What is the future for WEEF?

The ELA (European Lift Association) has always prioritised dialogue between representatives from its sector on an international level.

Intense exchanges have taken place between the most representative players in the lift industry since the establishment of the GTBFT (Global Technical Barrier-Free Trade), especially since the 2000s.

By Roberto Zappa

A significant leap forward was made in 2019 with the launch of the WEF (World Elevator Federation), which later became WEEF (World Elevator and Escalator Federation).

WEEF was originally a thought of the ELA-President who managed to get the endorsement of other nine global Members with a clear target: to push for global technical harmonisation and mutual recognition of standards with a clear roadmap 'based on ISO standards'. In a slogan: 'Certify once and use it everywhere'.

Over time, relations between the signatory members have intensified thanks to the several meetings that have taken place both in videoconferences and in dedicated physical meetings.

Future of the Federation?

An important handshake at Liftex 2019 between ELA President Roberto Zappa and CEA Secretary General Zhang Lexiang. The two associations had agreed on a cooperation in this year in Beijing. Photo: © Ulrike Lotze

Interest in the WEEF has also grown thanks to official presentations at the most important trade exhibition in the sector (cf. Interlift 2023), allowing new potential members (cf. US and India) to approach and share the now structured and consolidated path of cooperation by the existing founding Members.

To all intents and purposes WEEF is THE forum to provide the necessary support to the lift sector on a Global level.

Now, almost five years later, the question arises as to the future of the Federation. Is it appropriate to continue this valuable collaboration while maintaining and ensuring the autonomy and independence of each individual member, or should it try to throw its heart over the obstacle by imagining structuring this synergetic activity in a much more stringent form?

Common objectives to be defined

The evolutionary path of a Federation towards an Association is the most logical and natural in processes of this kind, but obviously this must take place in the most appropriate time and manner. If the time seems ripe for a choice of this kind, obviously the will and the sharing by all is needed for this to be a priority objective of the WEEF.

An international association, based on its own statutes and some internal rules of operation, allows for a more effective representation towards its interlocutors. The Federation is an instrument that allows certain common objectives to be defined but achieving them also requires recognised leadership and the economic resources that an association may more easily have (Budget).

The WEEF is now at a crossroads: to continue to maintain the current structure, ensuring the sharing of certain common positions, while leaving to each participant the burden of expressing them individually, or to evolve towards a management and implementation of initiatives at a global level? Is the time ripe to move from the World Elevator & Escalator Federation (WEEF) to a World Elevator & Escalator Association (WEEA)?

The author is President of the European Lift Association

More information: ela-aisbl.eu