BIAC Archives

BIAC to Participate in OECD/IEA Global Forum on Climate Change

Published on September 9, 2013

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has for a long-time made a major contribution to international climate discussions, among others by contributing fact-based analysis of least-cost policies and by helping countries identify and implement effective and efficient policy mixes to meet their commitments. The Climate Change Expert Group, for which the OECD and the International Energy Agency (IEA) are providing secretariat support, is playing an important role in promoting dialogue on and enhancing understanding of technical issues in the international climate change negotiations and has contributed detailed analysis on a range of issues relevant to the on-going negotiations (see the flyer of the Climate Change Expert Group for an overview of the Group’s work).

The private sector is closely involved, contributing to a series of expert meetings. The next Global Forum on Climate Change organized by the Expert Group will take place at the OECD Headquarters on September 18-19. The Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD will offer the business perspective on key elements needed for an effective 2015 agreement, addressing issues related to effective climate finance, emissions accounting for post-2020 commitments as well as the broader benefits of climate change mitigation.

Staff contact: Norine Kennedy

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

CEOs Meet With G20 Leaders to Urge Progress on Trade and Investment

Published on September 6, 2013
CNBC interview with ICC Chairman Terry McGraw
CNBC interview with ICC Chairman Terry McGraw

G20 heads of state met with CEOs representing the Business-20 or “B20” during a special session of the G20 Leaders’ Summit at Strelna Palace, near Saint Petersburg, Russia today.

The CEOs, including members of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) G20 Advisory Group, presented policy recommendations to the heads of state, urging world leaders to drive economic growth and job creation by liberalizing trade and improving conditions for global investment, particularly in infrastructure.

These recommendations, which covered topics including trade, investment and infrastructure, financial systems, innovation and development, job creation, and transparency and anti-corruption, were the product of intensive collaboration among companies serving on B20 task forces since December 2012. The process was chaired by Alexander Shokhin, president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), who had been designated by President Vladimir Putin to organize B20 efforts during the Russian G20 presidency.

ICC Chairman Terry McGraw, who is also chairman of USCIB and CEO of McGraw Hill Financial, took part in the meeting. He underscored that the impasse among members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and an increasingly sluggish global trading system risk reversing significant progress made in global living standards over the past 60 years.

“Collective leadership by the G20 would inject new life into trade agreements that are vital for job creation, particularly the successful conclusion of an agreement on trade facilitation at the WTO Bali Ministerial in December,” said McGraw, citing research commissioned by ICC, which concludes that completion of a WTO trade facilitation agreement would translate into more than $1 trillion in world export gains, increase global GDP by $960 billion and support more than 21 million jobs, most of them in G20 countries.

“The most important thing for growth is trade and investment,” McGraw told CNBC. To view the full interview click here.

For more information on the ICC website, click here.

IOE, BIAC Voice Business Views on Jobs and Taxation

A strong business presence, through the B20 group, delivered recommendations to governments at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in St. Petersburg, pushing for the realization of concrete policy measures that will make a difference.

At a roundtable discussion on September 5, the G20 Task Force on Employment called tackling unemployment and job creation a top priority for the G20 countries. The co-chair of the B20’s own employment task force, Brent Wilton– secretary-general of the International Organization of Employers  – expressed concern over the lack of action taken by governments with regard to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Wilton referred to evidence from the World Bank’s Doing Business Report of 2013 in calling on “G20 states to effectively assess the impact of regulation on business and job creation. Complicated and rigid labor law is a major stumbling block for SMEs, especially when it comes to hiring.” Key to getting more people into work, he added, were education and training programs that provide individuals with skills that match the needs of the labor market, and foster entrepreneurship. Click here to read more.

For its part, BIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee
to the OECD, issued two important statements on global taxation.

In response to growing public concern about international corporate taxation in both the developed and developing world, as well as the current focus on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) outlined in the OECD Action Plan on BEPS endorsed by the G20, BIAC has produced two sets of voluntary guidance for business: a Statement of Tax Principles for International Business intended to promote and affirm responsible business tax management generally, and a Statement of Best Practices for Engaging with Tax Authorities in Developing Countries.

