Council of Delegates minutes

Minutes of the IULTCS Council of Delegates Meeting
31 May 2003 at 1400 hrs
Presidente Intercontinental Hotel, Cancun, Mexico

1. Record of the Delegate Attendance
At the Congress there were 36 Delegates present with voting rights, out of a possible 48.

2. Minutes of the Council of Delegates Meeting: 9 March 2001, Cape Town, South Africa.
The minutes had been previously circulated to all Members and were also posted on the website. The minutes were accepted unanimously.

3. President's Report
I will like to thank you for the support that has been given to me during the last four years since I was elected President.

Our IU Commissions have done an incredible amount of work updating and developing standards that are required by our industry. Their work will be completed after the adoption of the new and revised methods that will take place during this meeting. I do thank the Commissions Chairmen for their hard work and commitment in the name of the IULTCS.

The Executive Committee feels proud of the goals accomplished and at the same time is aware of the hard work that still needs to be done in the near future. I can assure to you that our new elected President, Prof. Jaume Cot, is fully capable of guiding the Union in order to achieve those goals, and that he will count on the full support of an excellent officer that is our current Secretary/Treasurer Mr. John Williams, a good person as Vice President Mr. Marc Folachier and a great Executive Committee to accomplish the required goals.

Our Web Page has been updated and I personally feel that Spindlemedia the company that is managing our page will comply with the goals that we will set on this matter; do please check the information and report to us any matters that would needs updating. Our web page is www.iultcs.org

I can assure after reading our aims in our Bylaws, this Executive Committee has done its job and has complied with the aims of the Union.

Our Union is growing in membership and I am very happy to finalize our term with very good results and still new prospectus of more new members that will hopefully become true in the near future.

After finalising my term as President of the IULTCS, I have suggested to the Executive Committee, some ideas that should be taken into consideration in order to achieve a better functioning of our Union in the near future. I will like to mention just the one related to the interaction that should take place between the IULTCS member and associated member societies with the elected Area Representatives.

The Duties of the Area representatives must be fully described within the Internal regulation of the union and should include as tasks:

· To stimulate the affiliation of new members and associated members to the Union in the areas of the world that are representing.
· To assure the contacts between the Executive Committee and the Member societies and Associated members in his Regional Group.
· To inform the Executive Committee the composition of the board of the Member and Associated Members and maintain the information up to date relevant to contact information (address, phone, e-mail, web page), annual general meetings and other important events.
· To aid the Treasurer on the collection of the subscription Fees.
· To stimulate Union activities, especially the contribution in the work of IU Commissions and Study Groups and the organization of Conferences in the Area that they represent.
· To attend the programmed meetings and Virtual meetings of the Executive Committee.
· To promote acceptance of IU methods by stimulating the different representatives of Member Societies.

Thank you very much once again for the support that I have received from you and for allowing me to have the great experience of conducting the IULTCS.

a) Election of new Vice President
The Executive Committee had elected Mr Marc Folachier, France as the new Vice President. The meeting endorsed this choice unanimously.

b) Election of Area Representatives.
There are two new Area Representatives for election, Dr Bi Shi for North Asia and Dr Buddhabed Chattopadhyay for South Asia. The meeting confirmed the election by a unanimous vote. The full list of Area representatives is thus:

North Asia Dr Bi Shi
South Asia Dr Buddhabed Chattopadhyay
Central Europe Dr.-Ing Heinz-Peter Germann
Eastern Europe Prof Dr Karel Kolomaznik
South America Ms Regina Canovas Teixeira
Latin Europe Mr Jean-Pierre Gualino
North America Mr Elton Hurlow
Northern Europe Prof Geoff Attenburrow

c) Election of new Members and Associate Members
PARAGUAY and TURKEY were elected unanimously as new members
ECUADOR, GREECE and TUNISIA were elected unanimously as associate members.

d) Transfer to new President
The retiring President, Mr Juan Manuel Salazar, handed over his duties to the new President Prof. Jaume Cot. (During the closing ceremony of the Congress, Prof. Cot had paid glowing tributes to Mr Salazar for his unstinting efforts for the IULTCS during his 4 years as President. This tribute was met with a lengthy standing ovation for Mr Salazar).

