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The future of print in the EU, with Beatrice Klose
•Canon Europe•Season 1•Episode 10
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Beatrice Klose, Secretary General of EU-wide graphic trade association Intergraf, knows all too well how long the EU takes to finalise laws – and why a strong and consistent voice in Brussels is so crucial for the print sector.
In this instalment of Print Matters – A Canon Podcast, co-host Jacky Hobson speaks to Beatrice to find out how the print industry influences EU decision making, and why paper supply and recruitment are troubling print businesses following the pandemic.
The episode focuses on being proactive, which is one of the Make It Mantras from the Canon Ascent Programme – a business development initiative designed to support Canon’s Pro Print customers now and for the future. Learn more or get started: https://www.canon-europe.com/business/services/canon-ascent-programme/
We keep reminding policymakers that print is essential for a flourishing industry, even a digital one.
Jacky Hobson:
Hi, I'm Jacky Hobson, and thanks for joining us today for the latest in our'In Conversation' series of podcasts, created as part of Canon's Ascent Programme. These podcasts feature a selection of guests, all with perspective and insight we think will be valuable to our listeners across the print and creative industries. And joining me for this one is Beatrice Klose from Intergraph. Hi, Beatrice.
Beatrice Klose:
Thank you, Jacky. Warm greetings to our listeners. I'm very happy to be here.
Jacky Hobson:
It's great to have you here with us, and I'm looking forward to hearing your views and insight. But to kick us off, could you tell us a little bit about Intergraf, Beatrice, about its membership and the work that you do there, please?
Unknown:
So Intergraf is the umbrella association representing Europe's printing industry. Our 21 members and 11 Associate members span the European continent, and as Secretary General, I manage the Intergraf Secretariat in Brussels. The mission that we have is really to ensure that the interests of printing companies are considered when EU legislation is drafted.
Beatrice Klose:
We lobby EU policymakers to promote print and to secure the most favourable regulatory environment for printers. This, of course, requires us to be active on many different fronts simultaneously. A lot of legislation affects our sector either directly but also indirectly. And policy areas that we work on relate primarily to competition, the environment, employment and social affairs, as well as the image of print.
Unknown:
There are various points in the legislative process where we can influence EU policy. Normally, the legislation starts with the European Commission proposing a first policy draft. Then the European Parliament – so the elected EU body – votes on it. And finally, the Council of the EU, which are national representatives – so the national governments – they approve it. Throughout this process, Intergraf is in touch with officials from all these three institutions – of course, always at different points in the legislative process. But most closely, we do work with the Commission and the Parliament, and have a long history of good contacts in these institutions. And when it comes to the council, so the final approval of the legislation, it's our national members that have more influence, because they have direct contacts to their national Ministry of Environment or Ministry of Trade. So the national members can really influence their own politicians that will vote in Brussels as the very last step. And there are really no other associations like us at European level representing the interests of printing companies towards the EU in such a broad field. So Intergraf's work is much needed to really provide a balance in EU legislation on behalf of printers.
Jacky Hobson:
Okay, thank you. It all sounds very interesting, and in these challenging times, when it's easy to be wholly focused on the very short term, it's good for Print Service Providers (PSPs) to know that the long-term outlook for the industry is in safe hands. So Beatrice, could you give us some examples of the kinds of these legislative challenges that are currently on your radar?
Unknown:
Yes, absolutely. Our work is very future oriented and long term. It's the nature of dealing with EU legislation, which takes years to be negotiated, finalised and implemented. Conversations on a topic begin long before anything is actually officially published. And a very good example is the GDPR – the general data protection regulation – which, I think only came to the public's attention really in 2018. But it had been discussed by Intergraf with EU officials as early as 2011.
Jacky Hobson:
Wow, 2011! I don't recall anyone in either the print or marketing business talking about it until, I don't know, 2015, 2016 at the very earliest.
Unknown:
In this case, we helped to secure the legitimate interest clause, which allows for third parties to process the data, such as a printer handling the address data on behalf of their customers for deliveries. For example, the EU but also national governments, are working on many topics and policies that could affect printing companies in the future. One example, door drops, so unaddressed advertising. In a number of countries, authorities are trying to limit the use of door drops by putting in place an opt-in system. And this means that every citizen who actually wishes to receive door drops needs to put a sticker on their mailbox, saying 'yes, please, I want advertising'. And we believe that many people will not do this, and thus the entire system of not only unaddressed advertising, but also information from shops, charities, sports clubs, NGOs, as well as the free local newspapers, will be endangered. Because if there are not enough,'yes' stickers on mailboxes, the distribution system will become much too costly, and so in the end, nothing will be delivered. And while for a digital press manufacturer who offers personalization, this might seem as a good step to push for more personalised communication, we at Intergraf are very worried about the fact that authorities speak about print products as waste, and see them as environmentally detrimental. In contrast to that, Intergraf really promotes print products as the perfect example of the circular economy. From sustainable forest management, to use and collection and recycling of the print products. Close to 74% of all printed matter is recycled. And that's a fantastic figure. Unfortunately, still not enough people know about this. We've also started to see a kind of digital first or even digital only approach in legislation. And as an important facet of Intergraf's work, we keep reminding policymakers that print is essential for a flourishing industry – even a digital one.
