03/2005 27 July
	Member News | Regulatory News | Business News | Scientific News | People in the News | IRG Secretariat News | Sponsor | Events | Print letter
	Member News IRG membership age structure The Secretariat is presently compiling data of the membership age structure. We still miss information on the year of birth of many members and the Secretariat will contact those members shortly. Please note that this information will be handled as strictly confidential. Regulatory News Chromium: active substance or fixative? On 21st June 2005 the European Commission and the Competent Authorities of the Member States agreed a guidance document to tackle the discussion whether Chromium is an active substance or only a fixative. After elaborating on the term ‘sufficiently effective’, the guidance document concludes that although chromium could possibly be sufficiently effective at high concentrations, it is may not be sufficiently effective on its own under normal conditions of use (i.e. in a product containing only Chromium in typical concentrations and with typical application rates) or when used in combination with other active substances under normal conditions of use (i.e. in typical concentrations and with typical application rates) and therefore would not have to be considered as active substance in the sense of the Directive under such conditions. However, it is up to the applicant for authorisation to demonstrate that chromium contained in a product for which authorisation is requested is not acting as an active substance under the conditions of use. As a consequence, Chromium does not have to be listed in Annex I for further use in biocidal products (in combination with other active substances) - it could be used in formulations and would then have to be treated as a substance of concern in formulated products. To address the concerns about a lack of toxicology and ecotoxicology, the guidance document states that the BPD foresees the ability to request the complete data set for ‘substances of concern’. It must be underlined that this document only serves to provide guidance to the Member States and the industry. It has been conceived as an opinion of the services involved and it is not legally binding. (From WEI-IEO Newsletter Issue 4/05 - July 2005). Import of wood packaging to the EU New import requirements for wood packaging and dunnage to the EU from 1 March 2005 are the implementation for the EU of the FAO standard ISPM no.15 , International Standard for Wood Packaging Material in International Trade. Legal base: Commission Directive 2004/102/EC of 5 October 2004 amending Annexes II, III, IV and V to Council Directive 2000/29/EC on protective measures against the introduction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community. The barking requirement of this amendment is postponed until 1 March 2006 (Council Directive 2005/15/EC). For further information see Swedish Board of Agriculture homepage. Business News Timber Update Timber Update is a magazine with updated knowledge, which we send to our commercial partners outside Denmark. Timber Update deals with wood, wood materials, the timber industry, timber constructions, furniture and other subjects relevant to the manufacture and the use of timber and wood-based products. Each issue deals with a subject of current interest. Timber Update is intended as a quick way of information. Danish Technological Institute will in the paper present factual knowledge useful to you and your company. The aim is to give the reader a more in-depth knowledge of subjects, which are relevant to everybody working with timber and wood-based products. Each issue only treats one subject. The front page, therefore, informs you, to which extent the contents are relevant to you and your company. The subjects cover just as wide a field as timber is widely used in the society. The paper is published 8-12 times annually, not at certain dates. The needs of the subscribers, the "hot" subjects of the time and news are also decisive for the contents of the next issue of Timber Update. The price of a subscription to Timber Update is DKK 275 annually and the subscription follows the calendar year. If the subscription is taken out during the year, the former issues from the same year will be forwarded. Scientific News 2005 AWPA Book of Standards The 2005 AWPA Book of Standards contains the most recent updates to standards pertaining to wood preservatives and wood preservation. The 2005 AWPA Book of Standards is available as a printed softcover book, a searchable CD-ROM, or as a print/CD combination. OPEN ORDER FORM IRG Secretariat News Ron Cockroft Award 2006 Please note that the deadline for applications is 15 December 2005. Professors are asked to encourage students to apply for an award. For criteria and application form, see IRG/WP 03-60177. IRG Travel Awards Younger scientists, IRG members as well as non-members, may apply for an IRG Travel Award. This award is intended for short-term scientific missions and the maximum award is SEK 12.500 (approximately USD 1.800), see IRG/WP 03-60175 for criteria and application form. There is no particular deadline for applications. Document withdrawn and replaced Please note that Document IRG/WP 05-20316 on the CD-ROM issued before the meeting in Bangalore has been withdrawn by the authors (Pitman, Hodges). A late document by Morsing et al has been assigned number 20316 instead. The Secretariat regrets the confusion. Late and corrected IRG 36 documents Late and corrected IRG 36 documents are now available on the IRG website IRG website. IRG 37 in Tromsø Recent information from the Organising committee says that the website will be launched after the summer holidays. The deadline for contributions is 15 April 2006. Sponsor the IRG e-Newsletter! 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 300 (SEK 2.100) in 2005. The e-Newsletter sponsor will then get the company/institute logo on the front page and a link to the company/institute website. For sponsoring the first four issues of the e-Newsletter, Janssen Pharmaceutica, CSI, US Borax, and Arch Chemicals are kindly acknowledged. Please contact the IRG Secretariat, if you are interested in sponsoring the e-Newsletter. Contact details Have you changed address, e-mail address or telephone number recently? Please report to the to the IRG Secretariat immediately in order 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.					Sponsor Sponsor of this issue: Events FIEA Annual Conference: Wood Markets Asia - Structural Lumber (27 - 28 July 2005, Auckland, New Zealand) BIOENERGY 2005 in Wood Industry (12 - 15 September 2005, Jyväskylä, Finland) 55th WEI - IEO Annual Congress (14 - 17 September 2005, Camogli, Italy) Tagung Bauchemie (29 - 30 September 2005, Berlin, Germany) 9th European Panel Products Symposium EPPS (05 - 07 October 2005, Llandudno, United Kingdom) 1st International Conference on Environmental Exposure and Health (05 - 07 October 2005, Atlanta, USA) 2nd European Conference on Wood Modification (06 - 07 October 2005, Göttingen, Germany) Wood-Plastic and Natural Fiber Composites 2005 (24 - 26 October 2005, Baltimore, Maryland, USA) CWPA Twenty-Sixth Annual Meeting consecutively with CITW and CSA 080 (24 - 27 October 2005, Toronto, Canada) Nordic Bioenergy 2005 Conference (25 - 27 October 2005, Trondheim, Norway) 2005 Excellence in Building Conference & Expo (26 - 28 October 2005, Colorado Springs, USA) Wood Adhesives 2005 (02 - 04 November 2005, San Diego, USA) Innovative and sustainable use of forest resources (09 - 10 November 2005, Stockholm, Sweden) Building Materials Reuse and Recycling: Decon05 Conference (07 - 08 November 2005, Atlanta, USA) SP-Trätek Wood Preservation Meeting (10 - 11 November 2005, Borås, Sweden) 2. Waste to Energy (07 - 08 December 2005, Bremen, Germany) COST Actions IRG Documents Conditions for IRG Membership (187kb, PDF) Conditions of the RCA Scheme (127kb, PDF) Guidelines for Giving an Oral Presentation at an IRG Conference (151kb, PDF) IRG Travel Award for Short-term Scientific Missions (167kb, PDF) Archives IRG News in Brief 02/2005 11 May 2005 IRG News in Brief 01/2005 16 March 2005 IRG News in Brief 12 January 2004 IRG News 01 September 2003