Manufacturers Meet in Germany
A total of 21 delegates participated in the International Motorcycle Manufacturers Association’s 11th General Assembly, held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
Eleven of the representatives came from the European Motorcycle Manufacturers Association (ACEM), the host of this year’s function. Joining them were two representatives of the United States Motorcycle Manufacturers Association (USMMA), one from the newly joined Motorcycle and Moped Industry Council (MMIC) of Canada, one from the Federation of Asian Motorcycle Industries (FAMI) as an observer, four from the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) and two from the IMMA Secretariat.
IMMA is an organization with membership by the motorcycle industry associations of Japan and countries from Western, Eastern and Northern Europe, and North and South America. It was formed to conduct studies on a wide range of issues pertinent to the development of the global motorcycle industry, to represent that industry in voicing opinions to international agencies and for other important purposes. Toward that end, under the supervision of the General Assembly, IMMA is also equipped with the Steering Committee, in charge of organizational management; the Technical Committee, to promote international harmonization of technical regulations and certification systems; and the Non-Tech Task Force, to target international cooperation in the compiling of statistics and other non-technical fields.
The General Assembly, to help support new members in the future, approved changes in the Constitution and Standing Regulations (including steps to instill greater clarity in the text of these documents). The amended versions were officially adopted on June 19
following a four-week confirmation period from initial passage.
It also was decided that Timothy Hoelter (USMMA) would continue to serve as IMMA
President through the time of the next General Assembly (May 2005 ~ May 2006). For
the two-year term after that (May 2006 ~ May 2008), the President will be selected from
JAMA. As the final item on the agenda, it was decided that USMMA would host the
next General Assembly (with the specific site of that event still pending).
FAMI SET TO JOIN IMMA
One particularly noteworthy development was the report delivered by FAMI President Dato’ Aidid that FAMI will be applying for IMMA membership next year. FAMI contains the motorcycle industry bodies from Asian seven economies and one region, for which the combined annual motorcycle production is 13.8 million units.
According to President Aidid, all FAMI member associations have expressed approval of the idea of joining IMMA. FAMI also has high hopes for membership by China, Vietnam, South Korea and Pakistan in the near future.
