Communication Department Archives

Global Business Stands Up for Strong Investor-State Dispute Settlement Rules

Published on February 9, 2015

Tablet computer, smartphone and newspapersThe Financial Times has published a letter from the head of the International Chamber of Commerce forcefully rebutting some of the more widespread canards, circulating in Europe and elsewhere, concerning investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). (See below for the full text of the letter.)

ISDS provisions provide for the referral of disputes between foreign investors and host governments to neutral tribunals, rather than local courts, in cases of expropriation or other government actions that impact a company’s investment. Strong ISDS rules have been developed over the years via numerous European, U.S. and other trade and investment agreements as a way to promote cross-border investment, by providing a measure of certainty in investment decisions that might otherwise be lacking.

ISDS has emerged as a major lightning rod for opponents of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which seeks to remove many remaining barriers to cross-border commerce between the United States and the European Union.

In his letter, ICC Secretary General John Danilovich said that “too much of the recent European debate on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) has been driven by hearsay, superstition and myth,” and that anti-ISDS fervor has been largely motivated by misplaced anti-Americanism. Sixty percent of recent ISDS cases worldwide, he noted, were launched by European investors.

“A gold-standard agreement in TTIP,” Danilovich wrote, “could play a central role in fostering improved conditions for a much-needed expansion of global investment flows.”

Text of the ICC letter to the Financial Times on investor-state dispute settlement:

Financial Times

February 9, 2015

Letters

Ditching investor-state dispute settlement may come at quite a cost

Sir, John Kay is no doubt correct to conclude that excluding investment protection standards from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership would make it “much easier” to sell the proposed deal to a sceptical European public (“Free trade should not put democracy in the dock”, February 4). But would this be the right thing to do?

While greater public engagement in trade policy making is welcome, too much of the recent European debate on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) has been driven by hearsay, superstition and myth. Professor Kay shows that even the most reasoned commentators can fall into this trap, casually depicting big — “predominantly American” — businesses as rapacious users of ISDS.

The facts tell a different story: ISDS cases remain relatively rare and almost 60 per cent of claims filed over the past five years have been made by European investors. The importance of fact-based policy making is emphasised by the global dimension to the TTIP talks. Estimates may vary about the economic value of a transatlantic investment pact, but it would be short-sighted to ignore the negative precedent that a weak or non-deal would set for future negotiations.

By contrast, a gold-standard agreement in TTIP could play a central role in fostering improved conditions for a much-needed expansion of global investment flows. Prof Kay would be well advised not to lose sight of this broader perspective: ditching ISDS from TTIP might be the easy thing to do, but it may come at quite a cost in the long run.

John Danilovich
Secretary General,
International Chamber of Commerce,
Paris, France

View this letter on the Financial Times website (paid login may be required)

 

 

USCIB Adds Its Voice to White House Forum on Human Trafficking

Published on February 3, 2015
Secretary of State John Kerry speaks at the White House Forum on Combating Human Trafficking in Supply Chains at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., on January 29, 2015. (State Department photo)
Secretary of State John Kerry speaks at the White House Forum on Combating Human Trafficking in Supply Chains at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., on January 29, 2015. (State Department photo)

Marking the end of National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, USCIB staff and members took part in a January 29 White House forum on combating human trafficking in supply chains, to address the pernicious incidences of labor trafficking around the world. The Obama administration committed to an agenda to combat human trafficking in 2012, and USCIB supports the administration’s stance and agrees that forceful labor recruitment has no place in business.

Ariel Meyerstein, USCIB’s vice president for labor affairs, corporate responsibility and corporate governance, attended the forum along with other representatives from the private sector, nongovernmental organizations and the U.S. government to discuss how all stakeholders can work together to eliminate trafficking in federal contracts and in private-sector supply chains.

Meyerstein noted that Secretary of State John Kerry “spoke eloquently on the moral imperative on all of us to work towards ensuring that no human being could ever own another person’s freedom.”

USCIB member representatives – including Bob Mitchell, global manager for supply chain responsibility at Hewlett-Packard and Wesley Wilson, senior director of responsible sourcing at Wal-Mart – spoke on a panel addressing “Private Sector Strategies to Combat Human Trafficking in Supply Chains.” The panelists shared their companies’ best practices for combating human trafficking, which included directly employing and paying all workers, working with foreign governments to prevent labor trafficking and implementing fair and transparent labor standards.

When asked what more could be done by the U.S. government to reinforce and amplify the work they are doing, both Mitchell and Wilson encouraged the U.S. government to engage bilaterally with other countries to impress upon them how seriously the U.S. government and U.S. businesses take the issue and to develop the prevention and enforcement capacities in other jurisdictions to complement private sector efforts.