Jacky Hobson:
This 'yes' sticker issue for door drops, the whole unaddressed advertising thing is indeed very scary. So thank you for taking up that baton. And along with the work around legislation, I know from the Intergraf website and from speaking to you, Beatrice, that Intergraf publishes regular reports and papers, and that these cover a wealth of other issues, new topics and challenges that PSPs the world over are having to face. For example, what is and has been happening with paper supply?
Unknown:
This is still a very serious situation. Demand for printed products is rising as the economy recovers. But post-COVID recovery of many printing companies is still being stifled by a shortage of paper and board. One of the reasons is the suppliers producing less and less graphic paper. And this has even gotten worse during the pandemic. Some printers reported at the beginning of this year that 40% of the paper they need could not be obtained. And this is particularly problematic for time sensitive products, or essential products such as packaging for food and medicine or schoolbooks.
Beatrice Klose:
And this has been made worse, of course, by climbing prices, energy surcharges that were introduced without warning at the end of 2021, and so in total, that means for some printers, paper prices have increased by 100%, compared to one year ago. And as Intergraf we have repeatedly drawn attention to this crisis directly to the paper industry and to EU policymakers, as well as to international media. And we also work with other associations in our supply chain, for example, the Publishers Association, to ensure that our print customers understand the difficult situation that many printers are in.
Jacky Hobson:
Yes, I actually caught your interview on BBC News earlier this year, I think back in February time. So Beatrice, I guess it wouldn't be quite so bad if paper was the only challenge. But obviously, there are others. My clients are telling me how hard it is to attract talent at the moment, how tricky and actually, how expensive recruitment has become.
Unknown:
That's true. One challenge that is raised again and again by our members is really recruitment. Printing companies have trouble recruiting the staff they need, and there are particularly younger people for whom competition with other industries is very high. In January this year, we finished a new funded project about this called 'Print Your Future'. And part of the project was to create a best practice toolkit to help companies and associations to find, attract and to keep the next generation in print. It gives practical advice on a wide range of topics, including how to reach out to local schools, how to get noticed at employment fairs, how to champion diversity and how to run mentor schemes. But best of all, the toolkit is free for anyone to download and use. It's available on the 'Print Your Future' website, www.printyourfuture.eu
Jacky Hobson:
Well that definitely sounds worth checking out, thanks very much for that. Beatrice, you mentioned earlier about the tendency for authorities to speak about print products as waste. But one thing that we haven't talked really about is print and sustainability. During the pandemic, I think the environment and being green generally slipped a little from our collective consciousness, but I'm sure that this still remains a major focus for Intergraf.
Unknown:
Yes, always, and the EU has a lot of power when it comes to legislating the environment. It does make sense. Pollution doesn't know any borders! An example which is likely to be familiar to many is the European Green Deal. This is really the EU's set of proposals designed to mitigate climate change and environmental degradation. And a lot of policy proposals fall under this banner. But most important for our industry right now is a focus on deforestation, the eco-design of products, chemicals, emissions and waste.
Beatrice Klose:
But the European Commission is also amending the requirements applicable to packaging. And they look from the design to the end-of-life, including printed food contact materials. And with EU focusing more than ever on sustainability, it is critical for our industry to lobby on such topics. Legislators are never really experts in particular industries. And like our member associations at national level, Intergraf protects the industry's interests at European level, because otherwise legislation could be adopted that is not workable for companies. And that's particularly important in our sector, where we have a lot of SMEs.
Unknown:
But back to sustainability, which is really the issue of the moment at European level. We support our member associations and printing companies as much as possible on environmental matters – printers produce recyclable products. So our industry is really well positioned in the circular economy and at Intergraf we try to help. For example, for printers who want to calculate their carbon footprint and improve their environmental credentials, we have developed the Intergraf recommendations on CO2 emissions calculation. But we've also developed the Intergraf roadmap to support printing companies to reduce their carbon footprint emissions and also their energy consumption.
Jacky Hobson:
Thank you so much, Beatrice, this has been fascinating. Personally, I had no idea how broad remit a Intergraf has – thanks for bringing us up to speed. We're rapidly running out of time, so if people do want to know more, I imagine that checking out the main Intergraf website is a good place to start.
Unknown:
Thank you for this opportunity. Jacky, it's been a pleasure. And yes, if people would like to know more, we have our website www.intergraf.eu, and we also send out a monthly newsletter, the Newsflash, which everyone can register for via our website. As well as this, we organise, of course, in-person events, and our next one will be on March 9th 2023, and we'll focus on the packaging market. Registrations will open this autumn.
Jacky Hobson:
Fantastic. Thanks again. Thank you too to our listeners. We do hope you found value in what you've heard, and that you'll check out the other podcasts in the series. Plus, the Canon Ascent Programme has a wealth of other content, articles, tools and top tips specifically designed for printers, to help them support their future business development. If you're interested in finding out more, click the link on the podcast page. search Canon Ascent Programme, or speak to your account manager. See you next time.
