EPF Newsletter: It was proposed at the 2002 EPF Congress that in order to save money, the EPF Newsletter be e-mailed rather than posted to those Federations with e-mail facilities. The EPF General Secretary, Heiner Köberich, has voiced his objections to this proposal. He feels that the EPF should continue to post hard copies, as he considers it to be a "special and helpful service for all EPF members". The General Secretary would welcome readers' comments on this issue.

European Junior Powerlifing Championships: The Hungarian Federation organised a successful 2002 European Junior Powerlifting Championships, despite suffering the misfortune of a fire in the Meet Hotel the night before the competition started. A local manufacturer, Atlas, supplied the bars and plates used at the championships. The EPF General Sectretary has been encouraged Atlas to apply for official approval as an IPF equipment supplier.

Consent Form: The IPF/EPF Consent Form appeared in the Minutes from the 2002 EPF Congress. National Federations must translate this into their own language by 01 August 2002. From this date onwards, all lifters participating in European Championships must produce a signed copy of their national form. They will also be required to sign an additional copy of the form (written in English) before the weigh-in.

Membership Fees: Latvia, Slovenia, Belarus and Portugal have still not paid their 2002 EPF Memberships Fees. These nations are now suspended from the EPF and IPF, excluding them from future European and World Championships. In order to lift their suspensions, the Federations must pay the Membership Fee of €250, plus a €60 fine for late payment.

Men's European Powerlifting Championships Doping Control Results: All the athletes selected for doping control at the 2002 Men's European Powerlifting Championships tested negative. The ten athletes tested were Dean Bowring GBR, Evgeny Dolgov RUS, Ivan Freydun UKR, Victor Furashkin RUS, Jörgen Ljungberg SWE, Vitaly Papazov UKR, Dmytro Solovyov UKR, Andrzej Stanaszek POL, Andrey Tarasenko RUS, Petr Theuser CZE.

Non-Approved Bars and Plates: Organisers of European championships must be aware that the bar and plates used on the lifting platform MUST be from one of the IPF approved manufacturers: Eleiko, Leoko or Ivanko. If this is not the case, the organiser must pay a fine of €1500 Euro to the EPF. In addition, European and World Records set with non-approved bars and plates may not be ratified. This new rule was accepted by the last Congress and is valid from 01 January 2003.

Technical Checklist: The organisers of EPF Championships must complete the Technical Checklist and return it to the General Secretary, together with the necessary details for issuing an invitation to the Championships. If the Technical Checklist is not completed, the National Federation will be fined €125. This new rule was accepted by the last Congress and is valid from 01 January 2003.

Note: The original version of this newsletter is available for download as a Word document.