Dear Members,

I am privileged to be taking over the reins at ECTA at this stage in its development.

This is a time of considerable internal change for us. We will be moving the ECTA Office to Brussels from Antwerp. Our presence in Brussels of course will enable us to be closer to the European Commission and other EU Institutions and so improve our visibility and opportunities for influence and lobbying on relevant IP issues.

At the Killarney Conference, we said our farewells to Sandrine Peters, our Legal Coordinator, who, with her enthusiasm and dedication to her role helped greatly to build a new, more dynamic platform upon which to run our Professional affairs. She will be greatly missed, but we will ensure continuity by recruiting to replace her in this role.

We will also say our farewells to Sue Van Looy early next year as she retires from her role after some 15 years in post as ECTA Secretary. Again, I take this opportunity to thank her for her dedication to and continuity in this role and for all the support she has given to the Management Team and the Presidents of the Association throughout those years. At the same time, we are pleased that Cathy Van Vuuren remains with us and will transfer to the Brussels Office .

These changes reflect an Organisation which is not content to stand still, but is continuously evolving, to provide an enhanced level of services to all our members. Mireia Curell's Presidency has seen the publication of a record number of ECTA law books, as well as the introduction of ECTA Round Table Events taking place in Member countries. The Professional work within the Committees, which is the backbone of our Association, continues to thrive and those Committees are attracting record numbers.

At the same time, the quality and timeliness of the information we are providing to our Members has been improved, with the launch of the new ECTA flash layout , accompanied by the high quality case law updates supplied by DARTS-IP. We continue to ensure our voice is heard at WIPO ,the Commission and at OHIM in particular and we will continue to take the initiative to maximise the impact we can make as an Association to influence the direction of new IP initiatives proposed by these Institutions.

In this respect, one particular initiative Mireia Curell has promoted, which I will strongly support, is the setting up of a Working Group to provide the Commission with a considered review of the current and emerging significant trade mark issues within the EU . As part of this project a series of round tables with OHIM and national offices have been planned. I am indeed indebted to Mireia Curell for the very strong platform she has given me upon which to build over the next two years.

I look forward to welcoming you all to our Conference in Vilnius , Lithuania in 2009.

In the meantime, if you have any suggestions you would like the Management Team and Council to consider to improve your Association, please make use of the facility provided on the website, and, of course, talk to us directly.

Let's keep working together!

Simon Reeves
President of ECTA