ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has raised concerns about the complexity of proposals to track the progress of legitimate tobacco products through the supply chain.  New draft regulations from the EU Commission would require UK retailers and wholesalers to register and pay to receive unique ‘identifier codes’ in order to sell tobacco products.Despite the directive referencing that only the ‘last economic operator before the retailer’ would be affected, the regulations require retailers to register to buy tobacco products and to track each purchase of tobacco from a wholesaler.ACS chief executiveSEE DETAILS <span class="more-link...

ACS has welcomed Local Government Minister Marcus Jones’ intervention to speed up the process of rebilling businesses that are waiting for rate relief.In a Commons statement, he said: “The Government has been consistently clear that it expects local authorities to make rapid progress in helping business by implementing these relief schemes. “Overall, however, despite various examples of good practice, the pace of providing relief to ratepayers has not been acceptable. I have written today to those authorities that have not fully implemented all three schemes asking them to rebill businesses thatSEE DETAILS <span class="more-lin...

The British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) the trade association covering the UK educational suppliers sector has unveiled its updated Code of Practice. It is the result of a year-long consultation with industry and schools to understand what assurances schools want when buying products and services.As a mandatory membership commitment given by members to BESA – which represents over 300 of the UK’s world-leading education suppliers – each member is expected, as a condition of membership, to meet the ethical standards provided for in the Code. Only companies who sign upSEE DETAILS

Confidence in small business in Wales falters but small businesses continue to drive Wales’ economy forwards.A new report from FSB Wales shows that small business confidence has dropped from a three year high of +31 in Q2 to +22 in Q3, however, the Welsh Business Index shows that Wales is still significantly outperforming the rest of the UK, which saw the index fall from +15 last quarter to +1.1 in Q3.The index shows that small business confidence is still higher than it was a year ago. The UK Small Business IndexSEE DETAILS

Meet the Experts and Make Valuable Connections at Our Events in OctoberWin 2 free tickets for Techsmart NFP on November 28th at County Hall valued at over £200 Our calendar of events offers a variety of formats to learn and are all designed to provide:Real-life client case studies from your peers;practical help, expertise and take-aways;opportunity to make valuable connections;technology experts sharing their insights and years of experience.“Making CRM and web projects work in the NFP sector”Afternoon event, including networking over wine and beerWednesday, October 11, 4:00-6:30pmLocation: The fantastic Montcalm at TheSEE DETAILS <...

The Association of British Pharmaceutical Industries (ABPI) and the BioIndustry Association (BIA) have welcomed the UK Government’s latest Brexit position paper on ‘Collaboration on science and innovation’.​​​​The UK Government’s position​ follows a prolonged effort from the life sciences industry to establish Government consensus on key Brexit issues.The sector first outlined in September 2016 that securing “alignment and commonality with the EU for the regulation of medicines“, “long-term, predictable funding for scientific research, and continued ability to collaborate at scale” and “an agreement with the EU that facilitates the ease of movement for highly-skilled talent“,<a class="more-link" href="https://www.n4pbs.co.uk/life-sciences-welcome-b...

At smartimpact we’ve recently been talking about member engagement and how focusing on improving engagement is the key to success for membership organisations. Talking about it is all well and good but how does this translate into practical action?Here’s five tips on gaining an understanding and improving your membership engagement rates. #1 Understand what engagement looks like to your organisationEngagement will look slightly different for every professional body so the first step is to work out what it looks like to yours. What do you consider important ‘engagement moments’? These couldSEE DETAILS <...

In a response to the current economic environment – and as reported in edition 245 of ASSOCIATION NEWS – the National Association of Jewellers has announced a partnership with Made in Britain. The organisation claims to represent more than 1000 UK makers across 40 product sectors with one universal manufacturer’s marque. The affiliate agreement will give NAJ members the opportunity to use the Made in Britain marque at a preferential rate in 2018.Members manufacturing in the UK who sign up to scheme will benefit from publicity on both the NAJ andSEE DETAILS

There has never been a more challenging time to be an association Board member.  There always were challenges. But with the increased availability of affordable technology; increased member expectations; more onerous and additional legislation and regulation; and the drive for better governance and accountability, the pace of change has exceeded what most us could ever have imagined even 10 years ago.Therefore, with exponentially Increasing expectations of members, increased burdens in areas such as external reporting requirements, and increased risk of legal actions, Board members need to be clearer about theirSEE DETAILS

Associations call for urgent measures to minimise airport disruption in Europe.The European Regions Airline Association1 (ERA) and other leading industry associations are expressing significant concern regarding delays at airports related to the enhanced border control since Regulation EU458/2017 entered into force.Together, the associations urge member states to take the necessary measures to minimise the adverse impact on EU citizens and connectivity at EU hub airports. Between April 2017 and June 2017, and after Regulation EU458/2017 entered into force, the number of delayed flights due to border control issues increased bySEE DETAILS <span class="more-link-hover-image...