Secretary Kerry also delivered remarks at the forum and presented the 2015 Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Program.

Last week the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, the body responsible for overseeing U.S. government procurement, published updates about new safeguards designed to strengthen protections against trafficking in federal contracts. These new rules, modeled on successful private sector practices, prohibit federal contractors from charging employees recruitment fees or using misleading or fraudulent recruitment practices, require contractors and subcontractors performing work valued at over $500,000 outside the United States to develop and maintain a compliance plan, and to certify that, to the best of their knowledge, neither they nor any of their subcontractors has engaged in trafficking-related activities.

USCIB has been active in the corporate responsibility space, having recently co-hosted a dialogue on responsible business conduct as part of President Obama’s plan to implement the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and will continue to work with the federal government and other stakeholders to eliminate human trafficking in supply chains.

More on the White House website.

BIAC Highlights the Importance of Effective Investor-State Dispute Settlement

Published on February 3, 2015

In order to stimulate inward investment, investors must be treated fairly and protected against the arbitrary behavior of host states. Open, transparent and non-discriminatory investment policies and agreements are a must. In this context, Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) is an indispensable part of a fair, efficient investment protection system. It provides for a neutral and high-quality legal dispute resolution mechanism in cases of investment treaty breaches by host states.

In light of the current anti-trade sentiment criticizing the ISDS system, USCIB and its global network including the Business and Industry Advisory Council to the OECD believe that it is crucial that the discussion is put back in the right perspective and that common misrepresentations are effectively addressed. The OECD, as an internationally recognized forum for fact-based and objective analysis, and with a long track record of fostering open, transparent and non-discriminatory investment policies, should play an important role in providing objective analysis, thus helping to shape further understanding about the issues that are at stake. The BIAC paper on ISDS contains concrete proposals for future OECD analysis in this area.

USCIB has been a strong advocate for ISDS, and Shaun Donnelly, vice president for investment, trade and financial services, has been travelling around Europe making the case for a strong Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and explaining the importance of ISDS provisions in that and other international trade agreements.

Business Emphasizes Dispute Resolution at OECD Tax Consultations

Published on February 3, 2015

OECD public consultation meetings on the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project took place in Paris from January 21-23, 2015, where a number of key issues for business including Permanent Establishment (PE) Status (BEPS Action 7), Treaty Abuse (BEPS Action 6), Low Value-Adding Services (BEPS Action 10), and Dispute Resolution (BEPS Action 14), were addressed among business governments and NGOs.

BEPS refers to the G20/OECD initiative designed to rewrite global tax rules to prevent incidences of perceived under- or non-taxation of international companies.

At the consultations, BIAC Tax Committee Chair Will Morris emphasized the absolute importance of effective dispute resolution to a successful outcome for the BEPS Project. He also underlined the need for clarity in guidance regarding all BEPS outcomes. February consultations will address Interest Deductions (Action 4) and VAT B2C Guidelines (Action 1).

Carol Doran Klein, USCIB’s vice president for international tax counsel, participated in the OECD Public Consultation, representing U.S. business interests in BIAC’s work.

In support of its strategy to deepen developing countries’ engagement in the BEPS Project, OECD will also be organizing regional consultations during February and March in Peru, Korea, Turkey, Gabon and South Africa.  BIAC is submitting written responses to all BEPS Discussion Drafts.

What Skills do Corporate Directors Need?

Published on February 3, 2015

Good governance starts and is driven from the top. It is therefore essential that companies have an effective board. The responsibilities of the board are diverse and require a balanced team of directors with the right skills sets. As the OECD Corporate Governance Principles are being updated, and as they apply to a wider variety of ownership structures including majority-controlled and state-owned firms across the world, expectations of directors and their skills is likely to increase as well. To meet these expectations, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD will organize a roundtable on director skills for effective corporate governance to encourage an exchange on how to obtain and continually enhance the optimal mix of director skills.

The roundtable will take place at the OECD headquarters in Paris on February 17 and will bring together key business experts from OECD and non-OECD countries for a discussion with OECD member countries and the OECD corporate governance secretariat. It will take place back-to-back with the consultation on the OECD Corporate Governance on February 19. BIAC’s most recent comments on the Principles are available on the BIAC website.

Washington Update: December 2014 – January 2015

Published on February 3, 2015

The new year is off to a running start for the Washington office of the United States Council for International Business, both in the District and abroad. Over the past two months, USCIB staff members wrote a letter to President Obama in support of passing Trade Promotion Authority; pushed the importance of investment protections, especially investor-state dispute settlement, in multiple fora and across Europe; arranged meetings with officials including Ambassador Michael Punke on the margins of Environmental Goods Agreement negotiations in Geneva; wrote four letters on chapters of the OECD BEPS Discussion Draft; met with Jason Kearns, Minority Trade Counsel for Ways and Means; received a briefing from Andy Wyckoff, Director, OECD Directorate for Science, Technology, and Innovation; participated on a panel in Peru regarding single window implementation; and much more.