4, 5 and 6. Secretary/Treasurers Report and Communications
The secretary advised that the collection of membership fees was now virtually up to date. Investigations were in hand to open a USD account so that, following requests from many members, membership fees could be invoiced and paid in USD. The Secretary would be seeking help from the ALCA Secretariat to set up this facility with a US Bank.

The possibility of an internet credit card payment system would also be investigated so that members could pay by credit card.

E-mail addresses had now been obtained for all members so that communication with all members would be improved. It is the intention to e-mail members with the minutes of the Executive Committee meeting, the Council of Delegates meeting and all IU Commission meetings.

All future invoices for membership fees would also be sent out by e-mail. Those members who require an "original" invoice, rather than an e-mailed copy, should please ask the Secretary/Treasurer for such an invoice to be posted to them.

A sub-committee has been appointed to improve the design and content of the website. Various ideas to be considered include the addition of a glossary of leather terms and a "help line" for members to request assistance with any problems.

The accounts will be audited later this year and will then be circulated to members. The accounts will be presented at the next Congress for approval.

The planning for future Congresses is well advanced:

2005 Italy; 2007 USA; 2009 China; 2011 Spain and, just decided, 2013 with our new member, Turkey.

7. IULTCS Commission Chairman Reports

a) IUC Commission - Dr A J Long
Dr A J Long was unable to attend but her written report was submitted by Dr C T Page, presenting the following methods:

Draft IUC Number Method title Comments
IUC 5 Determination of volatile matter Revised. Also required by CEN
IUC 6 Determination of water soluble matter, water soluble inorganic matter, and water soluble organic matter Revised. Also required by CEN
IUC 18 Determination of chromium VI content Revised. Also required by CEN
IUC 19 Determination of formaldehyde content in leather Revision of method published in JSLTC, 82, p 243, 1998. Also required by CEN
IUC 20 Determination of certain azo colourants in dyed leathers Revision of method published in JSLTC, 82, p 251, 1998. Also required by CEN
IUC 21 Determination of certain azo colourants in dyestuff mixtures Revision of method published in JSLTC, 82, p 259, 1998.
IUC 22 Determination of aluminium oxide content of aluminium tanning agents Revision of method published in JSLTC, 82, p 265, 1998.
IUC 24 Determination of basicity of aluminium tanning agents Revision of method published in JSLTC, 82, p 269, 1998.
IUC 25 Determination of pentachlorophenol in leather Revision of method published in JSLTC, 82, p 265, 1998. Also required by CEN

NOTE: IUC 23 pH of aqueous solutions of aluminium tanning agents. (Published in JSLTC, 82, p 267, 1998). The IUC Commission has decided that this method is not considered useful to the industry and it was agreed to abandon the method.

There were some minor editorial corrections to be made, some of which, for Formaldehyde, were circulated at the meeting. After some discussion on IUC 18 CrVI, it was agreed that there was no suitable alternative to this method. Members requested that a close watching brief on developments should be kept by the IUC Commission Chair to ensure the method was amended as the need arose.

The meeting unanimously approved the above methods, with their corrections, as official methods of the IULTCS. (See Appendix A for full list).

b) IUE Commission - Dr S Rajamani
The IUE is an important commission of IULTCS. It is actively functioning with membership from nearly 25 countries. The representations are from:
1.Argentina, 2.Austria, 3.Australia, 4.Brazil, 5.China, 6.Colombia, 7.Czech Republic, 8.Denmark, 9.France, 10. Germany, 11.Greece, 12.India, 13.Italy, 14.Japan, 15.Mexico (New), 16.Poland, 17. Scandinavia, 18.Spain, 19.Slovinia, 20.Switzerland, 21.Turkey (New), 22.Tunisia, 23.United Kingdom, 24.Uruguay (New), 25. USA & 26.Representative from UNIDO, Austria

The commission meets annually in one of the host countries. And the 2003 meeting was held on 29 May 2003 at Cancun, Mexico. 12 Members have attended the meeting.

The IUE has developed eleven documents relevant to the environmental protection and management.

