New programs and services for the WFSGI

Lausanne, March 11, 2008 –
Transition to new team
In June 2007, Mr John E. Larsen (USA), President Emeritus of New Balance, was elected WFSGI President as successor of Mr Michel Perraudin (CEO‐MP Consult). In September 2007, Mr Robbert de Kock, formerly IIC Intersport International Corporation, joined the team as new Secretary General, succeeding to André Gorgemans, who retired after 17 years of very successful work for the international body of the world sports industry.

The WFSGI takes this opportunity to warmly thank Mr Michel Perraudin and Mr André Gorgemans for all their work and involvement in the WFSGI and their support to the Taiwan industry in the past years.

Additional Programs
The last WFSGI General Assembly took place on January 26th 2008, in Munich, before the ISPO show, in the presence of its Board members and a majority of its full members. The assembly was presenting the WFSGI program 2008 – 2011.

The WFSGI would like to take this opportunity to thank TSMA (Taiwan Sports Manufacturers Association), particularly Mr Benjamin Liu and Mr George Wood for their support of the new direction of the WFSGI. In the last couple of years, the WFSGI has had the pleasure to work closely with TSMA to achieve important work for the industry. The Taiwan government and Mr George Wood particularly played an important role in the WTO Doha Round Strategy for global tariff reduction on sports equipment.

The new WFSGI program will be achieved through the work of its 5 Committees which exchange information on various issues and topics:

• CSR Committee (Corporate Social Responsibility):

The CSR committee is focusing on global societal, social and environmental trends like climate change, resource depletion, labour and health issues. Its work is targeted at developing and promoting an understanding within the World Federation about the relevance of global social and environmental challenges for each individual member company. Member companies have the opportunity to tackle challenges through guidance and sharing best practice services, Supporting members in identifying synergies to tie resources and enhance leverage through collaborative work.
Some programs are:

- building platforms to share best practice
- providing guidance on relevant industry initiatives
- providing guidance on specific social and environmental issues (labor inspections, restricted
substances management)
- participating in concerted efforts to eliminate child labor in the football stitching industry establishing frameworks for partnerships
- engaging with supranational organizations and NGOs to represent the industry position

• IPR Committee (Intellectual Property Rights)
The IPR Committee is there to keep WFSGI membership informed in a proactive manner on international developments and matters in legal, legislative and trade related areas. To define and recommend concrete strategies and instruments to the WFSGI members for a more efficient protection of the intellectual property rights of the WFSGI members; To educate members on matters of special interest in the area of law and international institutions such as WTO, WIPO, etc.).
Some projects are:

- WFSGI security label/device project
- WFSGI Web Monitoring program
- WFSGI best practice risk management and document retention program
- Educational activities and best practices in the area of IP protection and enforcement in China
- Cooperation with the world customs organization in the area of customs authorities’ training.

• CISO Committee (Committee on International Sports Organisations)

The CISO represents the WFSGI as the industry consensus voice to all sports federations and organizations, promoting maximum and equal benefit to all WFSGI members and the sporting goods manufacturers’ community at large.
- IOC Manufacturer Identification Guideline Project
- Project to increase brand exposure at IOC and IF events
- Reinforce IF contacts (FIFA/UEFA/IAAF etc.)
- Manage Olympic Ticketing and Technical Accreditations

• Federations Committee (new committee created in 2007) :
The Federation Committee is a new committee to enhance the collaboration of WFSGI with its regional and national sporting goods industry member federations, to promote improved information exchange and mutual assistance amongst the federations themselves. To provide a platform for the global, regional and national federations to develop, exchange and promote best practices, industry trends, market research, collaborative programming and problem solving.

Projects here are:
- Product Classification Key project (based on FEDAS)
- Identification of Federations’ Critical needs
- International Trade Policy‐Global Reduction of Sporting Goods Tariffs Initiative
- Exchange of Best Practices in Supply Chain Management
- Sharing of Federation‐Generated Market Research
- Improved Information Exchange between WFSGI and Member Federations
- Evaluation/Study on a specific Manufacturer exchange platform (committee or subcommittee)

• Trade Committee (new committee created in 2007):
The Trade Committee is focusing on international trade issues facing the global sporting goods industry, including eliminating trade barriers, defending against trade cases, examining new product safety and testing requirements, removing restrictions that impact WFSGI member company’s supply chains, supporting international trade agreements that benefit the global sporting goods industry via;

- International Trade Agreements (global, regional and bi‐lateral)
- International Trade cases (e.g. anti‐dumping, safeguards, customs reclassifications and countervailing duty cases etc.)
- China – Product Safety/Testing Initiative
- Supply Chain (port security and infrastructure congestion and development
- Trade Litigation Training Program
- ISO/CE standardization project (with DIN) to be extended to USA and other regions.

A new committee may be created in the year 2008 where manufacturers from all countries or regions will be able to discuss specific problems and bring them forward to the board and the WFSGI secretariat for support and action. This committee would gather the manufacturers from all regions, including the ones in the developed countries.

Additional services for the members

In order to achieve all its new projects, the WFSGI has reinforced existing services and created new services and tools for its members to meet their needs. A first start is the new website which will be a real platform of communication and exchange of information for members and non‐members.
Also, among others :
• Access to all member documents
• Access to the newsletter for members
• Information exchange platform between the regional/continental federations,
• Share of information on developing trade regulations,
• Updates on developments to eliminate trade barriers
• ISO or CEN standards related to the sporting goods industry
• List on developments on restricted substances
• Workshops
• New high performance website (available in March 2008) to provide members with information and keep them informed on the developments in all the above mentioned topics,
• etc…
More on www.wsfsgi.org !

WFSGI :
The WFSGI, founded in 1978, is the leading body for the sports industry in the world located in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is a non-profit and non-governmental association officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the industry representative within the Olympic family. Within the federation leading sports industry, retail companies and the national federations of the sporting goods industry cooperate in the geographical zones Europe, Pan America, Asia and Oceania.

The WFSGI activities range from promoting fair trade to contributing to increased sport participation in the world.The WFSGI provides the platform for the harmonization of standards, provides intergovernmental cooperation with regards to the International Organizations interested or affected by sports, expand the cooperation on the protection of intellectual property rights, improve human rights issues related to working conditions in the world.

WFSGI - Global solutions through international teamwork

For more information :

Press contact : Ségolène Paquet, Communication Manager ‐ spaquet@wfsgi.org / +41 21 612 61 63