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03/2008 17 December |
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Member News | Regulatory News | Business News | Scientific News | People in the News | IRG Secretariat News | Sponsor | Events | Print letter | |||||||||||||
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Member News
IRG Strategy development in 2008/2009 At the final plenary session of the 2007 IRG conference held in Jackson Hole, Wyoming a number of challenges facing the future of international wood protection research were raised. The question of IRG’s potential role in addressing these challenges was asked, and a survey was carried out amongst IRG members during the spring 2008. The results of the survey and conclusions have been compiled by the Group's Vice-President, Mr Jack Norton. Read here the results of a survey New members IRG welcomes the following new members. READ INFORMATION Ron Cockcroft Award 2009 - extended deadline for applications The deadline for RCA applications has been extended until Tuesday 30 December 2008. There has been some problems with submitting applications online and applications and those supervising applicants are advised to check whether the application has reached the Secretariat. Read Conditions for the Ron Cockcroft Award IRG Travel Award for Short-term Scientific Missions Funds are still available for Travel Awards. If you are interested, please take advantage of the on-line application procedure available on the IRG website. The maximum amount that can be granted is Swedish Kroner SEK 12 500, i.e. approximately USD 2 000 or EUR 1300. Regulatory News Europe: ISPM 15 and the debarking requirement - Publication of Directive 2008/109 On 29 November 2008, the European Union published its Commission Directive2008/109/EC that limits the presence of bark for all import of wood packaging material from third countries into the EU. Directive 2008/109 changes the Directive 2000/29, the European Commission adopted special requirements for wood packaging material introduced into the Community based on the FAO International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) No 15 on ’Guidelines for regulating wood packaging material in international trade’. The issue of debarking requirements has been in the text of Directive 2000/29 but the application of it has been postponed several times. On 28 November 2008, the Commission now adopted the debarking requirement. The application of the debarking requirement will be mandatory as from 1 July 2009. The experience so far with the review programme indicates that the evaluation of a regular active substance dossier never takes less than three years, even under optimum conditions, and the average time required is in the order of four years. The Directive, as it is now, does not allow for such a period, but requires that the market be fully harmonised by 14 May 2010. Article 12 of the Directive, on data protection, will need to be adjusted as well to the new deadline of the review programme, because otherwise there is a risk that the information submitted for the purposes of the Directive from 14 May 2010 until the proposed new deadline for the completion of the review programme - that is, on 14 May 2013, will not be protected. Read the full text here. Source: WEI Doc. 3310 Brussels, 10 December 2008. Europe: Directive 98/8/EC BPD - new deadline 14 May 2013 This proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive to amend Directive 98/8/EC of 16 February 1998 concerning the placing of biocidal products on the market is submitted following a report forwarded by the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the progress with the 10-year work programme for the evaluation of active substances used in biocidal products. The experience so far with the review programme indicates that the evaluation of a regular active substance dossier never takes less than three years, even under optimum conditions, and the average time required is in the order of four years. The Directive, as it is now, does not allow for such a period, but requires that the market be fully harmonised by 14 May 2010. Article 12 of the Directive, on data protection, will need to be adjusted as well to the new deadline of the review programme, because otherwise there is a risk that the information submitted for the purposes of the Directive from 14 May 2010 until the proposed new deadline for the completion of the review programme - that is, on 14 May 2013, will not be protected. Read more here. Europe: REACH: The guidance for downstream users is published Between 1 June and 1 December 2008 producers and importers of phase-in substances (on their own, in preparations or in articles) must pre-register those substances, if they are produced or imported in the European Union in quantities of 1 tonne or more per year. For pre-registration, the potential registrant needs to submit to the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) basic information on the produced or imported substances. This information comprises