ECCA-UK: Steering Committee Appointed – Now What?

So the 27th April elections went off without a hitch despite yours truly being the “technical host” (which in turn was due to the Hifistud being temporarily exiled to Filey)!

Whilst I thought the turnout could have been a bit better and there were some noticeable absentees that had been very outspoken and enthusiastic at the previous gatherings, I thought that those that did make it contributed well to a productive and relatively efficient meeting!

The important thing though was that a Steering Committee was elected to get on with the business of organising the ECCA, its processes and policies etc, and that was achieved satisfactorily. Minutes of the meeting can be found on the ECCA-UK website, and they seem pretty accurate to me, so I’ll not elaborate here! I will say however that it was nice to see the matter of “non-UK” members agreed amicably as that had the potential to be divisive had it rumbled on – so well done guys on that one.

Now, this is all nice and lovely and I’m pleased at a personal level that some structure has emerged from the shit-storm with which the idea of a consumer association was launched only a few weeks ago (it could be regarded as a significant achievement to have reached this point frankly)! But now it’s time for the ECCA to get down to the nitty gritty and formulate its reason for existence, its objectives, mission statements, policies or whatever your preference. The real work starts now.[pullquote]…Although the internet forum community is a tiny fraction of the e-cig using population that the ECCA will seek to represent, there is a genuine lack of understanding about what the purpose of the ECCA might be and suggestions (of varying credibility)  are rife…[/pullquote]

Personally, I’d like to see some clear statements on the main objectives of the ECCA as quickly as they can be coordinated. Although the internet forum community is a tiny fraction of the e-cig using population that the ECCA will seek to represent, there is a genuine lack of understanding about what the purpose of the ECCA might be and suggestions (of varying credibility)  are rife. So that needs to be clarified sooner rather than later. Personally, I’m not bothered about “how” objectives may be tackled yet, but statements on matters such as the “threat” of  regulation of e-liquid and product safety should be a priority.

I will be continuing to support the ECCA through these formative stages as and when I’m called upon to do so, and I’d strongly encourage anyone reading this to do the same, especially if you consider petty sniping on internet forums to be a valid alternative. Register with the ECCA-UK website, read the forum, participate in the discussion there if you are interested.