Alice Slayton Clark Archives

USCIB Gears Up for NAFTA Talks in Montreal This Week

Published on January 23, 2018

The sixth round of NAFTA negotiations is taking place in Montreal, Canada this week with a concluding Ministerial scheduled for Monday, January 29. USCIB Director for Investment, Trade and Financial Services Eva Hampl will be traveling to Montreal tomorrow for meetings with negotiators and key officials. This round presents a great opportunity to push forward on many chapters vital to U.S. business, and make progress in the discussions surrounding the more controversial provisions that have been tabled.

As a lead up to the talks in Montreal, Hampl participated in the Senate Lobby Day on the Hill last week, speaking with a range of Republican and Democratic offices. Throughout the day, about 150 members of the NAFTA Coalition met with as many Senate offices as possible, raising business issues of concern.

“We emphasized the outstanding issues regarding the problematic proposals of a sunset clause, investor-state dispute settlement, auto rules of origin, and government procurement,” said Hampl. “We also made the point that there are many chapters that are making progress, including customs and digital trade, which are vital for business and should get closed out as soon as possible.”

 

Business at OECD Calls for Action Against Corruption

Published on December 18, 2017

While progress has been made in creating cultures of integrity, corruption continues to seriously affect economies. Marking the 20th anniversary of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, Business at OECD (BIAC) and USCIB affirm the importance of an integrated and effective approach in the fight against corruption, which is a global challenge and requires international cooperation.

“Corruption is a cancer for the global economy and seriously compromises the health and productivity of our economies and value chains across the globe. The legally binding standards of the Anti-Bribery Convention have clearly positioned the OECD as a leading force in the international fight against corruption,” said Dr. Klaus Moosmayer, chief compliance officer of Siemens and BIAC anti-corruption chair. Speaking at the OECD Roundtable on 20 years of the Anti-Bribery Convention, Moosmayer called on the OECD and governments to step up efforts and also address the demand side of bribery, recognize the compliance efforts of companies, and support voluntary self-disclosure. “We recognize the urgency of this agenda,” said Moosmayer. “The private sector should be considered as a key partner in this struggle.”

USCIB has been actively promoting the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, especially during last month’s OECD events in the U.S. that celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Anti-Bribery Convention. USCIB’s Director for Investment, Trade and Financial Services  Eva Hampl took part in a panel at the event “Celebrating the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention at 20, the FCPA at 40 & Addressing the Challenges Ahead”.

Hampl addressed the cost that corruption and bribery present to business and the important role the OECD plays to level the playing field in that regard. Specifically, companies from OECD countries, who have to comply with the OECD Anti-bribery Convention, compete with companies from non-OECD countries that are not subject to the same anti-bribery measures.

“This leads to unfair competition and can even create an environment favorable to corrupt practices,” warned Hampl. “U.S. companies of course have to comply with the FCPA, which means they spend a significant amount of resources on developing anti-corruption policies and compliance programs as well as training systems for employees so that they are well-equipped to withstand demands for corruption.”

USCIB Supports UN Convention on Receivables

Published on December 15, 2017

Last week, USCIB joined nine other trade associations to sign on to a letter to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in support for the United Nations Convention on the Assignment of Receivables in International Trade, asking the committee to move expeditiously toward its ratification.

Enactment of the convention would make it easier for U.S. small and medium-sized businesses to access additional financing from lenders based on their sales of goods and services to customers located in other countries that ratify the convention.

“The Receivables Convention is self-executing and would not change U.S. law in any material respect, because U.S. law already reflects the modern legal principles embodied in the convention,” said Eva Hampl, USCIB’s director for investment, trade and financial services. “We believe that U.S. ratification would prompt other countries to ratify as well, which will then make it easier for U.S. lenders to accommodate the financing needs of U.S. small and medium-sized businesses, enabling them to compete more vigorously in the international marketplace and foster the growth of American jobs.”

No state or federal legislation is needed for executing the Convention so there is no cost to the U.S. government or taxpayers in ratifying it. Furthermore, experts from the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws participated fully in the formulation of the Convention and have determined that there would be no implementation issues in ratifying the Convention.

