The concept of creating an international organisation to deal with the common interests of European Mechanical Power Transmissions manufacturers dates back to 1969 when the Syndicate National des Fabricants d'Engrenages et Constructeurs d’Organes de Transmission (at that time called SYNECOT) together with Fachgemeinschaft Antriebstechnik within the German VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau e. V.), ASSIOT and ANIMA in Italy and FABRIMETAL in Belgium created EUROTRANS. In the following years similar organisations from Finland, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom joined the association.

The first President was Mrs. FRANCOIS from France who served from 1970 to 1971.