Accented Stories Archives

ICC’s Danilovich Writes in FT on Importance of Services to American Economy

Published on February 21, 2017

The Financial Times has published a letter to the editor from ICC Secretary General John Danilovich on the importance of services to the American economy. Danilovich, who has served as U.S. ambassador to Brazil and Costa Rica, writes that “tit-for-tat trade responses sparked by new border taxes could come at a considerable cost for the U.S. services sector– and the growing number of Americans whose livelihoods depend on it. When it comes to trade policy, nostalgia is no substitute for the realities of today’s global economy.”

To read Danilovich’s letter in the FT, please visit this link (subscriber log-in is required).

USCIB Urges Secretary Tillerson to Push for UN Accountability

Published on February 21, 2017

USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson issued a letter last week to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson outlining principles and priority areas for the Trump administration’s posture and involvement in international environmental policy and forums.

The letter recommends an assessment of U.S. engagement in the international environmental arena and proposes an ongoing dialogue with U.S. business groups familiar with those deliberations to inform the administration.

While a growing number of United Nations agencies are increasingly restricting the private sector and excluding business representatives from key meetings, USCIB’s statement urges the administration to insist that UN bodies conduct their work with transparency and accountability to economic stakeholders in the United States.

USCIB’s letter is timely given Tillerson’s first international trip this week as secretary of state to the Group of 20 (G20) meetings in Bonn, Germany. According to the Chicago Tribune, Secretary Tillerson will meet G20 envoys in Bonn to discuss the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and climate change.

USCIB Vice President for Strategic International Engagement, Energy and Environment Norine Kennedy commented on the importance of maintaining a strong U.S. presence, noting: “The proliferation of environmental and climate change policies on the global agenda demands that the administration remain an active member of the international environmental community to further and defend U.S. business and economic interests, while tackling climate change and other universal environmental challenges.”

Upcoming ICC Arbitration Events

Published on February 20, 2017

The International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration will be hosting two upcoming events in San Francisco and Washington DC.

ICC Institute Advanced Training on the Conduct of the Proceedings and Case Management

Location: San Francisco, CA

Description: This training is of an advanced level and will focus in depth on how the arbitrator should establish his or her authority over the parties throughout the proceedings, including hearings, and interact with his or her fellow-arbitrators. Attendees are supposed to already master the basics of ICC international commercial arbitration. The training will consist of presentations and interactive discussions using mock case scenarios designed to hone participants’ understanding of critical theoretical concepts while also emphasizing many practical aspects involved in conducting an international arbitration.

To register, please visit the registration website. Early Bird rate is available through March 31.

ICC Institute Masterclass for Arbitrators: Overview of fundamentals and best practices related to serving as an arbitrator

Registration is now open for the upcoming ICC Institute Masterclass for Arbitrators: Overview of fundamentals and best practices related to serving as an arbitrator.

Date: March 13-15, 2017

Location: Washington, DC

This advanced level training will provide participants with an opportunity to gain a deeper insight into some of the provisions of the 2012 ICC Rules of Arbitration while learning about the latest developments and best practices related to serving as an international arbitrator.

Topics to include:
• The role and appointment of arbitrators
• Establishing the arbitrator’s authority to create a suitable working framework
• Conduct of the proceedings and case management techniques
• Mock arbitral tribunal to explore issues pertaining to relations between arbitrators
• Drafting enforceable awards and scrutiny by the ICC International Court of Arbitration

Who should attend:
• Practitioners who have significant experience in international commercial arbitration as counsel, but little or no experience as arbitrators.
• Arbitrators who wish to reinforce their knowledge.

Registration and event details are available on this website.

USCIB’s Shaun Donnelly Educates US Government on BIAC-OECD

Published on February 16, 2017

Shaun DonnellyThe State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business (EB) Affairs organized a day-long training session February 15 for sixty U.S. Government officials from nearly twenty U.S. Government agencies on how to be an effective Delegate when representing the U.S. Government at OECD committee meetings and other sessions in Paris.  State invited USCIB Vice President Shaun Donnelly to represent business and broader “stakeholder” groups on a panel that also included representatives from OECD’s Washington Center as well as former OECD Secretariat and U.S. Mission staffers.

Shaun is a former U.S. Ambassador and senior economic policy official at State with long experience in a variety of OECD meetings.  He explained the role of the OECD’s three recognized “stakeholder” organizations, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC), Trade Union Advisory Council (TUAC), and OECD Watch representing civil society groups.

Focusing on BIAC, Shaun explained BIAC’s extensive efforts to provide constructive, real-time input from its international business members across the broad swath of OECD’s committee and working groups.  Shaun emphasized USCIBs role as “the single US business voice in the BIAC and OECD process” and reminded the staff from around the USG of USCIB’s ability to connect them with the U.S. private sector and help advance U.S. interests in the OECD.

NAFTA Renegotiation an Opportunity to Modernize 20 Year-Old Agreement

Published on February 13, 2017

North American Union, NAU concept on a gears, 3D renderingPresident Trump’s promise to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement is already rattling some companies and rippling across the Mexican economy. Growth in the country’s GDP is projected to slow to a crawl in 2017, according to the Wall Street Journal. Exports account for a third of the country’s economic activity, and some 80 percent of these go to the U.S.

