It was really a very exiting experience to find at the start of the meeting that the minimum quorum of participants were not present at the meeting. Reason: several members did enthusiastically join the new Euralarm Services Section without having realized that they also had to fulfil the voting requirements as member of the security section. This especially counted for national trade associations that represent both, manufacturers and installing/service companies. However this little hick-up was solved easily by issuing proxies and splitting up some of the delegation if more that one person was available.
The Security Section meeting had two important issues to deal with. First, the accelerating progress in EN standardization of the EN 5013x suit and the long awaited start up of Certalarm. The chance of the European Commission BER (Block Exemption Regulation) at the beginning of this year creates an important catalyst for this Certalarm certification scheme. It is an very strong contribution in coming to a European components market without de facto trade barriers between the EU member states.
The second important issue is the rapid technological evolution in the security industry combined with the attention of the European Commission for the position of the European Security Industry. The IP based technology will fundamentally change the landscape and offer interesting opportunities for especially the SME type of enterprises throughout Europe. Add to this en the participation of several Eastern European trade associations and you find the route for the coming years filled with challenges and threads to addressed.
The Security Section meeting is convinced that Euralarm will fulfil its promised goals by offering the platform for cooperation between big and small entities to the benefit of the market progress for all participants that are involved.
Jos van Kampen
Vicepresident Euralarm & Chairman of the Security Section