Chairman's letter - April 2003

Dear BFS IOA Member,

The 2003 AGM in Manchester is shortly ahead of us. In preparation for this AGM the BFS Board has revised the BFS rules which were last revised in 1997. Due to the worldwide changes a revision was deemed necessary.

In the Western chamber no meeting was organized by the Western board and most officers resigned from the board during 2001/2002. This situation was completely unsatisfactory.

The global board therefore took the responsibility and successfully arranged the AGM in New Orleans. The collaboration with the PDA was also established and intensified.

The board has in several meetings come to the conclusion to restructure the BFS IOA. The proposal is to run the Association with a board, consisting of Chairman, Officer of Operation, Technical and Training Officer.

The 3 chambers (European, Western and Asian) will be abandoned. The selection of the board members shall be on a global basis, as it formerly was for the global board. Additionally the board will appoint officers as required in the different regions, to assist and fulfil the obligations of the BFS IOA in the respective regions.

These steps are taken to optimise the operating efficacy of the board. Board meetings are easier to organize and the cost of meetings is less.

The revision of the BFS rules takes these changes into account. The regional functions are deleted.

To be on par with the revised rules, the job descriptions have also been updated, and extended by the function of the Appointed Officer.

I am looking forward to see many of you in Manchester and to vote in favour of these changes. This will give the board an even greater backup in propagating the BFS technology especially with respect to the annex of the FDA sterile manufacturing guideline draft.

Yours,

Dr.G.Reiner
Chairman BFS IOA