 

 

Donnelly Offers Business Views on OECD Anti-bribery Convention

Published on December 5, 2017

USCIB Vice President for Investment Policy Shaun Donnelly represented business on a panel discussion on November 29 marking the 20th anniversary of the OECD’s Anti-Bribery Convention organized in Washington by the Coalition for Integrity, “C4I”.  Donnelly joined senior anti-corruption officials from the OECD secretariat and the World Bank on a panel assessing the progress twenty years after the OECD’s “Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions” and where the convention and OECD’s anti-bribery work might be headed. 

Donnelly, who also serves as a member of the C4I’s Policy Advisory Board, emphasized three points in his comments.  First, while the OECD convention has delivered greater international attention on corrupt practices, much more effort is still needed from many convention member states on enforcement and prosecutions.

Second, the lack of any focus on the “demand side’ of the bribery dynamic, corrupt government officials extorting bribes from business, remains a very serious problem.  “Companies are not the origin of all, or even, most of the bribery in international business, and OECD anti-briery efforts need to recognize those inconvenient realities,” said Donnelly.

Finally, Donnelly urged the OECD’s Bribery Working Group and the Secretariat to open up their closed door proceedings to the established OECD stakeholders, including the Business and Industry Advisory Committee, where USCIB represents U.S. business.   

The C4I program included another panel, focused on the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the landmark U.S. anti-bribery law which really launched government efforts to combat corruption.  That FCPA panel included representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice and the securities and Exchange Commission.   The afternoon panel program was organized around C4I’s annual awards dinner that evening where Senator John McCain received the prestigious “Integrity Award” and the OECD was recognized with a special award for its international leadership on anti-bribery and integrity issues. Donnelly represented USCIB at that awards dinner.

USCIB Gears Up for WTO Ministerial

Published on December 5, 2017

Over 160 governments will gather next week in Buenos Aires, Argentina for the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial (MC 11). USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson will also be attending on behalf of U.S. business and will support the International Chamber of Commerce activities planned in conjunction with MC11.

On December 12, Robinson will take part in the WTO Business Forum, which ICC is co-sponsoring with the Argentina government and several other groups. The Forum has been designed as a platform to amplify the voice of the private sector within the context of the WTO Ministerial with a view to promoting an enriching public-private dialogue about the multilateral trading system and contributing to foster closer engagement between governments and business leaders at the WTO.

Argentina’s President Mauricio Macro and Director-General of the WTO Roberto Azevedo are expected to give keynotes while ICC Secretary General John Danilovich will be part of the final panel discussing the future of global trade. USCIB member companies serving on panels at the Forum include Mastercard, GE, DHL Express, Dow Chemical, Boeing, Monsanto, IBM, UPS, Walmart, Google, Amazon, and E-bay.  The Forum will feature sessions on fostering micro, small and medium enterprises, progress in trade facilitation, food security and e-commerce.

At the Ministerial next week, Robinson will urge governments to agree on an action plan for moving the WTO forward on market opening agreements as well as improvements to operations.  He will encourage progress on multilateral negotiations in key issue areas such as fisheries subsidies, an e-commerce work program, tackling needed reforms to the dispute resolution system, and providing a framework for more effective market opening negotiations.  The MC11 action plan should also encourage pursuit of plurilateral initiatives by groups of interested countries when a multilateral negotiation does not have broad support.

USCIB had already begun planning for the Ministerial earlier this year and, most recently, with Senior Vice President Rob Mulligan’s trip to Geneva in September for the WTO’s annual Public Forum and related meetings organized by ICC. The issues mentioned most often in these meetings as having the potential for some type of action at the Ministerial included investment facilitation, fisheries subsidies, e-commerce, services facilitation and agriculture.  However, it also seems that each of these are facing challenges that could prevent a deliverable at MC 11.

“While the Ministerial may not produce a number of deliverables, business engagement will be needed to ensure that the WTO moves forward after the Ministerial on issues that address meaningful concerns with the global trading system,” said Mulligan. “This will be important to preserving the relevance and value of the WTO in opening global markets,” he added.

Hampl Urges High Standards in Colombia’s OECD Accession

Published on November 20, 2017

 

USCIB Director for Investment, Trade and Financial Services Eva Hampl

Through its Business at OECD (BIAC) affiliation, USCIB has been extensively involved in representing member interest in the OECD accession process of Colombia. USCIB’s Director for Investment, Trade and Financial Services Eva Hampl traveled to Paris last week with member companies and associations, to attend meetings with OECD officials and various OECD delegations. BIAC led the global business delegation in meetings with Ken Ash, OECD director for trade and agriculture, Nicola Bonucci, OECD director for legal affairs and coordinator for accession, Catalina Crane, high-level contact for Colombia’s OECD Accession Process, and delegation representatives from the United States, including Andrew Haviland, chargé d’affaires, as well as representatives from the European Union, United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium and Mexico.

