Conference Minutes

On the occasion of the DGSV-EFHSS congress in Potsdam the first general meeting of the representatives of the 12 organizations making up the European forum was held on Sunday 1 October 2000. Seven organizations were represented namely those of Ireland, the United Kingdom, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and the host country Germany.

The aim of the meeting was twofold: first to draw up a state of affairs, second to indicate the direction in which the Forum should move.

The first item on the agenda was the EFHSS website: www.efhss.com. Everybody was satisfied with the layout and the result which was achieved. The number of visitors hovers around 35 per day. In order not to make the Forum too dependent on a few people, to guarantee continuity and to keep the website up-to-date and attractive, Mary Deane (IRL) asked for everybody's cooperation. She urged all members to send in the reports of regional study days and appealed for help in answering the questions on the question and answer page.

As the information of the Forum does not seem to reach everybody Mary asked that associations should make a specific person responsible for passing on of information to all concerned and possibly to translate relevant information.

In reply to the question whether the Forum's activities should be formalised in the form of a charity, the majority was at present in favour of the present informal set-up. Rules are better than formal statutes. Wim Renders (B) has taken it upon him to attempt to draw up a set of rules.

Regarding the request of a non-European country to become a member of the Forum, the general meeting decided that the time was not ripe yet to strive for expansion outside Europe. A first priority was the consolidation of the present structure. At the next meeting this question will be put on the agenda again.

The general meeting also decided to set the annual membership contribution at 250 Euro for the year 2001.

Finally Mary proposed that the VSZ (B) would take on the organization of the next congress in 2001. Wim Renders replied that the VSZ would feel honoured to do so especially because it then celebrates its 15^th birthday. René Vis (NL) spontaneously offered the help of the CSC. The organisation of the next congress will hence be a collaborative effort. The EFHSS Conference 2001 will take place from November 5th to November 6th, 2001 in Bruges (Belgium). There is a plan to have workshops in different languages.

More industrial partners are needed to meet the costs of the web-site, delegates were asked to contact companies in their countries with a view to linking to the web-site.

Then the meeting was declared closed.

During the congress an informal meeting took place with Inga Busa chairperson of the recently established Latvian sterilization society. She too was very much interested in the activities of the Forum and she will propose to her board to join the Forum.

The EFHSS would like to thank the DGSV for the invitation to participate in the congress. The level of the papers and of the organisiation was very high. The enthusiasm of the participants can only be a further stimulus to continue along the same road.

Wim Renders
05 October 2000