At the start of a New Year, it is always useful to review progress made in the previous 12 months. There may have been an economic downturn in 2009, but there was certainly no reduction in AMDEA’s activities on behalf of its members.

The UK population is not only growing in size but it is also getting older.  According to the Office for National Statistics, 16% of the UK population in 2008 was over 65 with more than 1.3 million people aged 85 and over.  Although the effect of the post-war baby boom will start to decrease around 2030, the number of these “oldest old” in the UK is projected to double by 2033 so that almost 5% of the total population could be aged 85 or more.

AMDEA has participated recently in a number of meetings and conferences to discuss what one of my staff calls "smart thingies".

Yes, we are talking about Smart Meters, but in fact what we are discussing goes much further than just a gadget to allow consumers to see how much electricity or gas they are consuming.

AMDEA has been arguing for some years that consumers need direct incentives to buy more energy efficient domestic appliances.  We were therefore very pleased to see support for this idea from the British Retail Consortium whose letter to the Chancellor in August proposed that energy efficient appliances should be zero rated for VAT with a possible scrappage scheme for white goods.

The EU's Ecodesign for Energy-using Products Directive (or ‘EuP') has, this year, proved a fertile compost for new legislation: eight new regulations have grown forth under the Directive, with July seeing the European Commission adopt four of the eight as its most current ‘package' on ecodesign.  While the ‘EuP Directive' and ‘Ecodesign Regulations' are something that manufacturers have to respond to, electrical retailers may be interested to learn that they are party to a revolution.  For as ecodesign legislation begins to take effect, so too does a transformation in electrical appliances.

An expression ‘things European' acts as an instant turn-off for many people. We have just had a European Parliament election with an embarrassingly low voter turnout. In addition, electors clearly did not go to the polls to vote on European issues. Instead, the vote reflected the present economic crisis and the expenses scandal involving MPs in the Westminster Parliament. Yet the people elected on 7 June are soon going to find themselves deeply involved in issues which affect all of us. Many of these issues directly affect industry and commerce. They relate to trade, economic, environmental and other matters. Of serious concern to the manufacturers and retailers of domestic appliances are the WEEE (Waste Electrical) and RoHS (Hazardous Substances) Directives.

The Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009 coming into force will mark the full implementation in the UK of the EU Batteries and Accumulators and the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Directive. Previously, in Regulations published in 2008, the Government had implemented requirements relating to battery labelling and design. Now it has implemented requirements relating to the collection, treatment and recycling of waste batteries and accumulators.

As Chief Executive of AMDEA, I have to take a broad approach and consider a wide range of issues and perspectives. Hence I recently attended a breakfast meeting discussing trade relations with China.

One of the important roles for any trade association is involvement in official and unofficial consultations with the government - which these days means dealing with institutions both in London and Brussels.

The process of ‘spreading the word' about AMDEA's ‘Time to Change' campaign continues, most recently at events organised by the CBI and the Energy Saving Trust in London, Manchester and Glasgow.

Are consumer rights in relation to faulty goods going to change as a result of the new EU Directive currently under discussion? Douglas Hebison, Chief Executive of Amdea reviews the wider issues concerning faulty goods.