At the PLASA Show, the European associations AFIAL, APESA, AVITA, Event Confederation, PLASA, PSA, and VPLT have informally joined forces at an international level.
The group represents manufacturers, distributors, dealers, system integrators, production companies, professional end-users and technical service providers involved in live events. The new alliance provides a platform for exchange, pools expertise and resources, and offers a strong voice in European legislative and regulatory processes.
The associations come from six European countries: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. They include:
- AFIAL (Asociación que agrupa a los fabricantes e importadores de Tecnología Audiovisual, afial.net), Spain
- APESA (l’Alliance des Professionnels de l’Evènementiel, du Spectacle et de l’Audiovisuel), France
- AVITA (Audiovisuaalisen Ammattiviestinnän toimialaliitto, avita.org), Finland
- Event Confederation (event-confederation.be), Belgium
- PLASA (Professional Lighting and Sound Association, plasa.org), UK
- PSA (Production Services Association, psa.org.uk), UK
- VPLT (Verband für Medien- und Veranstaltungstechnik, vplt.org), Germany
Initial focus on sustainability
The member companies of the seven ETIA associations determine the future viability of the international event industry through development of new and sustainable technologies, services, and standards. The associations and their members commit to actively contribute to the economic sustainability of the entertainment and media technology sector through ETIA. Specifically, this involves processes in standardisation to deliver comparable and robust data on the environmental impact of products.
Pooled expertise to the benefit of the industry
ETIA-members state: “Like many other sectors in our economy, the event industry is undergoing profound change. An international partnership such as ETIA, in which we pool our many years of expertise, is fundamental to tackling the many challenges facing our industry. Through the ETIA, we can join forces, reinforce common interests and cooperate on specific projects and topics such as product life cycle analysis. ETIA is an important milestone in this regard, and we are confident it will send a powerful signal to our industry and our governments and regulatory authorities alike.”
From national initiatives to European action
ETIA is not organised as an umbrella organisation. Each association will continue to represent the specific interests of its members at national and international level. At the same time, cooperation on EU policy initiatives will strengthen the position of our industry in Brussels.
ETIA was officially launched at a joint panel discussion by representatives of the associations on September 8, 2025, in London during the Plasa Show at Olympia London.
The ETIA partner associations met for the first time at Prolight + Sound 2025 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Another meeting of the partners and interested associations is planned for next year’s edition. A joint website is also planned for the coming months.
