WFC information / Press release General Assembly Meeting July 2008 Frankfurt

Press release General Assembly Meeting July 2008 Frankfurt

Press release

Frankfurt, July 4^th 2008

World Furniture Confederation Chooses Vice Presidents and confirms Moscow as venue for the third World Furniture Congress.

Hosted by the Decorate Life Fair, the World Furniture Confederation held its committee meetings and General Assembly meeting in Frankfurt on July 4^th. On proposal of its directors' board, the members of the World Furniture Confederation choose Mr. Jia Qwen, Mr. Andy Counts, Mr. Valentin Zverev and Mr. Chan Huang Choi as vice presidents of the organizations during the meeting of its general assembly.

Mr. Jia Qwen is president of the CNFA, the Chinese manufacturing organization that is celebrating its 20 anniversary this year.

Mr. Andy Counts is CEO of the AHFA, the American Home Furnishings Alliance which represents the interests of the furniture manufacturers in the United States. Mr. Valentin Zverev is president of Amedoro, the Russian furniture manufacturers' federation.

Mr. Chang Huang Choi is president of KFFIC, the Korean Furniture Manufacturers' organizations and also president of Capfa, the Confederation of Asia Pacific Furniture Associations.

Mr. Mohsen Sellami, president of UTICA, the Tunisian Wood and Furniture federation was chosen as convener of the Technical and Environment Committee. The general assembly also ratified the choice of Moscow as the venue of the third World Furniture Congress. The congress will be organized by Amedoro and will take place on 10 - 11 November 2009.

The members of the general assembly also approved two new resolutions proposed by the directors' board and by the technical and environmental committee. Resolution 3 of the WFC appeals to the national and transnational standards bodies to work on the harmonization of a standard to measure the emissions of formaldehyde from panels. Currently several European, American and Chinese standards are being used. This is seriously complicating the trade of furniture specifically considering the various legislations on this subject that are being enacted all over the world.

Resolution 4 of the WFC endorses the international ISO standard 10303 - 236 as electronic communications standard for the furniture sector. It suggests the use of this open standard in software used in the international furniture trade. The members also discussed the illegal harvesting of timber and legislative efforts to reduce this such as the lacey Act in the US which renders all import of illegally cut wood and wood products a criminal act or the similar EU initiative that is being discussed in the European Union.

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