Download the full update.

Coca-Cola’s Ed Potter Reflects on 33 Years at the ILO Conference

Published on January 31, 2015
L-R: Ed Potter (Coca-Cola), Ronnie Goldberg (USCIB) and Ariel Meyerstein (USCIB)
L-R: Ed Potter (Coca-Cola), Ronnie Goldberg (USCIB) and Ariel Meyerstein (USCIB)

Ed Potter, chair of USCIB’s Labor and Employment Policy Committee and Coca-Cola’s director of global workplace rights, has spent nearly half his life representing U.S. businesses at the annual International Labor Organization (ILO) Conference. Last summer, Potter attended his 33rd and final ILO Conference in Geneva, more than any other American business representative. He will retire in June 2015.

Potter’s unparalleled leadership at the conference – and the relationships he has brokered and nurtured along the way – have had a positive impact on the global landscape of international labor standards.

“Ed Potter’s record of achievement at the ILO speaks for itself,” said Guy Rider, director general of the ILO. “He served 17 years as the U.S. Employers’ delegate to our annual Conference. During that time, he took on the responsibility of spokesperson of the world’s employers in several key discussions.”

Last June, USCIB honored Potter’s 33 years of ILO service with a special farewell dinner in Geneva.

“It’s a humbling validation of my work with the ILO,” Potter said. “I’ve left the conference every year feeling proud of the fact that, in some small way, we helped improve the lives of workers somewhere in the world.”

Staff Changes at ICC

The International Chamber of Commerce Secretariat has announced the appointments of Philip Kucharski as chief operating officer and Remi Faure as chief financial officer. Kucharski’s in-depth knowledge of ICC, and many of the
team at the ICC Secretariat, will ensure that he is able to hit the ground running when he begins his tenure in January. Faure has shown true leadership of the financial areas of ICC in the past few months. “I am pleased to be able to promote
internally for this position,” said ICC Secretary General John Danilovich.

New USCIB Members

We are delighted to welcome the following companies and organizations as the latest additions to USCIB’s diverse membership:

Business Alliance for Secure Commerce
Discovery Capital
Ericsson
United Technologies Corporation

To learn more about how USCIB membership can benefit your
organization, contact Alison Hoiem (202-682-1291 or ahoiem@uscib.org).

Speaker Announcement: Gil Kerlikowske, CBP

Published on January 30, 2015

icc/uscib customs and trade facilitation symposium: finding solutions to cross-border challenges

Keynote Speaker Confirmed:

R. Gil Kerlikowske

4945_image004

We are pleased to announce that Gil Kerlikowske, Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, will be a keynote speaker at the ICC and USCIB Customs and Trade Facilitation Symposium from February 22 to 24 in Miami, Florida. As commissioner, Kerlikowske oversees the dual U.S. Customs and Border Protection mission of protecting national security objectives while promoting economic prosperity and security. His insights into international customs operations will be invaluable at the event.

R. Gil Kerlikowske was nominated by President Obama and sworn in on March 7, 2014 as Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection taking the helm of the 60,000-employee agency with a budget of $12.4 billion. As Commissioner, he runs the largest federal law enforcement agency and second largest revenue collecting source in the federal government. Most recently, he served as Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Mr. Kerlikowske brings four decades of law enforcement and drug policy experience to the position, including as Chief of Police for Seattle, Washington; as Deputy Director for the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services; Police Commissioner of Buffalo, New York; and in the police department in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Register Now!

ICC and USCIB Customs & Trade Facilitation Symposium:

Finding Solutions to Cross-Border Challenges

February 22-24, 2015

The Four Seasons Hotel | Miami, Florida, USA

Limiting cross-border friction is increasingly vital to smooth the flow of trade and boost competitiveness for all business, especially for small and medium sized companies and emerging industry sectors. This conference brings business, government, international organizations and operational customs and trade experts together from the world over for an important dialogue on the most effective means to ease the movement of goods and services between countries along supply chains.

Topics Will Include:

  • Best regional practices and global cooperation on single window initiatives
  • de minimis
  • Intellectual property rights, and supply chain solutions
  • Balancing security and trade facilitation
  • WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement: implementation and challenges

If you wish to register via fax or email, please click here for the registration form.

For questions please contact Diana Jack at djack@uscib.org or (202) 617-3156.

For information on how you can become a sponsor contact Abby Shapiro at ashapiro@uscib.org or (617) 515-8492.

