Europump Holds Virtual Meetings of its Standards and Technical Commissions

Traditionally these gatherings have been hosted by one of its member organisations, and so have visited numerous European cities over the years. However, with the current level of Covid induced restrictions, a virtual approach needed to be adopted for its latest set of meetings.

The individual Standards and Technical Commission Meetings were staged during the week of 11th January 2021 and were attended by a record number of representatives from the national trade associations including National Secretaries and company experts that make-up the full Europump membership.

Established in 1960, Europump interacts with governments throughout the region on a range of technical, legislative, and environmental issues. These include:

• the requirement to reduce the energy consumption of pumps (in EU countries, pumps account for a significant proportion of energy consumption in industrial and commercial applications).
• addressing draft EU legislation in areas such as energy efficiency, technical standards, and health & safety.
• supporting the framing of new EU legislation, with a growing attention to circular economy and digital files in such a way that the goals of the legislators are achieved without compromising the ability of pump manufacturers to compete internationally.
• maintaining a competitive edge against global competition through matching more closely the needs of customers.

Throughout its extensive programme of meetings, all these issues are discussed, debated, and addressed, with the aim of securing safe, efficient, and environmentally friendly pumps and related systems. The recent suite of virtual meetings was no exception, with a range of topics and undertakings being covered by the separate Commission meetings.

Standards Commission – 12th/13th January 2021
Chaired by Frank Ennenbach of Sulzer Pumps, the Standards Commission gave an upbeat and comprehensive review of the wide range of issues currently being addressed, under several broad topic areas including:

• Machinery Directive Revision
• Eco-Design Directive Implementing Measures (motors, water pumps, repairability)
• CEN & ISO Standardisation (CEN/TC 197, ISO/TC 115, IEC Project)
• ATEX (and a similar China Compulsory Certificate)

The meeting also addressed technical issues relating to Wastewater Pumps (Lot 28) and Test Standards on Motors as well as updates on Extended Product Approach Standards.

Technical Commission – 14th January 2021
Chaired by Robert Dodane of Wilo, the Technical Commission provided detailed updates on the following items:

• Europump Systems Approach
• Circular Economy (EU’s Green Deal initiative)
• Drinking Water Directive (4MSi task force, materials in contact with water)
• Lead (and its impact on DWD, REACH, RoHS)

A detailed discussion also took place on ECHA (The European Chemical Agency) and its management of the newly set-up SCIP Database.

Additionally, at the Europump Executive Council meeting that closed the week of meetings on 15th January, the Chairman of the Marketing Commission David Noble of SPX Flow Europe gave an update on the PR activities of Europump over the past 12 months, including what topic areas had been selected for articles being distributed to, and featured in the European trade press. He also reported on the preparation of the World Pumps Report 2021 written by Oxford Economics with the support of a joint Europump/Hydraulic Institute working group.

Despite being conducted as a series of virtual meetings, they once again provided a comprehensive delivery of information, addressing and expanding on a great deal of ‘behind the scenes’ work, which will ultimately prove beneficial to all those involved in the European pump