Will Morris (GE), chair of the BIAC Committee on Taxation and Fiscal Affairs, stated that: “Business makes a significant contribution to the global economy in terms of taxes paid and collected. However, public confidence in the international tax system has been shaken. In order to help restore that confidence, BIAC is working closely with the OECD to update international tax rules. But businesses also need to tell their own story.”

Morris said in developing countries, “it is in the interests of both taxpayers and governments that the tax authorities are given the information and cooperation they need to act in an efficient and transparent manner.”

Click here for more information.

USCIB Responds to OECD/G20 Report on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting

Published on July 19, 2013

New York, N.Y., July 19, 2013 – Responding to a much-anticipated report to the G20 governments from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on possible changes to global taxation rules, the United States Council for International Business (USCIB) said the report reinforces the business community’s position on compliance with existing tax rules and the need for reform.

The OECD today submitted its action plan to tackle “base erosion and profit shifting” (BEPS) to G20 finance ministers meeting in Moscow, fulfilling a request by the G20 leaders at their summit last year in Los Cabos, Mexico.

“The OECD recognizes that most tax planning complies with current rules,” said Carol Doran Klein, USCIB’s vice president for tax policy. “The report states that BEPS is not primarily an issue of tax compliance.”

Klein said USCIB supports regular review by governments to ensure their tax policies are fit for purpose. “Indeed, the U.S. tax system is in need of fundamental reform, particularly in the international area,” she said. USCIB and its partner business groups overseas believe that a consensus-based approach is most appropriate, rather than a piecemeal approach, which would likely increase double taxation. “The OECD, with its resources and the analytical ability to look at these complex issues is the best place to build consensus on these complex issues,” said Klein.

Throughout the development of the BEPS report, USCIB has worked closely with the Business and Industry Advisory Committee
(BIAC) to the OECD, which officially represents the view of industry in the Paris-based body, and for which USCIB serves as the U.S. member federation. BIAC has also issued a statement regarding the BEPS report, available here.

Bill Sample, corporate vice president for worldwide tax with Microsoft and chair of the USCIB Tax Committee, stated:  “USCIB and it members look forward to working with  BIAC and the OECD on this timely and important review of the application of current tax policies to multinational businesses. The factors driving the need for U.S. tax reform also impact the international tax system.”

Last month in Washington, D.C., the OECD, BIAC and USCIB jointly held the 8th annual OECD International Tax Conference, which featured an in-depth discussion of BEPS along with other important global tax policy topics. More information on that event is available here.

About USCIB:

USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and regulatory coherence. Its members include U.S.-based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of our economy, with operations in every region of the world. With a unique global network encompassing leading international business organizations, including BIAC, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide, and works to facilitate international trade and investment. More information is available at www.uscib.org.

Contact:

Jonathan Huneke, VP communications, USCIB

+1 212.703.5043 or jhuneke@uscib.org

More on USCIB’s Taxation Committee

 

Deepening OECD-China Cooperation

Published on July 8, 2013

Trade and investment relations with China remain at the top of the international agenda, as illustrated by this week’s latest round of talks under the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. It is in this context that the BIAC China Task Force presented business perspectives to a meeting of OECD Ambassadors, national delegates and OECD secretariat officials on June 21 in Paris. BIAC representatives voiced concerns about a looming credit crunch facing the Chinese economy, as well as longer-term issues pertaining to the overall business climate and environmental pressures.

As these challenges continue to grow in China, BIAC representatives encouraged the OECD to seize this moment to advise and work with China’s new leadership on specific reforms conducive to strong and more sustainable growth, such as better corporate governance, anti-corruption and reform of state-owned enterprises. BIAC’s China Task Force is looking forward to closer cooperation between the OECD and China this year and to exploring more opportunities to engage on issues where the OECD can provide value.

