The first Meeting of the Working Party on Countering Illicit (WP-CIT) Trade took place April 4-5 at OECD headquarters in Paris.
USCIB Anti-Illicit Trade Committee (AITC) Chair David Luna (Luna Global Networks), USCIB Senior Director of Customs and Trade Facilitation Megan Giblin, and several USCIB members participated as part of the Business at OECD (BIAC) Anti-Illicit Trade Expert Group delegation to WP-CIT. This inaugural meeting was a milestone of the OECD work on countering illicit trade since the WP-CIT was elevated within the organization due to its move from the Governance Directorate (GOV) to the Trade and Agriculture Directorate (TAD) at the OECD.
During the meetings, Luna delivered remarks as Chair of BIAC Anti-Illicit Trade Expert Group (AITEG). USCIB member representatives Susan Wilson (Intel), Monica Ramirez (ABinBEV), and Jennifer Lane (Amazon) also provided topic specific remarks on Third Party Litigation Funding (TPLF), trade in illicit alcohol, and existing best practices in the e-commerce space to fight counterfeits and illicit goods, respectively. The USCIB delegation participated actively and joined broader panels on these and other topics.
USCIB’s AITC was established in 2018 to support the work of BIAC and the OECD WP-CIT in this space.
“It was an honor and a privilege to participate in this milestone event of the WP-CIT,” said Giblin. “The BIAC–OECD public private partnership is an issue of critical interest to BIAC, USCIB, and other BIAC national federations. We look forward to continuing our engagement and collaboration coming out of these recent WP meetings and discussions as we move into 2025, as well as supporting the newly established WP-CIT forum and related work program.”
Giblin also noted there was robust dialogue on TPLF and countering illicit trade across online marketplaces, building on the earlier good work of the informal expert group supported strongly by both BIAC and USCIB. For Giblin, it was a very positive development to learn about the progress related to the OECD Recommendations on enhancing Transparency in Free Trade Zones (FTZ), specifically the commencement of the related FTZ Certification Scheme. This is an important topic for BIAC and USCIB, but also the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which works in collaboration with BIAC on this workstream at the OECD.
As stated by Piotr Stryszowski, senior economist at the OECD, there was a great collaborative spirit in the debate with the business community showing their strong endorsement in the work of the WP-CIT (along with an intervention by John W.H. Denton, ICC Secretary General, supporting the OECD’s Free Trade Zones Recommendation).
USCIB is both the US National Committee of ICC and the US National Federation of BIAC.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) released a 
New York, N.Y., March 04, 2024—The United States Council for International Business (USCIB) welcomes outcomes from the WTO 13th Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi on two key objectives for U.S. industry: a two-year extension of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions and a rejection of efforts to waive intellectual property protections for COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics.
New York, N.Y., February 21, 2024—The United States Council for International Business (USCIB), the National Guaranteeing Association (NGA) and Issuing Association for the ATA Carnet (aka the “Passport for Goods®”) in the U.S., has facilitated the first ever U.S. digital ATA Carnet (e-ATA) test processing at John F. Kennedy Airport in collaboration with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Roanoke Insurance Group Inc. and Rock-it Cargo. The test will also be done in conjunction with the London Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) and UK Customs (HMRC), processing the e-ATA for import at London’s Heathrow airport.
New York, N.Y., February 05, 2024—The United States Council for International Business (USCIB), the national guaranteeing and issuing association for the ATA Carnet in the United States, is pleased to welcome Peru as the 80th country to be represented in the ATA Carnet system. The ATA Carnets are critical tools of trade facilitation and export promotion. The ATA Carnet is an international customs document that allows duty- and tax-free temporary admission of goods for up to one year.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) held its annual Regional Consultative Group of the ICC Americas group in the first week of October. Hosted this year by ICC Argentina in Buenos Aires, the three-day event gathered representatives from nearly all countries in the region, including USCIB Policy Manager for Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs Jose Arroyo, who represented the U.S.
