Minutes of the Annual General Assembly

MINUTES OF THE SIXTEENTHSIX ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF EUROMCONTACT

NOVEMBER 16, 2006 in PARIS

Present: Helmer Schweizer President and representing CIBA Vision Europe. Charles Snelling Representing Alcon Hilde Viroux Representing Fadicon and also representing Alcon David Pickersgill Representing Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Andrew Sedgwick Representing CooperVision and ACLM (United Kingdom) Joanna Studer Also representing CooperVision Gilles Bloch Representing SYFFOC, France Martine Magnant Also representing SYFFOC. Giuliano Nannini Representing Assottica (Italy) and Bausch & Lomb Peter Frankenstein Representing Spectaris (Germany) Albert Noguera Representing AEO (Spain)

Wim Aalbers Representing EFCLIN

Pierre Pitance Guest representing Precilens

Anne-Marie Wolters Secretary-General.

Apologies: Esther da Silva Bausch & Lomb Heather Thomas Bausch & Lomb Gunter Sterz AMO and Spectaris (Germany) Pierre Vilcot Menicon, Europe Anne Falcotet Menicon, Europe Pierre Monteil Menicon Europe Stuart Cockerill Coopervision Simon Rodwell ACLM (UK) Anouk Leys Fadicon

Item 1 - President’s welcome and introduction

The President welcomed all participants.

Item 2 – The Minutes of the Annual General Assembly held on 9 November 2005

The minutes were approved.

Item 3 – The Executive Council’s Report to the Annual General Assembly The report of the Executive Council to the Annual General Assembly was approved.

Item 4 – Legal status of EUROMCONTACT

EUROMCONTACT as such has informal by-laws but no real legal status. The Secretary General presented the various options and proposed to opt for the statute of AISBL (Association International Sans But Lucratif /International Non Profit Association).IASBL. The presentation is attached to these minutes.

The President suggested to separate the issue of legal status from the VAT issue and asked the AGA to 1. move ahead with the statute of IASBL. 2. decide or not to opt for a VAT number. Peter Frankenstein explained that EUROM I is now an IASBL but does not have a VAT number. This is very recent. SYFFOC will have a VAT number (VAT to be charged on a part of the fee).

Andrew Sedgwick asked if there were alternatives. The President explained that there were few. Wim Aalbers mentioned that there is also a possibility to have a Dutch statute which is very simple, flexible and one of the cheapest in Europe. The President suggested to investigate this option but is still more in favour of the IASBL because of the activities of EUROMCONTACT in Brussels and with the European institutions.

The AGA unanimously agreed to pursue with the legal statute. The AGA unanimously gave mandate to the President and the Secretary General to investigate the Dutch option. If the difference is very small, the AGA will opt for the IASBL.

Item 5 – Federation finances including the Budget for 2007

The President presented the general overview for the income and expenses for 2006. The presentation is attached to these minutes. The presentation is attached to these minutes. The provisional accounts for 2006 were approved. The Secretary General suggested for the future to approve the Balance Sheet and P&L account in the February meeting of the following year when they are final and have been audited.

The budget for 20077 was discussed. The President’s presentation is attached to these minutes. He explained that VAT will have to be paid by the association. Therefore, the income also needs to be adapted. The proposed fees for the international companies have been split into association management (€ 10,000) and statistics contribution (€ 5,000) to build up some reserves and make a provision for the VAT. The Statistics Group found that the statistics should pay for themselves.

He also proposed to increase the contribution of the national associations, which has remained at the same level for the past years, with 10%. The expected income form contribution of the small companies to the statistics for 2007 has been set at 0. David Pickersgill and Andrew Sedgwick asked to have a regular annual increase instead of a considerable one time increase.

Giuliano Giannini suggested to book the VAT provision for IOD out of the reserve.

Albert Noguera reported that the Spanish companies participating in the statistics were quite upset with the proposed increase. The President confirmed that the fee of € 500,- was too low but that the Statistics Group proposes to charge € 2,000. Albert Noguera still thought this amount to be too high.

Andrew Sedgwick reported that the image of EUROMCONTACT is not always positive with some of the national associations. The proposed increase of 10% might not be well perceived by some of the smaller ACLM members so any other income (from smaller statistics contributors for example) would be welcome.

The AGA agreed that the Secretary General will look together with IOD at the level each of the smaller contributors are placed and make a proposal together with the Stats Group before the end of the year. The small companies need to be informed of the cost structure of the statistics.

The AGA agreed to split the membership between association membership and statistics.

The AGA agreed to charge a membership of € 8,000 for the association management and € 5,000 for the statistics provided that their management approves the increase.

The amended budget for 2007 is unanimously approved by the AGA but the members asked that before making a decision on the VAT, the Secretary General make a simulation with the accountant. This issue will be then voted upon electronically

Item 6 - Any other business.

Item 7 - Date for the next meeting of the Annual General Assembly

The next Annual General Assembly of Euromcontact will be held on Thursday, November 22, 2007 in Paris.

Closing remarks by the President

The President, Mr Helmer Schweizer, thanked all present for their co-operation during the meeting and closed the meeting at 12.30 p.m. He thanked Martine Magnant and SYFFOC for their hospitality and organizing talents.

Signed ______President ______Secretary-General Attachments: Annex A – Approved Federation Budget for 2007. Annex B – Presentaion on legal statute of EUROMCONTACT

Distribution: Members of the Executive Council. Helmer Schweizer, CIBA Vision (President), Albert Noguera (Secretary), Giuliano Nannini (Treasurer), Jean Accad, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Esther da Silva, Bausch & Lomb Incorporated, David Nygren, CooperVision, Gunter Sterz, AMO and Pierre Vilcot, Menicon Europe.

Copies to: Heather Thomas, Bausch & Lomb Incorporated, Anne Falcotet, Jochem Steines and Pierre Monteil, Menicon Europe, Andrew Sedgwick and Joanne Studer, Cooper Vision Europe, Europe, Amy Tory and David Pickersgill, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Hilde Viroux, Alcon.

Representatives of the National Associations:

Gilles Bloch (France), Raphael Pfarrer (Switzerland) EFCLIN

Wim Aalbers

Secretaries or Secretaries-General of the National Associations: Martine Magnant (SYFFOC, France), Peter Frankenstein (SPECTARIS, Germany), Daniela Manenti (ASSOTTICA, Italy), Balz Rust (Verein Kontactlinsen, Switzerland) and Simon Rodwell (ACLM, United Kingdom), Anouk Leys (Fadicon, Belgium)