On May 10, 2007, on the initiative of the Gdansk International Fair Co. (MTG S.A.), the organiser of the Amberif Fair, a meeting of the Consultants’ Council took place, also attended by representatives of partner amber industry organisations. Important issues regarding the future and the form of the event were discussed, which concerned the entire amber and jewellery industry community in a significant way. The most important topics included:
- the duration of Amberif’s next edition:
The Consultants’ Council decided that the Amberif Fair will continue for 5 days in 2008, just as this year. It is difficult to judge the results of the experiment to extend the event by 1 day after only a single edition. Therefore, the Council decided to repeat the experiment next year. The decision was influenced by the fact that this year’s Amberif was the best so far for many exhibitors and trade visitors. Additionally, the trade visitors emphasised the comfortable environment for contracting and purchasing and the enhanced possibility of establishing trade contacts with new companies over an extended five-day event. The exhibitors and visitors surveyed also opted for a “free Sunday” and this motion was also supported by the Council: the next Amberif Fair‘s dates will be 11-15 March 2008.
- the new hall:
The new exhibition hall with a gross area of 3,300 m
2 is to be commissioned on September 8, 2007. The organiser is aware that in the coming, although unfortunately indeterminate, future the Gdansk International Fair Co. (MTG S.A.) will move to a new location, which is why many of the solutions are provisional. Therefore, the hall will have a bolted structure, the utilities will be supplied from top to bottom, all the halls will be linked to each other only via tent corridors. For this reason, the urgent parking problem will not be ultimately solved, either.
The Council also proposed a provisional arrangement of the exhibitors in the halls at next year’s Amberif. And so, the new Hall (number 3) will be the venue for jewellery and amber companies, Hall 5 (the Amber Hall) will remain unchanged, i.e. with amber companies and the Designers’ Gallery, while Hall 4 (the Gold Hall) will feature exhibitors from the machine and tool sector as well as some jewellery companies. However, the final decision on this issue will be taken when the construction is completed.
- report on the work of the Joint Commission on Amber Identification:
Wieslaw Gierlowski reported on the Commission’s work, emphasising that thanks to the introduction of appropriate restrictions to the Fair Regulations, it was possible to almost eliminate copal (since 2005, there has been a ban on the exhibiting of copal and copal products) and amber surrogates (see:
Clear Principles at Amberif). The Consultants’ Council approved the motion of the Commission for Amber Inspection and decided to ban two Amberif 2007 exhibitors who exhibited copal and pressed amber products marketed as natural amber – initially for a year, but with the possibility of extending this period if the companies fail to comply with the Regulations again.
Other matters under discussion included the issue of security at the Fair in light of the diamond theft incident, limitation of public access on business-only days and certain organisational shortcomings.
