During the 50th General Assembly of Euralarm, the European association representing the fire safety and security Industry, the members have chosen Mr. Martin Harvey as new President of Euralarm. He succeeds Enzo Peduzzi who was President for the past three years. Following the election of the new President, a new Board and Managing Director were introduced. Delegates from national associations and blue-chip companies acknowledged that the Industry is more unified, better integrated into European decision-making processes.

The 2018 General Assembly of Euralarm was hosted for the second time in Bucharest, by Euralarm’s Romanian Member ARTS, a body representing the Security Industry in the country. The event coincided with the end of the Euralarm Board’s three-year mandate and offered a review of the work achieved during that three-year period under the presidency of Enzo Peduzzi, from Siemens.

The outgoing President praised the work done in fostering internal communications within the association, as well as aligning opinions and developing clear priorities shared across the whole scope of the Industries represented by Euralarm: manufacturers of products and systems, fire and security services providers, SMEs, mostly represented by national associations, and large international companies.

Through the integration of several new Members over the past year, Euralarm now directly represents a bigger share of the Industry. Similarly, the opening of an Extinguishing Section in February this year, allows Euralarm to carry more weight at European level, as it now represents a unified front for the whole fire Industry in European debates. Under Euralarm’s umbrella model, different branches of the Industry are represented by their own Section with separate membership, however, they act as one in their high-level dialogue with institutional players and other European stakeholders.

These developments, which mirror a consolidation of fire and safety branches within the Industry, have empowered Euralarm to become a key player in the EU-Industry Joint Initiative on Standardisation, and to sign a partnership agreement with CEN, the European platform for standardisation. Those two strategic alliances allow Euralarm and the Industry as a whole to speak with a stronger voice when it comes to the development of European legislation, regulation and standards.

A new General Manager, Paul van der Zanden, representing the association in Brussels, was introduced and will start his new function in fall this year. Martin Harvey (Johnson Controls) was elected as President of Euralarm.

In separated meetings the next day, new chair persons have been elected in the Sections and will also join as members of the Euralarm Board: Lance Rütimann (SES) will chair the Fire Section of Euralarm with, as Vice-Chairman, Michael Scharnowsky (Hekatron), Tornbjörn Laursen (SikkerhedsBranchen) will chair the Extinguishing Section and Alan Elder (FIA) will be Vice-Chairman, Jon Könz (Siemens) has been elected Chair of the Services Section with Philippe Lecuyer (DEF) as Vice-Chairman, and David Wilkinson (BSIA) will carry on as Chairman of the Security Section, Milan Ceeh (AGA) has been elected his Vice-Chairman.

A future development sanctioned by the assembled Delegates from the Members was the foreseen modernisation of Euralarm’s Statutes by the incoming Board, in order to adapt the association’s legal framework to a changing institutional, political and commercial environment.