UKLA President’s Report
I hope you and your families have had a great festive period after a busy finish to the year.
With market dynamics impacting crude pricing we have seen base oil costs tumble during Q4-14 and into January 15. This combined with potential closures of Group I plants this year along with additional Group II and Group III capacity now available is making for interesting market conditions. All reports suggest we will continue to see oversupply in the base oil market for the next few years, this is good news for blenders as good deals can be struck. Also where there has been a shortage of “approved” base oils in traditional market segments there are now more options without the large premiums seen in days gone by.
ACEA 2012 is now in play, hopefully your transition to 2012 compliant products went smoothly and did not cause too many headaches before the Christmas break. From a UKLA point of view 2015 looks like it is going to be another busy year.
Rod Pesch stepped down from the Director General role at year end with David Wright taking over. The transition has gone smoothly with a good hand over period, David is getting to grips with the task at hand as well as making his plans to take the trade association forward. David has also started his tour of UKLA members to gain a better understanding of member companies and what they want from UKLA.
The 2015 CLC course will start on the 5th February 2015, if you have a member of staff that you would like to offer comprehensive training to please contact the secretariat.
On a more social front, the RAF Club Lunch will be held on the 20th of March and the UKLA AGM & Golf Day will be held at the prestigious Celtic Manor on the 4th of June. I look forward to seeing you there. If your company is interested in sponsoring any of these events please let us know.
UKLA will also have a presence at ICIS, UNITI, ELGI and the UEIL Annual Congress in Malta. If you are attending and would like to take the opportunity to meet with myself or other members of the secretariat to discuss UKLA matters or to put forward any initiatives you have that can help the trade association, please contact us to make arrangements.
Let me take this opportunity to wish you a happy and successful 2015!
Simon Brander Email me at
Simon.brander@
multisolgroup.com Or Tweet me @UKLA President
UEIL President’s Report Dear Lube Magazine Readers,
The UEIL Board of Directors and working committees (Technical, Competition and Health, Safety & Environment) have gathered in January already to determine concrete actions to take place throughout the year.
The changing dynamics of the European institutions as a result of last year’s European elections provides us with a great opportunity to promote UEIL and its values and goals at the policy-making level. UEIL is analyzing with the public affairs team a strategic plan for the next years in order to strengthen UEIL’s visibility towards the stakeholders and, in the meantime, to monitor the development of new Directives as well as best practices to be adopted for a levelled playing-field strategy in the taxation and competition areas. It’s a difficult task that needs competences and continuous follow up from our side and that requires efforts and use of resources both human and financial to achieve successful results.
As always, information about the Technical and Competition committees (TC & CC) can be found in the UEIL section of Lube Magazine. I would like to emphasize the number of cases handled by these Committees (in 2014, a total of 20 cases) with a high percentage of success. Most of the cases (60%) are related to limited access to Technical Information and misleading communications. Currently these Committees are working not only with the EU Commission but also with other stakeholders. Since last year, the TC and the CC have issued 12 new bulletins.
Don’t forget to check the UEIL website for integral versions of the bulletins produced.
From the Health, Safety and Environment Committee side, UEIL continues to track the activities of ECHA and the European Commission on the incorporation of Boric Acids under REACH, as well as activities around the new EU Commission study on impact of REACH on SMEs. We would welcome cooperation with ATIEL in order to join efforts to achieve a common goal. As part of the activities for 2014, the HSE Committee has also produced papers for authorities/customer communication on Formaldehyde (releasers) and labelling issues. The HSE Committee will also participate in the Symposium of Metal Removal Fluids, organised by ILMA on September 2015 in the USA.
GEIR (the re-refining section of UEIL) currently focuses its efforts on the Waste Framework Directive Revision and BREF/ BAT document review. On these issues GEIR is working with a good methodology, having set up a specific Task Force for this. Right now, most of the re-refining industries members of GEIR have been listed in the Plant Reference List and have adhered to participate voluntarily filling out a questionnaire with performance and environmental data which allow the Technical Working Group of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Seville to evaluate the Best Available Techniques. The WFD revision is monitored by GEIR and I’ve personally met Simona Bonafè, the rapporteur appointed by the European Commission, in order to discuss the evolution of the Directive and the impact it
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LUBE MAGAZINE NO.125 FEBRUARY 2015
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