READING, England — The European Production Fund (EPF), by which the UBS finances the production of Scriptures for Africa and Europe, is to cease operations from the end of the year.
The announcement followed a decision
by the UBS Executive Committee that the pre-financing functions which have
been performed by EPF and the Scripture Supply Fund (SSF) should be merged
into a single fund. Work is now in progress to implement the decision.
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Pre-financing the Production of Bibles The need for the pre-financing of Bible production arises from a number of factors. In areas such as printing and binding, Bibles are more complicated to produce than many other books and so production takes longer. Because of the high level of technology their production requires, Scriptures are often printed in a country other than their ultimate destination. These factors often mean a considerable delay between production of Bibles and the generation of income from their sales – while the typesetters, printers and binders involved all have to be paid when production is completed. The EPF effectively acted as a loan fund to Bible Societies, setting up finance plans under which they would repay the costs of production. |
In 1980 it assumed primary responsibility for financing the production of Scriptures for Africa and Europe, while similar responsibility for Asia-Pacific and the Americas was taken on by the Scripture Supply Fund (SSF), established in 1976 and based in New York. Besides financing Scripture production, the EPF currently has two other functions for the UBS fellowship.
From January, responsibility for production services and the delivery of bulk orders for Bible Societies in the Europe-Middle East Region will switch to the Europe-Middle East Regional Service Centre, based in Crawley, England.
EPF’s role as a central stockholder of a wide range of editions – particularly those in the minority-language Scriptures used in European countries – will be assumed by a new UBS Europe Distribution Center. Under the terms of a new arrangement, this service has been contracted to the Danish Bible Society.
The EPF today has a considerably lower turnover than it once had. In the past 10 years the Bible Societies in Africa have become responsible for their own production services. Since those often involved high print runs, the change meant the Fund lost a significant amount of business.
EPF currently employs eight people in Stuttgart, some of whom are part-time. Another five people who work for the German Bible Society spend part of their time on EPF business.
In a statement about the continuation of EPF services after December 31, the Europe-Middle East Regional Service Centre said it was trying to anticipate and avoid problems connected with the transition period, and that the new services would be of benefit to the fellowship. “The replacement of the services provided so ably by the EPF staff will not be easy,” it added. (WR 355/24 - 11.00)