Geert Dancet has been appointed Secretary General of Helsinki Chemicals Forum from 1 February 2018 onwards. The next Helsinki Chemicals Forum will take place from 14 to 15 June 2018. It is the 10th anniversary of the event.

Helsinki Chemicals Forum is the leading international special event for chemical safety and chemical management. The event attracts chemical safety experts and decision-makers to Messukeskus in Helsinki every year. As Secretary General, Dancet is responsible for developing the event and assembling a programme of upscale moderated panels, discussions and keynote presentations. Previously, Geert Dancet worked as the Executive Director of The European Chemicals Agency ECHA.

“I am glad that I can continue working with chemical safety,” says Dancet. “In providing the coordination of the annual conference, I will benefit from my extensive expertise and network from my years at ECHA and the European Commission. My aim is to develop the Helsinki Chemicals Forum into an even stronger and globally acknowledged chemical safety event”.

Geert Dancet was interim Executive Director in 2007 and became the first elected Executive Director of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in January 2008. Under his leadership, the Agency successfully managed all regulatory processes of the REACH and CLP regulations. His mandate ended in 2017. Before arriving in Finland, he spent more than 20 years in the European Commission in different positions.

The programme for the Helsinki Chemicals Forum has been prepared by the previous Secretary General – Hannu Vornamo – and the international Programme Committee, which has representatives from the European Commission, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Environment Canada, the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC), the American Chemistry Council (ACC), the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI), the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL, a major global NGO) and Chemical Watch (a leading news service in the field). The Helsinki Chemical Forum thanks Hannu Vornamo for his 10 years of service as Secretary General and is happy to announce that he will now join the Advisory Board.

The Helsinki Chemicals Forum is organised by the Chemicals Forum Association in co-operation with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the European Commission, The European Chemical Industry Council CEFIC, the City of Helsinki, the Chemical Industry Federation of Finland and the University of Helsinki. This event will be held for the 10th time in Messukeskus, Helsinki from 14 to 15 June 2018.