When at the beginning of this year we considered the possibility of organizing the exhibition again, we understood that we would do so in the context of the permanent objectives that CAPER has had throughout the 15 years that have been fulfilled since the creation of our Chamber. Those objectives were and still are:
- Bring information and technological news to visitors
In this edition of CAPER, as usual, visitors can find information about the technological avant-garde in professional equipment for the television, cable, radio and audiovisual productions in general. As usual, they will be able to "put their hands" on the exhibited equipment and receive information from more than 250 specialists who will be at their disposal at the stands.
As a remarkable novelty this year, a new sector of exhibitors opens at CAPER: that of integral audiovisual production services. Welcome.
But in addition, the information will be available in technical-academic conferences, with presentations of new technologies:
This year, the theme of electronic cinema occupies a special place, through specialists from the National Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts. And we continue with the opening of new sectors that technology is increasingly linking with the areas traditionally present in our exhibitions.
We also have a special block dedicated to digital television, with the participation of specialists coordinated by the Argentine Center of Engineers, representatives of the DVB and ATSC standards and prominent Argentine television professionals who will close the block through a round table. It should be noted that this topic has been addressed in CAPER uninterruptedly since 1998, the year in which we organized the First Digital TV Seminar within the framework of the exhibition, where the first experimental transmissions of Digital TV in the Argentine Republic were also carried out. by Artear and Telefé.
In this technological framework that is CAPER' 2003, visitors will have the opportunity to meet colleagues and friends and bond with all the participants of the specialty.
Likewise, those who need to communicate their offers to the market will be able to make direct contact with the specialized graphic media, also exhibitors of CAPER' 2003, to whom we thank for their dedication, serving as an appropriate link between companies and users.
CAPER aspires to be a propitious environment, where different positions referring to the work of the sector can be freely expressed, without pretending to be a judge of them and much less lead them or make them their own.
I would also like to take stock of other activities that CAPER has developed throughout these fifteen years of work.
In principle, it is important to note that CAPER is an atypical supplier chamber, since it brings together both manufacturing and importing companies. The Chamber is working to reach consensus positions, so as to present a common position that takes into account the interests of all its members.
Respecting this particular characteristic, through its Tariff Commission, CAPER has obtained important openings in the tariff nomenclature to precisely define high-tech products. For this reason, throughout these fifteen years, the Tariff Commission has managed to open more than 50 tariff positions on highly specialized products.
Another of the outstanding works of CAPER is the one carried out by the Electrical Safety Commission, which was created as a result of the entry into force of Resolution 92/98 that established that the entire universe of electrical products must obtain a brand certificate to be marketed, something that greatly hindered the arrival on the market of more than 300 different professional products in our sector. In this regard, and after years of work, CAPER has managed to strengthen the recognition of the authorities so that the professional products marketed by the companies in the area, receive a differentiated treatment, avoiding delays and, fundamentally, additional costs.
Another task that has been in management for more than a year and that aims to end the aberration that implies that essential capital goods for the sector such as video recorder equipment and professional camcorders currently pay around 21% of internal taxes has also been addressed.
It should be especially noted that the work that CAPER has been doing in these areas benefits the entire sector and, in particular, our customers.
Finally we believe that today, with the presence of the exhibiting companies that occupy more than 50 stands we are all together making a valuable contribution to the recomposition of the market and we can affirm that the balance of these fifteen years is highly positive since the recognition of the sector has been achieved through a silent task, persistent and continuous.
A year ago, when inaugurating the Seminar on Digital Technologies, I told them that in the future, the companies that managed to survive, would be in charge of telling the sector, what had happened in the world in the matter. Today those companies are here to do it.
Thanks a lot.
Ing. Ricardo Solari
President of CAPER