the registrant’s name and contact details, the substance name, the envisaged registration deadline and the tonnage band within which he produces or imports the substance. The aim of pre-registration is to facilitate data sharing between all potential registrants of the same substance. Therefore, the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) will publish by 1 January 2009 a list on its website of all pre-registered substances. ECHA has recently also released a guidance document for downstream users. This document as well as other guidance papers can be downloaded from: http://reach.jrc.it/guidance_en.htm Source: WEI Newsletter Issue 3/08 - July 2008. Europe: Concern that European biofuels may divert wood supply A fierce debate is emerging in Europe over the legitimacy of policies to increase use of biofuels as a means of countering carbon emissions and climate change. Read more From Friday Offcuts – 15 August 2008. Business News Australia: 12% Increase in post-consumer wood recovery The National Timber Product Stewardship Group (NTPSG) in Australia is well on its way to achieving the goal of one million tonnes wood recovery per annum following the recording of a 12% increase in the 2006-07 financial year. Read more. From Friday Offcuts – 05 December 2008. Canada: Finnish technology for New Brunswick wood One of the technologies, heating sawn lumber, already kiln dried to temperatures ranging from 185 to 210 degrees C has been recently profiled in a Canadian Business Journal. Read more. From Friday Offcuts – 12 September 2008. New Zealand/Australia: Commercialisation of wood modification technologies Technologies for the modification of wood have been known for decades. Commercial implementation of these technologies has been restricted in the past due to economic considerations that meant the resulting product would need to command too high a price in the market place to justify the return to an investor of any capital outlay. Read more. From Friday Offcuts – 12 September 2008. Australia: No Chemicals in 99% of Waste Wood Packaging A new study has found that the vast majority of post-consumer wood pallets and crates have no chemical preservative residues so almost all can be fully recycled or used to generate renewable energy. The study can be accessed via the National Timber Product Stewardship Group (NTPSG) website. Read more. From Friday Offcuts – 08 August 2008. Scientific News USA: Adhesives moves composites away from formaldehyde An inspiration that began when an Oregon State University researcher watched mussels being pounded by ocean waves has now evolved into a new wood adhesive that is creating jobs for U.S. Read more From Friday Offcuts – 26 September 2008. New Zealand: Eco-friendly solution for treating sap-stain A Rotorua scientist has developed an environmentally friendly treatment for an infection that causes significant revenue losses for the forestry industry, winning recognition in the MacDiarmid Young Scientists of the Year Awards. Read more From Friday Offcuts – 22 August 2008. New Zealand/Australia: Wood Preservation 2009 - Call for Papers Wood Preservation 2009 is a unique two-three yearly update on new technologies, research, changing standards and key wood preservation developments from throughout Australasia, North America, Europe and South Africa. Read more From Friday Offcuts – 22 August 2008. People in the News Korea: Dr Yoon Soo Kim
Germany: Prof. Dr. Olaf Schmidt retired at 65
Mr Robert Peterson, auditor of the IRG Mr Robert Peterson, auditor of the IRG, passed away on 9 October at an age of 74. Mr Peterson had served as the professional auditor of the IRG Secretariat since 1991. In addition to his work for the IRG, he also served as auditor for the Swedish Wood Preserving Association and the Swedish Wood Preservation Institute. Mr Olufemi A Kayode dead Mr Kayode, corresponding member from Nigeria since 2005, passed away earlier this year. IRG Secretariat News Report back from Sections at IRG 39 Section reports from IRG 39 have been compiled by Jack Norton Read here the full paper IRG 40 in Beijing, China
Future venues The French Local Organising Committee has decided to select a new venue and change the dates for the IRG 41 Annual Meeting. Thus the information in the Plenary Report IRG/WP 08-60261 is not valid any more. New venue and dates: Biarritz, 8-13 May 2010. IRG 42 will be held in Queenstown, New Zealand on 8-12 May 2011. 2012 and beyond are open for bids. Please contact the Secretariat for information. Regional Meeting in Costa Rica 2008
