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ANIRP-AER CONFERENCE
ANIRP and AER Hold Joint Conference in Lisbon
Success for the joint ANIRP-AER Conference
process continued through until the 12th of November 2018, when the European Union announced the final measures that were to be imposed on Chinese truck and bus tyre makers.
“I think it’s been very useful and helpful for people
in Europe to know and understand our work,” stated BIPAVER’s Technical consultant.
However, the main takeaway from Schwämmlein’s presentation was the investment in not only time, but financially as well, in order to guarantee the project’s success. “By the end of the project, I would estimate that I was dedicating 50% of my time to this cause.
Financially, there was a significant investment too in legal fees, which I suspect was substantially more on the Chinese side, with them having three lawyers at their disposal,” explained Schwämmlein.
Attendees also quizzed Schwämmlein on the likelihood of further complaint processes for passenger or OTR tyres. “I don’t believe another complaint process will happen for passenger or OTR tyres,” he said. “Considering that the new tyre manufacturers carried the legal costs for the previous complaint, it would be very difficult to envisage that process happening again.”
Schwämmlein, together with Ricard Anadón (Product Manager, Tyre and Wheel Homologation and Certification for IDIADA) and Alejandro Rodriguez (Tyre
Homologation Engineer for IDIADA), also presented an update on the status of the latest European tyre legislation.
In particular, Anadón explained that
Jose Gomez and Frederico Schmidt
The fourth edition of the joint ANIRP-AER conference was deemed a qualified success, as it welcomed retreaders, suppliers, media and other members of the Portuguese and Spanish retreading industries to the Marriott Hotel in Lisbon.
The conference brought together the two trade associations, was sponsored and organised by Vipal, and saw approximately 60 attendees make their way to the Portuguese capital to witness a series of talks from prominent figures within the retreading sector. The event presented both associations with the opportunity to present their members with the latest updates from the European retreading market.
“It’s important to get together and discuss the most demanding issues facing the retreading industry today. For two closely located and related markets, it just made sense for this conference to happen,” explained Frederico Schmidt, General Manager for Vipal in Europe. Putting more meat on the bones, Schmidt added, “The plan is to make this a yearly event, alternating the host city between Portugal and Spain.”
Heading up the conference was a key presentation from Michael Schwämmlein, BIPAVER’s Technical Consultant, who outlined the results and impacts of the successfully concluded anti- dumping and anti-subsidy actions against Chinese truck and bus tyre manufacturers.
For the past 18 months, it’s fair to say that this has been something of a revolving door conversation within retreading circles. We had all read the headlines and knew the final result, but how many of us really understood the process, the investment and its scope?
As an example, the complaint itself took one and a half years to set up, gather proof, and show that there is a risk, before the anti-dumping complaint was launched back in June 2017 and before the investigation was initialised on the 11th of August 2017. This entire