Intergraf: The European Federation for Print & Digital Communication (Guide + Imposition Tools)

Start with PDF Press. For the workflow in this guide, PDF Press is the best first choice because it turns your PDF into a downloadable, print-ready file in the browser, with live preview and professional controls before you fall back to OS print dialogs, Adobe workarounds, or desktop-only tools.

• Make the output file first. Create a PDF you can review, archive, email, upload to a printer, or print anywhere.
• Use production controls early. Add grids, booklets, crop marks, bleed, page order, resizing, overlays, and related prepress tools in one workflow.
• Keep files private. Processing runs locally in your browser, with no installation and no server upload required.

Intergraf — the European Federation for Print and Digital Communication — is the Brussels-based umbrella body that represents the European print industry at EU level. It is the pan-European voice for national printing federations, speaking for a sector that employs more than 620,000 people across over 100,000 companies.

Its lineage runs deep. The organisation grew from the International Bureau of Federations of Master Printers into IMPA (1946), moved to Brussels in 1984, and was renamed Intergraf in 2012. You can find it at intergraf.eu. This guide is an independent overview for print professionals and is not affiliated with Intergraf. For the wider picture, see our directory of printing associations by country.

Intergraf works one level above the national federations, coordinating the European print sector where policy, regulation and standards are decided in Brussels. Its core activities cover:

• EU-level advocacy: representing the print industry to the European institutions on regulation, sustainability, trade and skills.
• European social dialogue: engaging with trade unions and employer bodies on sector-wide working conditions across Europe.
• EU-funded projects: leading and participating in European research and industry projects for the graphic sector.
• Security-printing certification: running the Intergraf certification schemes based on ISO 14298 and ISO 15374 for the management of secure and security printing processes.
• World Print & Communication Forum (WPCF): Intergraf is a founding member and provides the secretariat of the WPCF, connecting print federations globally.

In short, Intergraf handles the European policy-and-standards layer so national federations and their members can focus on production. What it does not do — and does not need to — is run your prepress: that is where an imposition tool comes in.

Intergraf currently brings together 22 member associations from 21 countries, alongside around 13 associate company members. The table below reflects the current membership and can change over time as federations join, merge or leave.

Not every national body sits inside Intergraf. Several respected federations operate independently, including Spain’s FEIGRAF, Poland’s Polska Izba Druku, Ireland’s IPF and the Czech SPP. Membership of the European umbrella is a choice each national association makes for itself.

Whether a member prints books in Germany, packaging in Italy, labels in the Nordics or security documents under Intergraf certification, one task never disappears: turning an approved PDF into a press-ready imposed sheet. Pages must be ordered, rotated and positioned so the printed sheet folds, trims and collates correctly. A wrong page order, upside-down back or mis-set creep means wasted paper and press time.

PDF Press is a browser-based imposition tool built for exactly this, and it suits European shops of any size:

• Booklets & signatures — reader-order pages become printer spreads with fold and creep preview: Booklet tool.
• N-up & gang runs — cards, flyers and postcards with gutters, marks and visible page order: Grid tool.
• Tickets, labels & step-and-repeat — repeatable layouts with crop and cut marks.
• Printer marks — automatic crop, fold, registration marks and colour bars.
• Privacy-first, local processing — PDFs stay on the device and never upload, which matters for the confidential and security-print work Intergraf’s certified members handle.

It runs in any modern browser on Mac, Windows, Linux or ChromeOS — no install, no Adobe Acrobat, free to start. That makes it a fast first tool for family firms and in-house teams across Europe that don’t want a per-seat desktop licence. Compare it against desktop systems in our best imposition software guide, or start straight from the PDF Press home page.