Business In Society Archives

Business Calls for Fresh G20 Commitment on Jobs Especially for the Young

Published on September 27, 2011

Employment

Working through two of USCIB’s affiliates – the International Organization of Employers (IOE) and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC) – global business called on the G20 to make a fresh commitment to maintaining and creating jobs, following forecasts of renewed economic uncertainty and slow global growth.

At this week’s G20 labor ministerial in Paris, IOE Executive Vice President Daniel Funes de Rioja of Argentina stressed the need for strong, sustainable and balanced growth, underpinned by measures that will restore business confidence to take risks, invest and generate job opportunities.

American business representatives at the ministerial included BIAC Chairman Charles Heeter, principal with Deloitte LLP and a member of USCIB’s board, and USCIB Executive Vice President Ronnie Goldberg, who serves as a regional vice president of the IOE and chairs BIAC’s Employment, Labor and Social Affairs Committee.

Advocating concrete measures to address the worsening global jobs outlook, employers recommended improving the quality of business regulation, and a closer focus on labor markets, in the context of reduced government capacity for direct stimulatory expenditure.

Mr. Funes de Rioja particularly highlighted the need for youth employment, employability, skills and education to be recognized as top priorities for the G20, along with economic and financial reforms.  Read more on the IOE website.

BIAC called for strong action by G20 governments to avoid the devastating effects a “double-dip” global recession would have on employment.

“Without decisive action, we risk prolonging record levels of long-term unemployment and having millions more young people enter adulthood without the prospect of meaningful work,” stated Mr. Heeter. “This would be tragic for the individuals involved, their families and our societies.”

BIAC urged governments to prioritize action to restore investor and consumer confidence by delivering clear and pragmatic national, regional and global strategies for growth and job creation. “The way out of the crisis will come from the private sector growth. Governments must focus on creating a better business environment to restore investor confidence,” Mr. Heeter said.  Read more on BIAC’s website.

More on USCIB’s Labor and Employment Committee

Business Applauds UN High-Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases

Published on September 26, 2011

4161_image002USCIB and its affiliate the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) said the world business community strongly supports the outcome of the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases, which took place September 19-20 in New York.

USCIB and ICC representatives said businesses have an interest in curbing non-communicable diseases for a variety of reasons, including having productive employees, providing products, medicines, services, and technical support to manage NCDs, and sustaining a beneficial long-term relationship within the communities where they operate.

“Business understands that NCDs are a societal matter, and therefore require whole-of-society and whole-of-government solutions,” said Louise Kantrow, ICC’s permanent representative to the United Nations.  “All companies have an interest in ensuring they have a healthy and resilient workforce, and we welcome the UN’s work on this issue and look forward to taking an active part in continuing the fight against NCDs.”

Industry has taken concrete actions to combat NCDs that include global public commitments to address food reformulation, consumer information, responsible marketing, promotion of healthier lifestyles, and public-private partnerships.  In fact, cooperative relationships with industry have already led to many favorable outcomes related to diet and physical activity.

There are ongoing initiatives by the food industry to reduce the fat, sugar, and salt content of processed foods and portion sizes, to increase introduction of innovative, healthier and nutritious choices.  Industry is also partnering with governments and nongovernmental organizations to encourage more active, healthier lifestyles, including working to reduce alcohol abuse, which have contributed to health gains worldwide.

USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson said the global business community welcomed the outcomes of the UN High-Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases as well as future engagement with the United Nations on this important societal issue.  “A multi-stakeholder approach is clearly needed to effectively curb NCDs,” he said.  “The private sector will continue to play its role, and we look forward to working closely with governments and other actors in this effort.”

To read the declaration from the High-Level Meeting on NCDs, click here.

More on USCIB’s Health Care Working Group

New Marketing Code Raises Consumer Protection Standards Around the World

Published on September 15, 2011

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New York, N.Y., September 15, 2011 –New protection for Internet users – along with detailed standards for marketers selling to them – are highlighted in a newly revised code of global marketing practice from the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), according to ICC’s American national committee, the United States Council for International Business (USCIB).

The Consolidated ICC Code of Advertising and Marketing Communications, launched today and made globally available online, serves as the foundation for national self-regulatory systems that monitor marketing practices and provide consumers with easy access to make complaints and redress problems.  The Code was unveiled in Buenos Aires at an international conference on responsible advertising, hosted by CONARED, the Latin American Association of Advertising Self-Regulatory Organizations.

“Our Consolidated Code is recognized as the gold standard for self-regulation,” said John Manfredi, chair of ICC’s Commission on Marketing and Advertising and CEO of Manloy Associates.  “This new Code expands the scope and reach of global efforts with rules that cover consumer rights and business’s responsibilities online.  It increases protection for children on the Internet and sets parameters for all advertising directed to them, and it adds safeguards for consumers’ privacy and personal information.”