A summary of the meeting and the BIAC China Task Force final presentation will be circulated in the coming weeks to USCIB’s China Committee.

Staff contact: Justine Badimon

More on USCIB’s China Committee

OECD Releases New Study on Global Value Chains

Published on May 29, 2013

At this week’s OECD Forum in Paris, OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria launched a new OECD report on Interconnected Economies: Benefitting from Global Value Chains, which discusses the challenges and opportunities facing advanced, emerging-market and developing economies as they seek to integrate into the global marketplace.

USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson participated in a program at the Forum discussing global value chains and this new report. He commended the OECD for this work and highlighted the importance of policies that will facilitate the ability of companies to operate through the global supply networks they need to compete and reach consumers around the world.

Robinson cited the recent study by Matthew Slaughter of Dartmouth, American Companies and Global Supply Networks: Driving U.S. Economic Growth and Jobs by Connecting with the World. That study, commissioned by USCIB and the Business Roundtable, references the latest data on company operations and employment to underscore how global companies’ success abroad also benefits America – by expanding exports, generating demand for intermediate inputs, promoting domestic R&D and spurring new jobs at home to support sales to overseas markets.

More information on OECD work on global value chains is available on the OECD website at http://oe.cd/gvc.

In a related move, the OECD and the World Trade Organization have released an update of their joint database on trade in value added, which was first unveiled in January. The update deepens the database’s analytical depth by presenting the indicators for a wider country coverage, and by expanding the reference years. Read more at http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news13_e/miwi_17may13_e.htm.

Business Meets With OECD Ministers

USCIB Senior Counsel Ronnie Goldberg was among the business leaders from BIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, who met on May 29 with the OECD Ministerial Counsel, which is made up of top government officials from across the 34-nation OECD. At the annual high-level consultation, BIAC members urgently called for a more business-enabling environment. The OECD Economic Outlook for 2013 points to an uneven recovery of the global economy and challenges for governments to implement appropriate policies for more growth and employment. Click here to read BIAC’s press release on the meeting.

Staff contact: Rob Mulligan

More on USCIB’s Trade and Investment Committee

G20/OECD AntiCorruption Conference

Published on April 30, 2013

A strong business contingent turned out for the third annual High-Level Anti-Corruption Conference for G20 Governments and Business, which took place April 25-26 at the Paris headquarters of the OECD. Jointly organized by the Russian Presidency of the G20 and the OECD, with support from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the conference brought together some 300 participants from government, business and civil society to discuss the priorities laid out in the 2013-2014 G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan and B20 recommendations to governments.

BIAC Chairman and USCIB board member Charlie Heeter (Deloitte) said the OECD can and should play an important role by developing global frameworks to address the problems of corruption and bribery and continuing its active involvement in the G20 process. It is important to create fair conditions for all market participants, foster consistent implementation of existing rules to create a level playing field and fight corruption and fraud through collective action, education, training, and partnership approaches that are mutually beneficial.

Heeter said governments should create an efficient legal and institutional framework, also addressing the demand side of corruption. The private sector has a key role to play, both by supporting governments to take action and by taking appropriate measures to address the challenges of corruption.

Erik Belfrage, chair of the ICC Commission on Corporate Responsibility and Anti-Corruption, underscored how concrete ICC tools for training and capacity building help companies – particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) – fight corruption. Belfrage, who is also chairman of the International Council of Swedish Industry, called attention to the groundwork laid by the ICC Rules on Combating Corruption, which provide a global standard for the private sector to fight corruption.

Read more on the ICC website.

Staff contact: Shaun Donnelly

More on USCIB’s Trade and Investment Committee

OECD Business Group Appoints New Secretary General

Published on March 4, 2013
Bernhard Welschke
Bernhard Welschke

The Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD has announced that Bernhard Welschke of Germany will become BIAC’s secretary general in April. BIAC is part of USCIB’s global network and serves as the official voice of the business community in the 35-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Welschke succeeds Tadahiro Asami of Japan, who stepped down in December following a long and successful term at the helm of BIAC’s secretariat in Paris. He will be responsible for BIAC’s work program and for serving the needs of BIAC members. Together with the BIAC board of directors, Welschke will further develop BIAC’s supportive and successful partnership with OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria and senior OECD leadership.