IOE Perspective on ILO World Employment and Social Outlook

Published on January 28, 2015

4946_image002As the global economy contends with several diverging forces – including strong growth in the United States, falling energy prices, and continued struggles in Europe – policy makers and global institutions are seeking to make sense of conflicting signals.

One signal on worldwide employment levels comes from the International Labor Organization’s annual “World Employment and Social Outlook – Trends 2015” report, which covers data on employment trends and challenges. According to the report, the global employment gap continues to widen, along with income inequality.

The International Organization of Employers (IOE) believes the report paints an overly pessimistic scenario of worsening global unemployment levels, continuing inequality and falling wage shares.

USCIB’s global network, including the IOE and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, has engaged with the B20/G20 process on global labor and employment issues.

“Regarding employment and economic growth, the challenges faced by individual countries are subject to wide variations,” the IOE said in a statement. “Generalizations are unhelpful and tend to mask growth divergences across economies, which may engender misleading policy responses that treat cyclical dimensions rather than addressing longstanding and structural rigidities.”

The IOE also noted it is important “to diminish the progress made thus far in terms of income inequalities,” and that “perceptions of rising inequality should not be confused with the reality.”

The statement concluded with a call to action:

“Much more can nonetheless be achieved in terms of addressing the challenges linked to employment, inequalities and economic growth. A more ambitious effort needs to be made on skills mismatch through better tailored education and skills training. This would address global inequalities more efficiently and create an enabling environment for sustainable enterprises to foster job creation.”

Inclusive Growth in Asia-Pacific: USCIB Rolls Out 2015 APEC Agenda

Published on January 26, 2015

4942_image002The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum is the most influential high-level dialogue in the region. APEC convenes heads of state, business leaders and economic experts from 21 Pacific-Rim economies to share their views on how to promote free trade, innovation, growth and integration in the region.

The Philippines is the 2015 host economy, and it has organized APEC’s three Senior Officials’ Meetings and the APEC CEO Summit around the theme of “Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World.”

USCIB will be representing American business interests at the APEC meetings throughout the year. With our global network that includes the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Organization of Employers (IOE), and our membership in the U.S.-APEC Business Coalition, USCIB is uniquely positioned to give its members access to the policy dialogues taking place in one of the most dynamic regions of the world.

USCIB issued its “2015 APEC Priority Issues and Recommendations” in November outlining our longstanding and overarching objectives of promoting open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development and corporate responsibility. Covering a wide range of issues from chemical regulations to trade facilitation to women in the economy, USCIB will work to advance our APEC priorities throughout the Philippines host year.

USCIB Participation in APEC

SOM1 – Clark, Philippines

USCIB members will travel to Clark to attend the APEC Chemical Dialogue (CD), a forum for regulatory officials and industry representatives seeking to advance regulatory dialogue on the chemicals trade and achieve environmental protection while minimizing costs to business. Helen Medina, USCIB’s senior director for product policy and innovation, was scheduled to attend the summit but was unable to due to inclement weather in New York. She will attend the CD during SOM3, and will continue to review APEC’s ongoing efforts to promote regulatory cooperation in the APEC economies.

SOM2 and Meeting of the Ministers Responsible for Trade – Boracay, Philippines

USCIB is advancing work on global value chains within the Asia-Pacific, working with Ed Brzytwa, director for APEC affairs at the office of the United States Trade Representative, in supporting the U.S. government’s efforts to address barriers to trade and investment.

USCIB is also coordinating with ICC to issue a statement on localization barriers to trade urging APEC economies to adopt alternative policies that will enhance their competitiveness and attract foreign direct investment.

SOM3 – Cebu, Philippines

Kristin Isabelli, USCIB’s director of customs and trade facilitation, will attend a the meeting of the APEC Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures to share the private sector’s vision on the benefits of implementing guidelines that would streamline cross-border trade among APEC economies. Isabelli is also the private sector chair of the APEC Virtual Customs Business Working Group.

CEO Summit – Manila, Philippines

This is the fifth year that USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson will attend the APEC CEO Summit. USCIB will join business representatives from around the world to participate in bilateral meetings with senior officials from APEC economies to relay USCIB’s top priorities and coordinate across industries, sectors and borders.

Key 2015 APEC Events

  • SOM I – Jan  26-Feb 7 (Clark)
  • SOM II – May 10-21 (Boracay)
  • SOM III – Aug 24-Sept 8 (Cebu)
  • Women in the Economy Summit – Sept 16-18 (Manila)
  • Energy Ministerial and Private Sector Dialogue on Energy – Oct 12-14 (Cebu)
  • CEO Summit – Nov 15-17 (Manila)
  • APEC Leaders Meeting – Nov 17-18 (Manila)