IUE 1- Recommendations on cleaner technologies for leather production

IUE 2 - Recommendations for tannery solid by - product management

IUE 3 - Document on total dissolved solids in tannery effluent

IUE 4 - Assessment for chromium containing waste from the leather industry

IUE 5 - Typical performance for tannery waste water treatment

IUE 6 - Typical pollution values related to conventional tannery process

IUE 7 - Chargeable effluent parameters in various counties

IUE 8 - Recommendations for odour control in tannery

IUE 9 - Recommendations for sewer adapted for tannery effluents

IUE 10 - Guidelines for restricted products in leather -DRAFT

IUE 11 - Recommendations for occupational safety and health in the use of chemicals in tannery

The documents have been updated every year and few more documents are to be developed in the coming years. In addition to the development of the documents, it has been decided to widely disseminate the activities of IUE Commission with the help of organisations such as United Nations, European Commission etc. Unlike other documents the IUE document may have some legal implication so there is some constraints in the publication of IUE document. However, it has been decided to distribute the document among the interested members of all the commissions, organising Regional Workshops and Seminars, publication of the IUE documents after proper editing, better interaction among IUE members are some of the planned programmes. The next IUE meeting is proposed during the first half of May 2004 at Switzerland.

A suggestion from Mr Thierry Poncet that the IUE Commission should be given the opportunity of reviewing any environmental papers submitted for the 2005 Congress would be put to the sub-committee who are reviewing the "Conference Guidelines". The meeting felt this suggestion had considerable merit.

c) IUF Commission - Dr C T Page
Dr Page presented two methods as follows:

Draft IUF Number Method title Comments
IUF 412 Change in colour to accelerated ageing Revision of method published in JSLTC, 82, p 29, 1998. Also required by CEN
IUF 452 Colour fastness to crocking New method - IULTCS only

NOTE: IUF 412 Change in colour to accelerated ageing. This method now includes an ageing method with varying temperature and humidity cycles.

Dr Page advised that the joint IUC/IUE/IUF/IUP commission meeting held on 30.05.03 had agreed to the suggestion that IUF 452 Crocking should be submitted to ISO and to CEN.

The meeting unanimously approved the above methods, with their corrections, as official methods of the IULTCS. (See Appendix A for full list).

d) IUP Commission - Mr J M V Williams
A further 8 methods had been published, as follows:

Draft IUP Number Method title Comments
IUP 3 Conditioning Revision of method approved by the Delegates meeting at the IULTCS Congress in Cape Town in March 2001
IUP 37 Measurement of water repellency of garment leathers Revision of method published in JSLTC, 86, p 81, 2002. Also required by CEN
IUP 45 Measurement of water penetration pressure Revision of method published in JSLTC, 86, p 84, 2002. Also required by CEN
IUP 46 Measurement of fogging characteristics Revision of method published in JSLTC, 86, p 73, 2002. Also required by CEN
IUP 47 Measurement of resistance to horizontal spread of flame Revision of method published in JSLTC, 86, p 77, 2002. Also required by CEN
IUP 48 Measurement of abrasion resistance of automotive leather Revision of method published in JSLTC, 86, p 79, 2002. Also required by CEN
IUP 51 Measurement of surface friction New method - IULTCS only
IUP 52 Measurement of compressibility New method - IULTCS only

NOTE: IUP 3 Conditioning. Changes to this method have been requested which include making the 23 °C/50% rh. set of conditions the default and the 20 °C/65% rh. set of conditions the alternative. Also, the conditioning time is reduce from 48 hours to 24 hours

Some minor editorial corrections were required, particularly to IUP 46 Fogging, but no other comments had been received from IULTCS members.

The meeting unanimously approved the above methods, with their corrections, as official methods of the IULTCS. (See Appendix A for full list).

Mr Williams announced that he was retiring as Chairman of the IUP Commission and as a possible replacement, the nomination of Mr C Barry Wood, Operations Director of BLC Leather Technology Centre Ltd, had been put to the members of the IUP Commission. The closing date for nominations is Friday 6 June 2003 and, if by that date there were no other nominations, then Barry Wood would be the new Chairman of the IUP Commission.

Mr Williams thanked the IUP Commission for all their support and for all their hard work over the past three years to progress so many methods. In particular, Mr Williams thanked Dr Page for his unstinting help and advice which had been invaluable during his term of office.

8. Old Business
The President advised that a sub-committee would be meeting with the organisers of the Mexican Congress and the organisers of the next Congress in Italy to provide the basis for updating the "Conference Guidelines". Also the sub-committee would be updating the Bylaws and the Internal regulations of the IULTCS.