“Bernhard Welschke brings a wealth of experience in international policy and business,” said BIAC Chair Charles P. Heeter (Deloitte), who also serves as a member of USCIB’s board of directors. “His background in the area of global governance will be of particular value for this assignment.”

USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson added: “We at USCIB look forward to working with Bernhard and supporting him in his new position, addressing mutual priorities and working together to represent even more effectively the views of business in the OECD.”

Welschke has been involved in the work of the OECD and BIAC for many years. He is currently managing director for global governance, as well as business relations with the western hemisphere, at the Federation of German Industries (BDI). In previous positions at BDI he was responsible for trade and business relations with Asia and the Pacific, for European Affairs, and for the Americas, which included including serving as representative for German industry and trade in Washington, D.C. From 2000 to 2006 he was a member of the European Union’s Economic and Social Committee.

Staff contacts: Rob Mulligan

BIAC website

Meeting With OECD Ambassadors, Business Calls for Measures to Restore Growth

Published on January 16, 2013
USCIB’s Ronnie Goldberg (center) speaking at the consultation with OECD ambassadors in Paris. BIAC Chair Charles Heeter is at far right.
USCIB’s Ronnie Goldberg (center) speaking at the consultation with OECD ambassadors in Paris. BIAC Chair Charles Heeter is at far right.

At the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD’s annual meeting with OECD ambassadors today in Paris, BIAC Chair Charles P. Heeter (Deloitte) led a delegation of senior private-sector representatives in reiterating BIAC’s call to policy makers for urgent confidence-building measures to ensure a strong return to private sector-led growth.

USCIB Executive Vice President Ronnie Goldberg was among the business representatives who met with envoys from the OECD nations. In his remarks, Heeter reiterated the private sector’s call to policy makers for measure to build confidence and consensus-based policy development.

“At a time where many OECD countries show slow or no growth, confidence remains low,” Heeter said. “Restoring confidence within the private and public sector is absolutely key to stimulating business investments and creating jobs.

“This means that policy makers need to take action to reduce policy uncertainty and to implement consensus-based policy commitments. Crucially, business and governments need to work through this together, and the OECD offers an excellent fact-based forum in which to do this.”

Drawing from the key messages identified in the BIAC position paper on Delivering Confidence for Private Sector-Led Growth and Job Creation, senior BIAC representatives called for building an enabling business environment for investment and implementing structural reforms for longer-term growth.

OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría and a number of ambassadors expressed support for several of BIAC’s views and demonstrated commitment to pursue the dialogue with business.

BIAC website

USCIB Award Gala Celebrates 50 Years of a Business Voice at the OECD

Published on November 29, 2012
L-R: USCIB Chairman Terry McGraw, BIAC Chairman Charles Heeter, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu CEO Barry Salzberg, BIAC Secretary General Tadahiro Asami, BBC America’s Katty Kay, USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson
L-R: USCIB Chairman Terry McGraw, BIAC Chairman Charles Heeter, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu CEO Barry Salzberg, BIAC Secretary General Tadahiro Asami, BBC America’s Katty Kay, USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson

New York, N.Y., November 29, 2012 – The business community celebrated five decades of a strong business voice at the OECD last night, as the United States Council for International Business (USCIB) held its annual award gala at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.

Breaking somewhat with tradition, the pro-trade group presented its 2012 International Leadership Award, which recognizes extraordinary efforts to expand global commerce and is normally presented to a top corporate leader, to BIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, on the occasion of BIAC’s 50th anniversary.

