Dear UNIKON users of BELGIUM
The 2024 protocol for electronic reporting has been issued by the KBDB.
The use of:
- The old models Profi-Medium is NOT A PROBLEM.
- The new models Champ+ and Champ+ is NOT A PROBLEM.
- Automatically reporting to KBDB-online is NOT A PROBLEM.
- Receiving arrival times on your smartphone is NOT A PROBLEM.
BUT HOME RETURN will unfortunately not be possible.
Also, the existing Clubmaster cannot be adapted to the new requirements
REASON:
As you know, we have been applying "home return" for several years in other countries.
However, the protocol for 2024 has been drafted by the KBDB for BELGIUM in such a way that we must develop a whole new system for the enthusiasts and for the organization solely for BELGIUM.
The KBDB has chosen to adopt a protocol that is not applied internationally and is only used in Belgium. SO for a very limited number of enthusiasts and suppliers.
Probably just one supplier.
You will understand that if we have to instruct the supplier to develop and market a completely new system for one country, and then also for a limited group of enthusiasts who truly need it, this is totally impossible.
So is "home return" not necessary for you?.....Just continue as you have been doing with UNIKON for years.
Because, of course, we will continue to provide the service you are used to from us.
New champ systems – accessories – chip rings and maintenance and battery replacements (also for the “old” Profi and Medium systems) we will simply continue to do, as we have for 25 years.
Is pigeon racing an impossible venture for you without "home return"?
Unfortunately, then our collaboration must cease, and we find it very upsetting that you are forced to make a new investment.
UNIKON support,
Nico de Heus
Commentary
As you may know, there is quite a bit going on regarding electronic reporting.
Four suppliers started a case against the KBDB a few years ago.
A ruling was made on this in September 2022.
The KBDB was then also "told off" by the BMA (weakly expressed)
Since then and now there have been back-and-forth "discussions," but they have not yielded much.
Worse still: the new protocol for 2024 has been structured in such a way that what we have been offering and using for several years in other countries is not allowed in Belgium.
This means that we MUST develop a completely new system solely for Belgium to assist our customers further and cannot offer the same as abroad for a price of about €50.00 per year.
You could say: “the past repeats itself”
This means; 25 years ago when the EC systems were offered to the KBDB, UNIKON could "report on" in all countries in a way that only required the storage module to go to the local.
Then an extra rule was added to the protocol that made it mandatory to take ALL, the entire device, to the local and present it for basket entry.
Belgium was then from that moment the only country in the world where this had to happen and still must.
But from that moment on, there was one less serious competitor for a certain brand that could exert much influence on the KBDB even then.
But regrettably, it is financially unacceptable for the manufacturer of UNIKON to develop a completely new system for one country and also for too small a group that actually needs it.
Hence this letter to the Belgian pigeon enthusiasts.