He succeeds Olivier Coûteaux, who stepped down in May and Bruno Van Parys (who was interim chairman), both from Solvay, the international chemical and pharmaceutical group.

A Bulgarian national, Angelov joined Dow in 1989 and has worked as sales manager in the plastics division in the Balkan sales region and various positions in the Dow Europe headquarters in Horgen Switzerland.

Commencing his three-year term in office, Angelov said: “The key priorities for ECSA in the coming three years will be completion of the Registration Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) process and continuing work towards ensuring a sustainable future for the chlorinated solvents industry through our new ECSA Strategy that is in the process of implementation.”

Thorsten Schulz (LII Europe) succeeds Mr Angelov as chairman of the ECSA REACH steering committee.

ECSA promotes good practice in the use of chlorinated solvents.