The XV ACTE General Assembly held in Carpi, Italy, on 7th
December 2007, took a first stock of the accessions to the “Petition
for a certified quality. Transparency, traceability, composition and origin
of products of the TCL sectors”. The majority of ACTE members
have already subscribed to the petition. Furthermore, the document is also
backed by the Ministry for Industry, Tourism and Commerce of Spain
and the Ministry for Labour, Economy and Entrepreneurship
of Croatia. 
Launched on 18th September 2007 by ACTE and the European Trade Union Federation:
Textiles, Clothing and Leather (ETUF:TCL), the Petition expresses our concerns
as regards the health risks for European workers and consumers arising from
the use of dangerous substances in the products of the TCL sectors.
The Carpi General Assembly has selected the new ACTE
logotype. The winning proposal"char-acte-r"
was submitted by Maja Paukovic from Varazdin,
Croatia.
A total of 26 proposals from 6 European countries have been presented to the call for proposals for the design of a new ACTE logotype.
On 20 January, ACTE was invited to participate as speaker
in the final
conference of the European project "Pro-Crisis"
in Thessaloniki, Greece. Our association was represented by the Vice-president
of European Affairs, Edgardo Canuto to present local initiatives
to manage restructuring. The objective of the PRO-CRISIS project was to create
tools for crisis management in the clothing sector to ensure both the adaptability
of companies and the quality of their work.
The presence in Thessaloniki was also used for a meeting with political representatives
of the Central Macedonia Region and the Cities of
Naoussa and Thermi to present ACTE and to express
our interest in enlarging our network towards local and regional authorities
in Greece.
On 28th February, ACTE President Teo Romero held a meeting
with his counterpart of the recently created European Network of Cork
territories (RETECORK), Lluís Medir Huerta. This first encounter
served to inform about the functioning and activities of our network, to discuss
about possible fields of collaboration and to identify common future challenges.
RETECORK represents the interests of territories with a presence of the cork
sector and is currently made up by local and supra-local entities from Spain,
Italy, France and Portugal.
The
Vice-presidency of ACTE Spain, presided by the Terrassa
Municipality, was present at the NEGO&TEC congress
organised by ATIT (Association of technical engineers of
the textile industry) on 21st and 22nd February in Barcelona.
The congress discussed about the future opportunities for the textile sector in Europe: innovation, design and product quality.
Several ACTE adherent members were amongst the speakers: CETEMMSA, LEITAT, Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña (Terrassa Campus), and the recently incorporated members AITEX and ASINTEC. Furthermore, the Municipality of Terrassa presented the international conference "The thread of innovation" which will take place in Terrassa in October in the framework of an ACTE Executive Committee.
Further unformation: Sra. Montse Borràs
The Economic Development Department of the
Diputación de Barcelona, through its Service for Local
Business Promotion, has launched the call for the ninth edition of the Awards
for the Best Business Initiatives 2008. Awarded in 6 categories,
the awards aim at recognising the best new enterprises consulted by local
business service centres.
Until 7 March, local entities of the Province of Barcelona can submit the
candidatures of the best business initiatives.
On 17th March, the Provincia di Novara, Italy, will organise a meeting for ACTE members interested in preparing an Interreg IVC project proposal. The project will aim at enhancing the competitiveness of European textile territories through the improvement of collaboration between local public authorities and scientific institutions in the field of research policies. If you are interested in participating at the meeting, please contact Mr. Silvano Brustia (Tel. +390321378875).
The market of protective textiles is one of the 6 innovative
markets included in the new Lead Markets Initiative.
With this initiative the European Commission aims at identifying promising
emerging markets in which the European Union has the potential to become world
leader and where coordination action through ambitious action plans is needed.
Helping small and medium-sized enterprises to develop their innovative potential
and to raise their awareness on Commission policies is the aim of the Enterprise
Europe Network (EEN). Launched on 7th February, the new European
Commission initiative offers entrepreneurs a one stop shop where they can
seek advice and benefit from a wide range of business support services. The
Executive
Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (AECI) is responsible for supervising
the network.
The XVI ACTE General Assembly will be held in Lodz, Poland, on 17th May 2008. The day before, the Executive Committee will take place (for members of the Executive Committee).
On 12 March, European Commission’s DG Enterprise and Industry will
hold in Brussels the workshop “REACH and the textile and clothing industry"
focused on the implementation of this legislation in these sectors.
The MED programme promotes transnational partnerships on the Northern part of the Mediterranean by financing projects working on fields pointed as priorities for the area. The first call for proposals was opened on 3 March to all priority axes of the MED Programme. Deadline for the submission of pre-proposals: 2 May 2008.
Further information: a.ratti@comune.prato.it