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The beginning
On the 24th June 1999 the first official board meeting was held with the members of
EFTCO in Brussels. It has taken a while for the organisation to get established
officially due to administrative procedures and limited resources. As a matter of
fact the efforts of the founding members were all on a voluntary basis, keeping the
organisation lean.
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The founding members
In May 1999 EFTCO was established as a limited company, registered in England and
having the operating address in Brussels:
EFTCO c/o CLM bvba
Alsembergsteenweg 1096
B 1650 BEERSEL
Belgium
Honorary Presidents:
1999-2006: Hugo Kerkhofs for CLM
2007-2008: John de Graauw for APLICA
2009-
The founding members are CTC of Belgium, APLICA of France, NRTCA of England,
ATCN of the Netherlands, ALCI of Italy and ANLIC of Spain.
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The Memorandum
The Memorandum of Association stipulate that the object of EFTCO is to study,
protect and develop the professional interests of the Federation and its members,
to develop and promote the professional image of the Federation and its members,
to seek and encourage the development of relationships with other organisations
having related activities and with regulatory bodies, both nationally and internationally.
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The EFTCO definition of ‘clean’
The EFTCO definition of ‘clean’: “A tank shall be described as clean when there are no visible traces or odour of the last product
or cleaning agent following an inspection from the man-lids.”
 
The definition of a standard tank cleaning: “ A standard tank cleaning is considered to be the end of a transport: the tank is cleaned from its last transport-cargo”.
NB: this means that a cleaning to prepare a tank for a next specified load is not a standard tank cleaning. In this case the tank cleaner needs to take specific precautions cleaning and preparing the tank in function of the specified product.
The definition of a tank cleaning agreement: in legal terms it is a contract of means and not of result: the client declares the last carried product and accepts that the tank cleaner is cleaning the tank with the technical means known by both of them.
The ECD: at the end of the cleaning operation a declaration by means of a cleaning document is made by the tank cleaner describing the supplied services and signed off by the transport company (usually the driver). Once the vehicle leaves the premises of the tank cleaning station, the tank cleaner does not have any control about what is happening with the tank: it is the hauliers’ responsibility to conserve the tanks’ condition for its’ next utilisation.
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The SQAS tank cleaning programme
The organisation has already made its mark with its contribution to the SQAS tank
cleaning programme in coöperation with ECTA and Cefic as part of the Responsible
Care programme of the chemical industry. The organisation has participated to a number of
meetings and conferences as a means of promoting itself. Each of the members have been
working at their professional image in their respective countries in particular in
establishing a relationship with the authorities in water treatment, waste management
and the transportation departments. In particular quite some efforts have been put into
the creation of the tank cleaning certificate.
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The national document: the first step
In some countries a national document has been developed by the association(s)
to certify that the proper tank cleaning has been executed. For instance, in France,
the APLICA cleaning certificate not only covers the chemical product flows but also
the food industry is keen on working with the document in order to keep control over
previous cargoes. In other countries such as Belgium (CTC), Holland (ATCN) and Italy
(ALCI) a national document to certify the proper tank cleaning has been developed by
the association(s). This document assures at the same time the legal compliance of
the cleaning operation. As a matter of fact the document allows the controlling authorities
to cross check the tank cleaning stations' registers. At the same time the document
allows the user to trace back eventual problems that occurred in the supply chain.
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The next step: the European Cleaning Document "ECD", a registered form in Europe
(registered form in Europe with exclusive use for members only made available by EFTCO)
The ultimate aim is to operate in Europe with a uniform document, comprehensive
and easily understood and having a legal status of enforcement and control similar to
that of the CMR transport document which is a legal document throughout Europe. EFTCO
recognises that this is an ambitious goal. However while launching the new look of this
website the organisation achieved the following agreement.
Mid 2004 EFTCO, ECTA and Cefic have agreed upon the final lay-out and the minimum requirements of the ECD (see hereafter). Hereafter you will find the format and the guidelines of its' functioning.
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