New President Elected

Members attending the event, chaired by Immediate Past President Craig Brown of Signs Express, were joined by two distinguished guests; Peter Kiddell, President of PRISM and Jean-Pierre Rousseau, President of the European Sign Federation.

In addition to the formal business of the meeting the Presidents of PRISM and the ESF spoke to delegates about the work of their respective organisations.

Mr Kiddell said he was encouraged by the recent cooperation between our two associations and hoped that we could work together in the future, for the mutual benefit of our Members.

During his address M Rousseau told delegates of the French Government’s plans to introduce a tax on commercial signage. The tax, due to come into force in January 2010, will be levied at a rates between 15 and 20 Euros per square metre per year.

As you can imagine, news of this tax gave rise to a lively debate. The unanimous view expressed by delegates was that the introduction of such a levy in the UK would not only have a hugely detrimental impact on our industry, but business in general. They also agreed that the BSGA and other trade bodies should resist strongly any attempts to introduce such taxes.