9. New Business
A request that Congress Delegates should be given name tags and that a list of Delegates should be made readily available will be discussed for incorporating into the "Conference Guidelines" document. Also, to avoid the misunderstanding at this Congress, the "Conference Guidelines" would now have clear instructions on the arrangements that should be made for the Heidemann symposium in future Congresses.

All members were requested to ensure that they arrange free exchange of their regular publications with other members. This is part of the statutes of the IULTCS.

The Secretary advised that he would ensure that all members received any copy of the Journal of the Society of Leather Technologists and Chemists (JSLTC) which contained publication of new or revised Official Test Methods, or amendments to such methods. This is to ensure that the full consultation process takes place with all members having the opportunity of commenting on Official Test Methods.

The President made a particular plea for all members to be aware of the date of future IULTCS Congresses and to try to avoid conflicting dates with their own local conferences.

10 Location and date of next Council of Delegates meeting
The next Council of Delegates meeting will be 12 May 2005 during the Congress to be held in Florence, Italy.

John M V Williams
Secretary/Treasurer IULTCS.

IULTCS Council of Delegates Meeting
31 May 2003
Presidente Intercontinental Hotel, Cancun, Mexico

APPENDIX A

ALL THE METHODS AND THE AMENDMENTS SET OUT BELOW WERE APPROVED BY THE IULTCS COUNCIL OF DELEGATES AND ARE NOW ADOPTED AS OFFICIAL METHODS OF THE IULTCS.

Following recent work of the IUC, IUF and IUP Commissions, there were 19 test methods for publication for members to adopt. All the methods were published in JSLTC 86, 7, December 2002, and comments were invited. Some of these methods are re-published having had alterations following the discussions since their first publication.

Most of these methods have been produced in parallel with the work of the European CEN/TC 289 Leather test methods committees and both the IU Commission members and the CEN/TC 289 committee members have had input into these published versions. Many of these methods may also be accepted as ISO standards, either in parallel vote with CEN or by a 5 month ISO vote.

IUC Commission - Chemical test methods:

IUF Commission - Fastness test methods

NOTE: IUF 412 Change in colour to accelerated ageing. This method now includes an ageing method with varying temperature and humidity cycles.

IUP Commission - Physical test methods

Following a joint meeting of the IUC/IUE/IUF/IUP Commissions on 30 May 2003 in Cancun, it was agreed that the following amendments to the above methods should also be put to the Council of Delegates for voting:

Draft IUC 18 - Determination of chromium VI content
· Section 7.4 Change last sentence to read "The blank solution is treated in the same way as the analytical solution, but excluding the solid phase extraction step"

Draft IUC 19 - Determination of formaldehyde content of leather
· Section 5.5.4 1st three paragraphs should read as follows:
'2,5 ml (see Note 1) of the filtrate obtained in 5.6.2 is pipetted into two 10ml volumetric flasks. Add to one volumetric flask an exactly determined volume of the formaldehyde standard solution for calibration (5.6.6), which will lead to approximately the same concentration as was found in the sample (see Note 2). Both volumetric flasks are filled with water to the mark.

The contents of the volumetric flasks are then transferred to separate 25 ml Erlenmeyer flasks, 5ml of reagent solution (5.3.2) is added to each and stirred for 30 min ± 1 min at 40°C ± 1°C.

After having cooled down (protect from light), a measurement of the absorbance (5.4.4) is taken at 412 nm against a blank made of 5ml of detergent solution (5.3.1) + 5 ml reagent solution (5.3.2). The absorbance of the spiked sample will be registered as EA. The absorbance of the un-spiked sample is recorded as EP.'

· Section 5.5.4 Note 2. Should read '….then spike with 0.5ml of formaldehyde
standard solution (5.6.6)'
· Section 5.5.4 'Czu' in equation should read 'Ezu'
· Section 5.5.4 Final sentence should read 'If the recovery rate (RR) is not between
80% - 120% the analysis should be repeated.'
· Section 5.5.4 Renumber as 5.6.8
· Section 5.6.2 '2g ± 0.1mg leather' should read '2g ± 0.1g leather'
· Section 5.6.6 2nd paragraph, 3rd line '74mg/kg' should read '75mg/kg'

