Edifrance, a body set up to promote Electronic Data Interchange in France, chose Henri Martre, former managing director of Aerospatiale SA, as its new president last month. Edifrance was established in January 1990 as part of AFNOR, the French standards body. It is increasingly becoming an association for small and medium-sized firms. Les Echos reports that Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the French industry minister, plans to set aside some $2m to help the association launch a range of programmes targeted specifically at such companies. In France, EDI is predominantly used for transmitting commercial and administrative data, although it is starting to be more widely used for technical information now.
