As part of measures to prevent the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19), Norwegian medical authorities instituted a ban on large events during April 2020. As a result of this unprecedented situation, EARMA had to make the difficult but unavoidable decision to postpone our annual conference. Although we and our partners are extremely disappointed, the welfare of our community members has been and will continue to be our greatest priority.

Going forward, we want to make this event happen in the safest way possible which is why EARMA has agreed to reschedule our annual conference to take place later this year, September 29 – October 1. This event will happen at the same venue and at the same location, the Oslo Kongressenter in Norway. Our Annual Conference Programme Committee and our Norwegian partners have worked very hard to put together an exciting and interesting programme and we will endeavor to ensure that what would have been a successful event in April will be an even greater success in September.

All registrations and presentations will be carried forward to the new dates. You are registered to attend on the new dates by default. If you are unable to attend the new dates:

• You can transfer your registration to a colleague without any additional fees (from member to member, from non-member to non-member)
  
• You can cancel your registration and EARMA will provide you with a refund of all prepaid fees minus the administration fee of NOK 1000
  

We completely understand that these dates may not be convenient for all of our delegates and, in the event that they do conflict with your schedule, we hope that our solutions regarding transfers and refunds will be satisfactory to you. We greatly value our community members and we want to ensure that your continued participation is protected.

EARMA strongly appreciates that those planning to attend the EARMA 2020 annual conference in Oslo may have already made arrangements and we are deeply sympathetic towards any inconvenience and costs that may be incurred by this public health decision by authorities. We are also currently making similar assessments in terms of implications. We would advise that you contact your insurance companies to assess the return of expenses and we will go above and beyond to ensure that you will receive any receipts relevant to a claim. 

We would urge all delegates to please wait for a follow up email, which we will send to you next week, with details on how to obtain these documents before attempting to process your claims. We will also provide details on how to proceed with receiving reimbursement in that communication and we would appreciate that you bear with us regarding queries while we prepare that information for you.

Again, we must stress how difficult a decision this has been, but safety first has been our guiding principle in this matter. We hope that you take care during this very difficult time and we hope to see you later this year under improved circumstances.