Colombia started the accession process in 2013. At present, 20 of the 23 OECD Committees have approved them for accession. The Committee dealing with our outstanding issues on pharmaceuticals, distilled spirits, and trucking is the OECD Trade Committee, which will meet again at the end of November. In terms of Trade Committee procedure, the OECD concluded the Market Openness Review (MOR) a few months ago, and are now a number of drafts into the so-called Formal Opinion. Once this Formal Opinion is approved, that concludes the process in the Trade Committee. OECD accession for Colombia won’t be concluded until all Committees independently approve them.

“Our current advocacy surrounds pre-accession recommendations, which we urged the OECD Trade Committee to include in the Formal Opinion,” said Hampl. “The concept of pre-accession requirements, as opposed to post-accession requirements, is a novelty in an OECD accession, rooted in past experience of the ineffectiveness of post-accession requirements, once the leverage of joining the OECD is gone. Accordingly, we view this ask as central to resolving our various business issues. We understand that several issues are currently covered in the confidential draft Formal Opinion as part of pre-accession recommendations, though it is not yet clear which of our issues are included in those.”

The next meeting of the OECD Trade Committee will be in April 2018. Given that Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos will leave office in May 2018, there is a high likelihood that a meeting will be called by the OECD before April to resolve any final issues, if the Formal Opinion is not finalized this month.

“USCIB acknowledges the importance of the Colombian market to our companies, but we also see the precedent Colombia can set for other countries from the region that have indicated an interest in joining the OECD, such as Argentina and Brazil,” added Hampl. “While no new processes have officially started, it is important to ensure that the high standards of the OECD are met by any country looking to join. We will aggressively continue our advocacy efforts as this accession process moves forward, to ensure that as many of our priority issues are resolved as possible before Colombia joins the OECD. “

Hampl Addresses the Costs of Corruption and Bribery on Panel

Published on November 14, 2017
USCIB’s Eva Hampl second from left. Photograph courtesy of Washington College of Law

As the OECD celebrated 20 years of the Anti-Bribery Convention last week, USCIB’s Director for Investment, Trade and Financial Services  Eva Hampl took part in a panel at the event “Celebrating the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention at 20, the FCPA at 40 & Addressing the Challenges Ahead”.

Hampl addressed the cost that corruption and bribery present to business and the important role the OECD plays to level the playing field in that regard. Specifically, companies from OECD countries, who have to comply with the OECD Anti-bribery Convention, compete with companies from non-OECD countries that are not subject to the same anti-bribery measures.

“This leads to unfair competition and can even create an environment favorable to corrupt practices,” warned Hampl. “U.S. companies of course have to comply with the FCPA, which means they spend a significant amount of resources on developing anti-corruption policies and compliance programs as well as training systems for employees so that they are well-equipped to withstand demands for corruption.”

Other speakers at the event included Stuart Eizenstat, former domestic policy advisor, President Carter & U.S. Ambassador to the EU, Under Secretary of Commerce, Deputy Secretary of Treasury, Drago Kos, chair of the OECD Working Group on Bribery, as well as officials from the Department of Justice and anti-corruption experts from international and policy organizations.

The OECD Anti-bribery Convention is a landmark instrument addressing the bribery of foreign officials. The OECD, with its multi-disciplinary nature, has the capacity to take a coordinated approach to the right against corruption. While we commend the work the OECD has already done in this space, there are several issues where USCIB advocates for further work to be done: (1) Increased adherence to the Convention, particularly b G20 countries; (2) Increased efforts to address the demand side of bribery (i.e. bribe solicitation and extortion by public officials); (3) More measures to facilitate voluntary self-disclosure; and (4) Addressing the growing complexity and costs of complying with multiple anti-bribery regimes by promoting clarity and greater international consistency.

Additionally, Hampl also attended the event No Turning Back: 40 Years of the FCPA and 20 Years of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. The agenda included speakers from various U.S. government offices that play an integral part enforcing the FCPA, OECD officials, foreign government officials, representatives from academia and international institutions, as well as the private sector, including General Electric and Citibank. The keynote address to kick off the event was given by Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco.

