drawn from all the countries currently represented by EFDA and will provide the technical competences and depth of knowledge of the fastener industry to support Dr Melnikov. Of course, Mr Stapf knew the fastener industry intimately - the culmination of decades working at senior levels in the industry. Now we have the two legs on which EFDA stands: one is the BGA, responsible for the administration, the legal side and the networking with Brussels authorities. The other is the Task Force, providing the fastener industry knowledge.”
Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 79 January 2013
6.L133
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