Draft IUC 20 - Determination of certain azo colourants in dyed leathers
Section 4 Move last sentence to a new paragraph.
Section 5.2 Add '…capable of maintaining 70°C ± 2°C'
Section 5.10 Delete hyphen
Section 5.11 Change DC to TLC
Section 6.7 Change 6.6 to (6.6)
Section 6.7 Delete brackets after colon
Section 6.8 change 6.6 to (6.6)
Section 6.8 Delete brackets after colon
Section 6.10 Add at end '..freshly prepared from stock solutions (6.7) or (6.8) depending on the analytical method'
Section 7. Change 'together with' to 'in'
Section 8.1 Change last sentence to 'The residual hexane in the ground leather
sample is evaporated…'
Section 9 Change to 'The standard solution (6.10) with 30 m g/ml is used for calibration.'
Section 11 Change end of 1st sentence to read '…reference to the 30 mg/ml
standard solution of amines (6.10)'

Draft IUC 21- Determination of certain azo colourants in dyestuff mixtures
Section 4 Move last sentence to a new paragraph.
Section 5.2 Add '…capable of maintaining 70° C ± 2° C'
Section 5.10 Delete hyphen
Section 5.11 Change DC to TLC
Section 6.7 Change 6.6 to (6.6)
Section 6.7 Delete brackets after colon
Section 6.8 change 6.6 to (6.6)
Section 6.8 Delete brackets after colon
Section 6.10 Change to read after bold print '300mg amine / ml methanol, freshly prepared from stock solutions (6.7) or (6.8) depending on the analytical method'
Section 9 Change to 'The standard solution (6.10) with 300 mg/ml is used for calibration.'
Section 11 Change end of 1st sentence to read '…reference to the 300mg/ml standard solution of amines (6.10)'
Section 13 Change 'p-Cresidine' to '4- Cresidine'

Draft IUP 412 - Change in colour to accelerated ageing
· Section 6.1. 5th line, change "…change in the colour…" to read "…change of colour…"

Draft IUP 46 - Measurement of fogging characteristics
· Section 3.5.12, 2nd line, change the word "average" to "mean value" so it reads:
….by more than 20% from the mean value for the two test pieces, ….

· Section 3.7.1, 1st line, change "sample" to "test piece," so it reads:
…for the test piece, Fv, and …..

· Section 3.7.2, use symbol F for the mean fogging value and include precision of answer required, so change to text to:
For all test pieces calculate the mean fogging value, F, in %. Report F to the nearest whole number.

· Section 4.2.1, last line of text, mistake in numbering, change 3.2.2 to 4.2.2:
….thermostatic bath (4.2.2).

· Section 4.3.2, 2nd line, clarify the meaning - current text could imply repeating the test on the same pieces! Change end of 2nd sentence to read:
…., then dry a further 2 test pieces for 7 days for the repeat test.

· Section 4.7.1, change the symbol F to G and change "means" to "mass", so the start of section 4.7.1 now reads as follows:
Calculate the mass of fogging material, Gm, and the reference mass of DOP condensed, Gdop, in milligrams using the formula:

Gm = M2 - M1

Gdop = M4 - M3

· Section 4.7.2, use symbol G for the mean mass of fogging material, so change the text to:
For all test pieces calculate the mean mass of fogging material, G, in milligrams to the nearest 0,01 mg.

· Annex A, replace the whole of Annex A with the following:

Annex A (Informative)

Inter-laboratory comparison for Method A and Method B

The results of the inter-laboratory trial reported are based on this test procedure and involved 7 laboratories, each testing 4 test specimens from the same piece of leather. 2 types of leather were tested, one a crust leather and the other a finished leather. This test data has been published in full in Leather International, August 2000.

Method A, Reflectometer method

Crust leather Finished leather
F (%) SW SV F (%) SW SV
47 9,1 16,6 74 16,4 25,1

Method B, Gravimetric method

Crust leather Finished leather
G (mg) SW SV G (mg) SW SV
3,80 0,40 0,95 7,3 0,95 1,28

SW is the standard deviation between the measurements within one laboratory and SV is the standard deviation for measurements between laboratories.

· Annex B, change the wording of the 2nd sentence in order to delete referring to "this European Standard" and "CEN".
This information is given for the convenience of the users of the method and does not constitute an endorsement of these products.

· Annex B, correct the name of equipment supplier "HAKKE" with the correct spelling "HAAKE"