USCIB Submits Comments on Trade Barriers to Telecommunication Products

Published on November 6, 2017

USCIB submitted comments in response to the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) request for public comments to compile the National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers and the so-called Section 1377 trade barriers to telecommunications products and services.

Section 1377 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988  requires USTR annually to review the operation and effectiveness of all U.S. trade agreements regarding telecommunications products and services that are in force with respect to the United States. USTR will consider written comments in response to this notice regarding the trade barriers pertinent to the conduct of the review called for in Section 1377.

USCIB submitted comments on 43 individual countries regarding foreign trade barriers to U.S. exports for the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, European Union, Fiji, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Gulf Cooperation Council, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latin America Malaysia, Mexico, Middle East and North Africa, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Tonga, Turkey, Uganda, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Vietnam.

Click here to view USCIB’s comments.

Hampl Raises Anti-Corruption and Transparency Concerns at SOE Meeting

Published on October 27, 2017
USCIB’s Eva Hampl speaks on panel at OECD meetings on SOE’s in Paris

Eva Hampl, USCIB’s director for investment, trade and financial services was in Paris last week representing USCIB at a special roundtable at the OECD on Integrity, the Fight Against Corruption and Responsible Business Conduct in the State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Sector.

As a discussant on the issue of transparency, Hampl noted that SOEs are increasing in global commerce, where 22% of the world’s largest 100 firms are effectively under state control. “As SOEs proliferate, they disadvantage companies operating without state support or control,” warned Hampl.

The OECD Foreign Bribery Report, which was published December 2014 and is based on data from the 427 foreign bribery cases that have been concluded since the entry into force of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention in 1999, found that bribes were offered or given most frequently to employees of SOEs at 27% of the total cases.

“SOEs are particularly vulnerable to corruption due to factors such as a close relationship between government, politicians and the SOE senior management, and in some cases lack of transparency and reporting,” said Hampl. In addition to the foreign bribery report, OECD research has found that 43 % of SOE employees surveyed have witnessed corruption and other rule-breaking in their company in the last three years.

“Corruption is a cost, also for SOEs,” Hampl added. “The OECD has stated that disclosure and transparency are some of the main concerns regarding market distortions caused by SOEs – the other concern is that SOEs are acting as agents of a sovereign government. The focus on transparency, in which space the OECD has done further work, is certainly important, however with the caveat that in the case of leveling the playing field as to SOEs, it is not a goal in itself.”

Hampl added that there has been a concerning global trend in recent years toward transferring liability from governments onto companies. “This is something that needs to be addressed. To truly level the playing field between SOEs and companies competing in the global market, SOEs must be held to the same standards.”

Following the roundtable, Hampl also participated in the consultation with the OECD Working Party on State Ownership and Privatization Practices, where she reiterated many of the points made at the roundtable, as well as emphasized the importance of the OECD to focus on the demand side of bribery.

Additionally, on the afternoon of Wednesday November 29, USCIB Vice President for Trade and Financial Services Shaun Donnelly will offer business perspectives on a panel discussion on “The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention at 20:  Successes and Challenges for the Future” organized by the Coalition for Integrity on the margins of their annual gala dinner later that evening.   Panelists being finalized but those invited include: Lucinda Low, member, Board of Directors, Coalition for Integrity, Nicola Bonucci (OECD) and Bruce Swartz, Department of Justice.

Donnelly Talks NAFTA and U.S. Trade Policy in Louisville

Published on October 27, 2017
Shaun Donnelly

USCIB Vice President for Investment Policy Shaun Donnelly traveled to Kentucky last week to speak to the Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations (LCFR) on “NAFTA and U.S. Trade Policy in the Trump Era.”  Donnelly’s speech drew upon USCIB’s strong public positions on the NAFTA renegotiation, the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and U.S. global trade leadership in the World Trade Organization and beyond.

“The LCFR’s well-attended monthly dinner meeting generated considerable discussion with the audience and a broad consensus that the U.S. government should be working to update and strengthen NAFTA, not threatening to gut it or withdraw,” said Donnelly.

With major companies like UPS, Humana, and Yum Brands having headquarters or major hubs in Louisville plus leading U.S. distillers as well as key members of the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. (DISCUS) in the region, Louisville is significantly integrated into the global economy and NAFTA.  And the membership of the LCFR certainly understands that.