MINUTES ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING EFCLIN 2003

Barceló Hotel Sants

Friday 14 November, 18:00

Members present:

Acculens

Benz Research & Development Corp.

Con-Lens ApS

Contact Lens Precision Lab

Contamac Ltd.

Contour Fine Tooling Netherlands

DAC International, Inc.

David Thomas Contact Lenses

EMA

Fabrilens N.V.

Franklin Contactlenzen

Fisba Optik

Galifa Contactlinsen AG

Global CONTACT

K&Y Diamond Tools

Lens Dynamics, Inc.

Menicon Europe

Microlens Contact Lens Technology

N.K.L. Contactlenzen

No .7 Contact Lens Laboratory Ltd.

Nordiska Lins AB

Nova Contact Lenses

OPTEQ

OPTIX

Opto Kontakt K.L. s.r.l.

Paragon Vision Sciences

Polymer Technology Corporation

RADTEK Corp.

Rotlex

Simplon Lenses International Ltd.

Soflex Ltd.

Sub Micron Tooling B.V.

Technodiamant Almere B.V.

Techno-Lens

Vista Optics Ltd.

(total 35 members)

1Welcome by the President

The President opens the meeting at 18.00.

The President gave an overview of some highlights of the last 12 months:

  • The promotional campaign for this Congress has been more intensive than ever. There were four mailings, several publications, many articles in the professional press and an attractive printed programme.
    The result is that some all time records have been broken at this Congress: 259 participants, representing 121 companies and organisations from 24 countries.
  • We welcomed eight new members this year:
  • Radtek USA, Mr. Konrad Bergandy
  • Optix Servië, Mr. Dragonir Stamenkovic
  • Jack Allen C.L. UK, Mr. Bill Wilson
  • Avizor Spain, Mr. Peter Bulte
  • Valley Contax USA, Ms Janice Schramm
  • Bangkok Inst. of Optom. Thailand, Mr Vitaya Kritalukkul
  • Fisba Optic Switzerland, Mr. Yves Gilliand
  • Gary Hedges Techn. Eng.UK, Mr. Gary Hedges
  • Unfortunately eight members had to leave, because we have not received their payment for this year. Their names were shown on the screen.
  • All Board members have specific responsibilities. The President gave an overview:
    By-laws Graham / Edwin
    CongressesKen
    Co-operation with the practitionersIvan / Hen
    and organisations k
    EUROMCONTACTKen
    Expanding services to the membersIvan
    FinancesJohn
    Meetings besides the CongressIvan/Henk
    Members and expanding the numberHenk / Graham
    of members
    New initiatives and activities Henk
    PRKen
    PresidencyKen
    Promotion Ken
    Regulatory Affairs (ISO, CEN etc.)(John Parker)John
    Sales statistics Henk
    Secretariat Edwin
    Technical Edwin
    Web SiteJohn
  • The web site is proving to be very successful. The number of visitors for the last three months:
  • August: 339
  • September:497
  • October:604
  • Furthermore; over 50% of registrations for this Congress were made through the web site.
  • Some members reported that they experienced some trouble with the web site and the use of the password.
    It was explained that the web site works very well, but to get acquainted with the full options, some practice might be needed. We anticipate that in the future the web site will become more and more, the basis of the communication between the Board and the members and between the members.
    It was also explained how to save the password easily on your “favourites” list which enables the member to start the web site immediately in the “Members Only” section without the need to fill in the password each time.
    In case any assistance in needed in using the web site the members are advised to contact the secretariat.

2Minutes Annual General Meeting, Antwerp, 16 November 2002

The minutes of the EFCLIN AGM 2002 were unanimously accepted.

The minutes of 2002 were sent to all members in December 2002 by mail and by e-mail and were available on the web site also since then.

In the future the minutes will only be published on the web site.

3.Activities report 2001 - 2002 by the Secretary

The Secretary, Edwin Fierkens explains some highlights of this past year’s activities:

  • A welcome package for new members was developed and will be expanded.
  • A protocol for the organisation of the Annual Congress has been developed. It became a kind of ISO 9000 document which will become more and more useful in the coming years.
  • Promotion for this Congress will be integrated in the protocol. The President has already covered what has been done this year to make this Congress such a great success.
  • Members overview:
  • 78 Members in total
  • 20 Countries
  • 51 Labs
  • 22 Suppliers
  • 5 Others
  • Members are from the following countries (The number of members is indicated in front of the country name):
  • 1 Austria
  • 1 India
  • 1 Sweden
  • 1 Thailand
  • 1 Trinidad
  • 2 Canada
  • 2 Denmark
  • 2 France
  • 2 Scotland
  • 2 Balkan
  • 3 Belgium
  • 3 Israel
  • 4 Germany
  • 4 Italy
  • 4 Switzerland
  • 5 Spain
  • 11 United States
  • 13 UK
  • 15 The Netherlands
  • More Activities 2004
  • ISO / CE reports by John Parker
  • Policy note
  • Expanding web site services
  • Other meetings than only Congress
  • More intensive communication to and between members
  • New services to members
  • Edwin expressed that he has enjoyed it very much serving on the Board for six years. He has seen the organisation grow in this period and he has all the confidence that EFCLIN will become a highly professional organisation which will be able to serve the members well and play an important role in the contact lens industry in the future.

