EREPS is part of EHFA – the European Health and Fitness Association - which is a not-for-profit association based in Brussels (technically known as an IVZW in Flemish, or AISBL in French). Every year members of the Association come together at a General Assembly to report on what has been happening and to agree on future plans. This year the assembly was held in Essen, Germany on 22nd April where some new directors of the Board were elected. They make sure that the business of the Association and the Executive meet the plans and targets, and with EREPS as part of this process, it was pleasing to say that in the past year EREPS has started work, and is making progress in so many European countries.

The IT systems and website have all operated well in a very complex arrangement that is all managed through the Brussels office. The General Assembly supported the work so far – but of course expect much more, and EREPS can only be successful if it works at a national level and the first 2 countries to start their own registers within EREPS are likely to be the Netherlands and Portugal. Much of EREPS work is translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch is the next language.

The General Assembly also voted to appoint Prof Alfonso Jiménez from the Universidad Europea de Madrid as the new chairman of the important Standards Council. The work of Standards Council is critical to EREPS – as it decides on all of the technical criteria and EHFA standards that make qualifications to be exercise professionals and guide EREPS on its workings. Standards and processes for EREPS are decided independently by cooperation with many people across Europe and quite separately from EREPS.

More information on EHFA can be found at www.ehfa.eu.