“BIAC has represented the interests of business and industry to promote open and competitive markets, level playing fields and sound regulation and governance,” stated USCIB Chairman Terry McGraw, CEO of The McGraw-Hill Companies. “Its work in fighting against protectionism, and enabling businesses to compete and succeed, is of critical importance to our enterprises as we continue to expand in a complex global marketplace.”

Accepting the award on behalf of BIAC’s worldwide membership were BIAC Chairman Charles Heeter (principal, Deloitte LLP) and BIAC Secretary General Tadahiro Asami. “This award is not only an honor, but it is an encouragement,” said Heeter, “an encouragement to continue, even redouble, our efforts to provide high-quality business advice to the OECD and its member governments, based on expertise and experience across a wide range of industries and geographies.”

Asami noted the close relationship between American business and BIAC. “USCIB is very much liked and respected by BIAC members and committee leaders,” he said. “USCIB, together with its member companies, contribute to BIAC policy groups with new ideas, initiatives and innovative policy thinking – this is the strength of U.S. business in BIAC.”

In a video message for the event, OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria stated: “BIAC is our main connection to the business community. Its advice helps to ground the OECD’s analysis and policy recommendations in a more realistic perspective. This support is even more important today. We need to design new policies to build stronger, cleaner and fairer economies and we will succeed only to the extent that we do this in close coordination with the private sector.”

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu CEO Barry Salzberg also provided testimonial remarks. He called BIAC “one of our most valuable policy platforms,” and said both it and the OECD played an instrumental role in shaping government decision-making.

Noting the two organizations’ long affiliation and close working relationship, USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson stated: “BIAC’s ability to influence the OECD’s work, and thereby help shape government policy in the 35 OECD nations and beyond, is just one part – but it is a big part – of what makes USCIB special.”

Katty Kay, the lead anchor at BBC World News America, delivered keynote remarks, addressing the results of the recent U.S. election and the prospects for resolution of the looming fiscal cliff.  “The question is whether we can make America governable again,” she said. “Can people put partisanship aside and behave responsibly? If they [Congress] keep acting like spoiled children, nothing’s going to happen.” But Kay also said she has faith in the ability of America’s businesses to muddle through. “There’s nowhere where it’s more entrepreneurial or energetic.”

The USCIB award gala drew hundreds of business leaders as well as dignitaries from government and diplomatic circles. The International Leadership Award, first presented to a corporate leader in 1980, has most recently honored Andrew Liveris of The Dow Chemical Company, George Buckley of 3M Company and Muhtar Kent of The Coca-Cola Company.  It has been bestowed on an institution only once before, in 2009, when USCIB presented the award to the International Chamber of Commerce.

More information on the dinner and the International Leadership Award is available at www.uscibgala.com.

About USCIB:
Founded in 1945, USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and regulatory coherence. Its members include top U.S.-based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of our economy, with operations in every region of the world.  With a unique global network encompassing leading international business organizations, including BIAC, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide, and works to facilitate international trade and investment.  More at www.uscib.org.

 

BIAC Engages Emerging Economies on International Tax Policy

Published on September 27, 2012

For American global companies, it is hard to overestimate the importance of the OECD’s tax standards being accepted beyond the organization’s 34 member countries. OECD standards, embodied in a network of over 2,000 bilateral tax conventions, aim to prevent double taxation and ensure the effective resolution of tax disputes when they arise between jurisdictions. Through our affiliation with BIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, USCIB members are able to track developments in the OECD’s tax work and share their views with policy makers from around the world.

In July, a BIAC delegation headed by BIAC Tax Committee Chair Chris Lenon (Rio Tinto) made a second trip to Beijing to meet up with top officials of the Chinese Tax Authority for a practical discussion on key issues for business and for China in context of the OECD tax policy agenda. The BIAC tax leadership also traveled to Cape Town, South Africa in May to address the African Tax Administration Task Force on tax capacity-building issues and to participate in the plenary meeting of the OECD Task Force on Tax and Development.

To read more about these BIAC Tax Committee activities, click here.

Staff Contact: Carol Doran Klein

More on USCIB’s Taxation Committee