Depending on how it is handled, renegotiating NAFTA could provide an opportunity to update the agreement, according to USCIB Senior Vice President Rob Mulligan. “There are aspects of NAFTA that could be improved, and provisions that could be added to address important economic changes over the last 20 years,” he observed. “But it would be critical to keep those provisions that have enabled U.S. companies to grow during that time as well.”

Mulligan said USCIB was canvassing several of its committees to see where NAFTA could be improved upon – and what “red lines” exist for companies in terms of rolling back or overturning certain key provisions in the landmark agreement.

NAFTA was the first U.S. trade agreement to include binding rules on labor and environmental protections – although these were included in a side agreement, and they have been incorporated into all U.S. trade agreements negotiated since. In addition, NAFTA included strong investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions – a key factor in gaining American business support for the agreement in light of a legacy of expropriations in Mexico and elsewhere.

A $127 annual boost to the U.S. economy

Eva Hampl, USCIB’s director of trade, investment and financial services, reports that a well-attended program last week hosted by the Washington International Trade Association included presentations on priorities for NAFTA renegotiation from USCIB member companies and others in the business community. Ralph Carter (FedEx), emphasized that Mexico and Canada are the United States’ second- and third-largest trading partners, and he cited a Peterson Institute study indicating that NAFTA brings the US $127 billion per year in additional income.

Carter said that FedEx wants to help modernize cross-border trade. Consider, he said, that it takes an average of 17 hours and three different drivers for a single truck to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Or that the “de minimis” threshold for expedited, duty-free entry of goods stands at $800 for the United States, but  only $50 for Mexico and $15 for Canada — creating barriers for “just-in-time” delivery of many components. A more seamless border, Carter emphasized, does not mean a less secure border – both can be achieved through smart reform efforts.

Looking northward, President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today agreed on the broad importance of U.S.-Canada commercial relations. “We recognize our profound shared economic interests, and will work tirelessly to provide growth and jobs for both countries,” the leaders said in a joint statement. “Canada is the most important foreign market for 35 U.S. states, and more than $2 billion in two-way trade flows across our shared border every day. Millions of American and Canadian middle-class jobs, including in the manufacturing sector, depend on our partnership. We affirm the importance of building on this existing strong foundation for trade and investment and further deepening our relationship, with the common goal of strengthening the middle class.”

USCIB Gears Up For APEC Meetings in Vietnam

Published on February 13, 2017

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) continues to be a priority forum for USCIB as the region is key to accelerating regional economic integration as well as promoting balanced, inclusive, sustainable, innovative and secure growth. To aid private sector engagement, USCIB works with the U.S. APEC business coalition to meet with APEC officials and participate in APEC meetings throughout the year, culminating in the APEC CEO Summit, a meeting of CEOs and leaders from the APEC economies.

USCIB has compiled its annual priority issues and recommendations paper, which focuses on ICT, chemicals and customs, which can be found here. The paper will also be circulated by NCAPEC at the Executive Roundtable in advance of SOM I.

Megan Giblin, USCIB’s director of customs and trade facilitation will be attending the first APEC Senior Officials Meeting and related meetings (SOM I) in Nha Trang, Viet Nam, held February 18 – March 3. Giblin will participate in the Subcommittee on Customs Procedures meetings, under her role as co-chair for the Customs Virtual Working Group, the APEC Alliance for Supply Chain Connectivity (A2C2) meetings, and several Electronic Commerce Steering Group (ECGS) meetings.

Giblin will also continue advocacy work initiated in APEC 2016 related to WTO TFA. Giblin noted that “TFA implementation efforts, establishing and fostering relationships with Customs officials from APEC economies and identifying linkages to the work underway within the USCIB Customs and Trade Facilitation Committee are critical. USCIB is interested in securing tangible and measured outcomes tied to TFA articles for all member economies during Viet Nam’s host year.”

American Petroleum Institute (API), a USCIB member, will participate in the APEC Chemical Dialogue to continue supporting consistent implementation of the Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS), which was created by the United Nations, across the Asia Pacific region. API encourages the Chemical Dialogue to build on the GHS capacity building event held at SOM III in Lima, Peru to promote efforts to reduce divergences in implementation of GHS. The Lima workshop ultimately agreed on several outcomes and recommendations for further work within the CD to build understanding of, and address divergences in. These recommendations include capacity building for UN GHS building blocks, capacity building regarding identification and classification of key products, determining best practices between different versions of GHS, and training on how adoption of the GHS in different sectors could result in various outcomes.

Several USCIB members will also be participating in the Electronic Commerce Steering Group (ECSG) and the Data Privacy Subgroup (DPS) meetings at SOM I. At the meetings, there will likely be continued promotion of APEC participation in the Cross-Border Privacy Rules System (CBPR), particularly further discussion about plans by South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Chinese Taipei, and other interested APEC economies to join the CBPR. There will be a continued review of the APEC Privacy Framework, aimed at improving and refining the framework, which is over a decade old. Importantly, the ECSG will consider a draft Strategic Plan to be tabled by the U.S. Government. The plan will outline four priorities: (1) promoting cross-border data flows; (2) enhancing SME competitiveness globally; (3) increasing connectivity of APEC economies; and (4) improving infrastructure through advanced technologies.