4 Members and annual subscriptions

The Board was asked during the last AGM in Antwerp in 2002 to prepare a proposal for a new system of annual subscriptions based on a sliding scale. After consulting many members this plan was presented by the Treasurer, John Clamp.

The system as present has only two rates:

€ 495 for labs and wholesalers

€ 600 for suppliers to the industry

The new system (based on the same income) the Board proposes, is as follows:

Labs:

Staff No. (total employees)Annual Subscription

5 or less€ 400

6 – 25€ 500

26 or more€ 600

Suppliers:

Annual sales to C.L.Industry Annual Subscription

< € 250.000 € 600

€ 250.000 -750.000 € 750

> € 750.000 € 900

Before a vote can be taken, first the financial report and the forecast 2003 – 2004 has to be accepted by the members.

5 Financial report 2001 – 2002

The Treasurer explains the report. The future reports will also only be published on the web site. For this meeting a hard copy was handed out.

The financial report discussed during this meeting was published on the web site in the members only section since September 2003.

The financial report was accepted unanimously by the AGM

A letter of conformity by EFCLIN’s registered accountant on the figures and the report was presented to the Board.

6.Forecast 2002 – 2003

The Treasurer elect , Henk van Bruggen, distributed the forecast for 2003 / 2004.

He explained once more why EFCLIN has a financial year from 1 July – 30 June. The reason is that Dutch laws prescribe that a meeting with the financial reports to propose to the members, must be held within 6 months after the financial year ends.

The forecast 2003 – 2004 was explained and several important items highlighted:

  • From next year, two year forecast of costs.
  • Costs for Visa / Eurocard will be brought down by asking the members to pay by bank transfer.
  • Costs for ISO / CEN reporting on the web site are included in the forecast
  • Promotion costs will be slightly higher
  • Travel expense will be limited as much as possible, but Board meetings and site inspections to Congress venues have to be done
  • The costs of secretariat are set on a fixed rated. For the first time in 13 years the fees have been revised.

After some questions were answered by the Treasurer elect , the proposal for the forecast was accepted unanimously.

The proposal for the Annual subscriptions was also accepted unanimously.

7Introduction of By-Laws

The Board member responsible for the By-Laws, Graham Avery, explained why the EFCLIN needs By-Laws. He also went through the most important rules in the By-Laws that will have immediate effect on the organisation following any acceptance of them.

Some items explained were:

  • Resigning membership must be done before 1 December in the year prior to the commencement of the next years membership.
  • Late resignations cannot be accepted.
  • Annual subscriptions have to be paid before 31 January.
  • Several rules for the responsibility for the Board and the members are laid down in the By-Laws.

The By-Laws were accepted unanimously, except rule 7e, which was missing a line. The correct text will be sent as a proposal to the members. Voting can be done by e-mail later.

8Election Board Members

The Treasurer, John Clamp and the Secretary, Edwin Fierkens, will step down after serving their full period at the Board. Two new Board members have to replace them. There were two candidates:

  • Dr. José A. Ors
    Representing Benz Research & Development Corp, USA
  • Andy Chryssolor
    Representing Contour Fine Tooling Ltd., UK

The results of the vote were as follows:

Andy Chryssolor: 25 for, 7 against and 3 abstained

José Ors: 32 for, 2 against, 1 abstained

Both candidates were elected on the Board.

The President welcomed the two new Board members and expressed how the Board looks forward to working with them and wished them much success.

He also thanked John and Edwin for the many years they served on the Board and presented them both with a sculpture as a memory of all the good years they have worked together.

9Schedule of (re-)election Board members

The President explains the time schedule that Board members are serving, since there seemed to be some misunderstanding amongst the members:

Member YearAvailable for re-election

John2003No
Edwin2003No
Ken2004No
Graham2004Possible
Henk2005Possible
Ivan2005Possible

New elected Board member2006Possible

New elected Board member2006Possible

The positions in the Board are decided by the Board members, in accordance with the new By-Laws.

10Any other business arising

There were no questions from the floor.

11End

The President closes the meeting five minutes before the scheduled time.