Regional Meeting in South Africa in 2009 A ’follow-up regional meeting’ in South Africa is under consideration late November early December 2009. Planning is in progress by Mr Angus Currie of the South African Wood Preservers Association and other South African IRG Members as well as Prof Dr Pascal Kamdem, Michigan State University. More information will come. IRG Index database 2008 - Web based The web-based Compendium and database has been updated with all papers prepared for the IRG 39 Annual Meeting. When all contributions for the IRG Americas Regional Meeting in Costa Rica have been received they will also be uploaded, see the IRG web site. Forgot your login ID? Please contact the IRG Secretariat. Problems with the Compendium login ID? Some members have reported problems with the Compendium login. The following procedure seems to work in most cases: First you need to clear your Internet cache. If you are using Internet Explorer, click on the Tools menu and then Internet Options. Find and select Clear temporary internet files. In Mozilla Firefox, you choose Tools and then Clear sensitive data. Check Cache and Session data and hit clear. If you have other problems with the Compendium access, please report back to the IRG Secretariat. NB. In order to get renewed login ID, the 2009 dues must be paid. Invoicing 2009 Members and Sponsors will be invoiced for 2009 within the next couple of weeks. Please pay up as soon as possible to save the Secretariat from sending numerous reminders. Note on receipts Please note when paying fees (member/sponsor fees, conference registration fees) to the IRG Secretariat, payments are acknowledged and receipts sent on request only. Receipts are normally scanned and forwarded as pdf files. Due to technical problems receipts sometimes do no reach the member/sponsor/conference guest. Please contact the IRG Secretariat, in case you have requested a receipt but not yet received it! New sponsors The following enterprises have signed up for IRG sponsorship in 2008:
Click on link Sponsor the IRG e-Newsletter in 2009 IRG regular sponsors and members' institutes are kindly invited to sponsor the production of the IRG e-Newsletter in order to cover the costs involved for production of the same. The IRG e-Newsletter is scheduled for six issues per year, and for each issue a sponsor is welcome. The fee for sponsoring the e-Newsletter is USD 450 (SEK 3 000) in 2007. The e-Newsletter sponsor will then get the company/institute logo on the front page and a link to the company/institute website. Sponsors so far have been: Arch (UK), Arch (US), CSI, Dr Wolman GmbH, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Lanxess, Nisus Corporation, Osmose (US), Troy Corporation, US Borax, Dyrup (DK), Sankyo Agro, Viance, SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden (Trätek), Zelam, FCBA, The Swedish Wood Preserving Association and the MPA Eberswalde Material Testing Institute. Please contact the IRG Secretariat, if you are interested in sponsoring the e-Newsletter. Contact details Please report any change of contact details (address, e-mail, tel, fax) to the IRG Secretariat immediately in order to keep our register up to date and to facilitate the Secretariat's communication with Members and Sponsors. Legal Information Read legal information here Editorial If you have information related to wood protection being of general interest for Regular Members, Student Members or IRG Sponsors, please email to the NiB editor with the name of the web page and the URL.  |
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Sponsor
Sponsor of this issue: 
Click the logo to visit the e-Newsletter sponsor! Updated: Events 4th International Symposium on Wood Fibre Polymer Composites (30 - 31 March 2009, Bordeaux, France) Wood Preservation 2009 - New Technologies & Product Opportunities (15 - 16 April 2009, Rotorua, New Zealand) Wood Preservation 2009 - New Technologies & Product Opportunities (21 - 22 April 2009, Brisbane, Australia) Fourth European Conference on Wood Modification (ECWM4) (27 - 29 April 2009, Stockholm, Sweden) International Research Group in Wood Protection (24 - 28 May 2009, Beijing, China) 7th International Conference “Wood Science and Engineering in the Third Millennium” – ICWSE 2009 (04 – 06 June 2009, Braşov, Romania) 4th International Bioenergy 2009 Confenrence - Sustainable Bioenergy Business (31 August - 04 September 2009, Jyväskylä, Finland) Third International Coating Wood and Wood Composite Conference: Durable and Sustainable - Today and Beyond (Fall 2009, Charlotte, NC) XXIII IUFRO World Congress: "Forests for the Future: Sustaining Society and the Environment" (22 - 28 August 2010, Seoul, Republic of Korea) COST Actions 
ended May 2008 
ended September 2008 
ended June 2008 The Procedures Manual The IRG Procedures Manual ia a "handbook" for IRG Members and Sponsors. It has the following contents:
 Wishing all IRG Members and Sponsors a Happy New Year! Finally this year, in the name of the executive committee, I wish all members of IRG a happy and prosperous new year 2009, and a sustainable development of our organisation. Dr Gérard Deroubaix IRG President. The Secretary-General Jöran Jermer, and the Editor-in-Chief Rolf-Dieter Peek would like to thank all IRG Members and Sponsors for continued stimulations and contributions. We wish you all a relaxing and well earned break with friends and family over the Christmas period. Looking forward to meeting all of you in good health at the IRG 40 Annual Meeting in Beijing, China. |
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