USCIB looks forward to working with members and NCAPEC at SOM I and throughout the year.

USCIB Partners With Ethical Corporation for Responsible Business Summit

Published on February 13, 2017

USCIB is proud to partner with the Ethical Corporation in organizing the 5th Responsible Business Summit in NY. The Summit will take place March 27-28 at the Marriott Brooklyn Bridge. The 2017 conference brings the best, the most innovative and most inspiring brands in responsible business to New York. Click here to see the full agenda.

200+ attendees learn how to deliver purpose for commercial success, the environment and stakeholders.

What you will learn:

  • 3 tracks: In 2017, our aim is to ensure you deliver purpose in the most practical way with 90 minute workshops, live polling and over 15 case studies across 3 dedicated tracks: make the business case, influence culture and accelerating progress.
  • CEOs inspire agenda: in our most senior line-up to date, we have the largest number of CEOs, board members and government leaders sharing their responsible business strategy from North America’s most inspiring and innovative brands.
  • 200+ in attendance: If you are looking for one sustainability meeting to attend in 2017, #RBSNY will be sure to give you the most senior networking opportunity possible.

The conference is currently offering a discount of $100 if you register by March 3rd. Click here to register.

 

USCIB Customs Chair Jerry Cook Featured in American Shipper

Published on February 13, 2017

USCIB’s Customs and Trade Facilitation Committee Chair and Vice President of Government and Trade Relations with Hanesbrands Jerry Cook has recently been featured in American Shipper, publishing a commentary on trade in 2017. Cook writes, “despite predictions that trade will have a diminished future, the reality will likely be much more intense for those managing international supply chains and are responsible for their customs and export compliance.” Cook cites the expectation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) entering into force as well as potential actions to reopen the North American Free Trade Agreement as forces that will promote growth in 2017.

Cook concludes with an optimistic tone writing that “it is an exciting time for the trade community. The standard is changing, and we can seize the opportunity to manage for success. We need to regain control of our future and work to build that future by upgrading the tools we use, as well as the norms by which we operate.”

Click here to read the rest of his commentary on the American Shipper website.

New Report Warns of High Counterfeiting and Piracy Costs

Published on February 6, 2017

A new report from the International Chamber of Commerce’s BASCAP (Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy) initiative and the International Trademark Association (INTA) details the spiraling cost of global intellectual property rights abuses.

The report, titled The Economic Impacts of Counterfeiting and Piracy, estimates that the global economic value of counterfeiting and piracy can reach $2.3 trillion by 2022. Additional costs on social and economic impacts of displaced economic activity, investment and public fiscal losses and criminal enforcement is estimated at $1.9 trillion by 2022.

This report builds on a 2016 report published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union Intellectual Property Office, which estimated the value of international trade in counterfeit and pirated products at $461 billion in 2013, approximately 2.5% of all international trade.

“The Frontier report picks up where the OECD/EUIPO left off,” said BASCAP Director Jeffrey Hardy. “Here we have expanded the scope of the work to examine categories of impacts identified and discussed – but not quantified – by the OECD/EUIPO report. Our objective is to capture the full spectrum of economic harm associated with counterfeiting and piracy.”

The report was launched on February 6 in Hong Kong during INTA’s 2017 Anti-counterfeiting Conference.

Read more on the ICC website.

IOE Update: Future of Work Report, IOE Global Employers’ Summit

Published on February 6, 2017

The Future of Work Report

The International Organization of Employers (IOE) has recently published a report on the Future of Work, which presents perspectives on labor market fluctuations in job creation and transformation, technological change and new skills, changes in business models and ways or working, as well as challenges and opportunities in policy-making.  This Report is one of the IOE work products that will inform the B20 Employment and Education Task Force that is co-chaired by USCIB CEO and President Peter Robinson.

The Report states that “institutions will need to be much more ambitious in providing enhanced access to lifelong learning and educational opportunities. To inform investment decisions on education and skills, as well as to inform individual career choices in an ongoing challenging environment, it will be essential to rely on more real-time, finely-tuned, holistic and dynamic data.”

An Executive Summary is available here.

IOE Global Employers’ Summit

Save the date for the second annual IOE Global Employers’ Summit scheduled to take place on May 17 in Bad Neuenahr, Germany. Please contact Linda Kromjong for additional details.

The Summit is organised back-to-back with the G20 Labor Ministerial on May 18-19 in Bad Neuenahr and will bring together high-level representatives from global companies, international organizations, employers’ organizations and institutions, to explore key areas of interest for business in the G20 process, including the economic implications of Brexit, the 2016 U.S. election result, making global supply chains more sustainable, bringing more women and youth into employment, and much more.

The event will conclude with a joint IOE-BDA-ITUC-TUAC-Deloitte dinner with G20 Labour Ministers, which will allow for an informal exchange with Ministers and key policy actors on policy developments and trends.