Dr. Jean-Pierre Haug, of the Swiss textile testing institute TESTEX, will assume the position of Secretary General for the International OEKO-TEX® Association. His predecessor Raimar Freitag, who has played a key role in forming the profile and global focus of the OEKO-TEX® testing and certification system, was honoured for his many years of service during a ceremony held in Vienna at the end of June. He will continue to assist the association in an advisory role. 

In Jean-Pierre Haug's view, the main objective of his role as OEKO-TEX® Secretary General will be to continue the very successful activities of the OEKO-TEX® Association and its 14 member institutes: "The OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 is the globally leading independent label for textiles that have been tested for harmful substances", says Haug. "We will strive to further strengthen and expand this international position and the great level of acceptance and popularity of the standard. This includes the consistent further development of testing criteria and methods in view of their relevance for the textile and clothing industry, as well as the constant optimisation of certification processes in close cooperation with the quality assurance units at the certificate holders' operations, and the networking of certified companies with each other."

Following studies and graduation as a textile chemist at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, Jean-Pierre Haug has been working at the Swiss textile testing institute TESTEX since 1993, where he assumed operational management of the traditional testing institute that is known around the world in 2000, initially with responsibility over the testing laboratories and then as COO in 2007.

As Chairman of the technical committee of the International OEKO-TEX® Association, he has also long played a key role in the development and further development of testing criteria for lab testing according to OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 and OEKO-TEX® Standard 1000 for production facility certifications. In his function as President of the technical commission for GINETEX, he also plays an active role in the optimisation of the ISO Standard 3758 for textile care labels using standardised symbols.

Source OEKO-TEX®