Mr. Manfredi added that ICC, to make the Code accessible to everyone, has launched a website, www.codescentre.com, dedicated to self-regulation at all levels – global, national and regional.  “It will serve business people, regulators, self-regulators and academics as well as consumers,” he said.  “Its purpose is to build trust for self-regulation by setting high marketing standards.”

The Code sets out the do’s and don’ts on many topical and difficult marketing issues including:

  • Setting conditions and limits for online behavioral targeting of advertising (OBA), based on interest profiles created by tracking web browsing habits of consumers;
  • Establishing restrictions on products that may be marketed to children and information gathered from them;
  • Specifying guidelines for making responsible environmental marketing claims and creating sound food and beverage ads;
  • Setting standards for ethical behavior and transparency on digital communications for the new technology players, including mobile operators, search engines, application developers, information aggregators and data gatherers;
  • Protecting consumer privacy with clear guidance on consumers’ rights, including the right to know what information is acquired by a marketer and the standards for the collection, use and safeguarding of personal data when it is collected.

“The newly revised Code demonstrates industry’s continuing commitment to ethical marketing practice,” said Brent Sanders, associate general counsel with Microsoft Corporation and chair of USCIB’s Marketing and Advertising Committee.  “Some of the most interesting revisions to the Code for U.S. marketers include those that harmonize for the first time at the international level provisions about online behavioral advertising [OBA], requiring transparency and control for consumers for their online data.  This builds on pioneering OBA self-regulatory efforts here in the United States and expands them globally.  Enhancing consumer trust in advertising is vital to a competitive and innovative marketplace.”

Mr. Sanders is scheduled to review the key provisions of the Consolidated ICC Code of Advertising and Marketing Communications on October 3 in New York at the National Adverting Division’s annual conference.

About the International Chamber of Commerce

ICC is the world business organization, representing enterprises from all sectors in every part of the world. It promotes cross-border trade and investment and the multilateral trading system, and helps business meet the challenges and opportunities of globalization. Business leaders and experts drawn from ICC’s global membership establish the business stance on broad issues of trade and investment policy as well as on vital technical subjects. ICC enjoys a close working relationship with the United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations, including the World Trade Organization and the G20. ICC was founded in 1919. Today it groups hundreds of thousands of member companies and associations from 120 countries. For more information please visit: www.iccwbo.org

About USCIB

USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and prudent regulation.  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 ICC, 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.

ICC’s codescentre.com website

More on USCIB’s Marketing and Advertising Committee

From the President Supply Chain Challenges

Published on September 1, 2011
USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson
USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson

Efficient and well managed supply chains are essential to corporate profitability and the health of the global economy.  Companies are doing a lot – and being asked to do a lot more– to ensure the integrity of their operations and those of their suppliers around the world.  Because of this, much of USCIB’s work in recent years has revolved around supply-chain concerns – customs practices, transport security, counterfeiting and piracy, labor and environmental concerns.

Most global companies have programs in place that set standards for suppliers and hold them accountable.  More and more companies are adopting supplier codes of conduct to fill the gap created by the failure of local governments to implement or enforce their own laws, including labor and human rights laws.

But pressure is growing for companies to push supply chain management efforts even farther beyond their present scope.

New initiatives would make producers responsible for addressing broad social ills that may exist at some point in their extensive global supply chains, including child labor, forced labor, human trafficking, and armed conflict.

Examples of this trend abound:

  • the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, focused on slavery and human trafficking;
  • efforts to address forced child labor in cotton production in Uzbekistan;
  • similar efforts to address forced labor in Brazil
    in cattle ranching, sugar and charcoal production; and
  • the Dodd-Frank law, specifically Section 1502, which requires companies to disclose whether or not conflict minerals are used in their products.

The common element of all these challenges is that they are the result of systemic failures of governance or reflect pervasive social problems.  Our view is that a prescriptive approach does not address the underlying cause of the problem and therefore is doomed to failure.

USCIB has engaged companies and policy makers on the importance of maintaining high standards and improving performance throughout the supply chain.  We have:

  • organized a series of workshops hosted by The Coca-Cola Company on how companies address forced labor, child labor and human rights;
  • promoted awareness and support for the Better Work Campaign, an ILO/World Bank program to improve factory conditions in developing countries;
  • engaged with the OECD on its recent revisions to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises;
  • contributed to OECD’s best practices for conflict minerals in the Congo region; and
  • spearheaded efforts to address the Uzbek cotton issue via the International Labor Organization’s disciplinary process.

Perhaps our deepest involvement has been in helping craft the 2011 UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.  The UN principles ask companies to respect human rights, starting with legal compliance, and institute a due diligence process to “know and show” that they do.  But the guidelines are also very clear in stating that companies cannot – and should not – assume the responsibilities of governments, and that suppliers are themselves responsible for complying with national law and respecting human rights.

USCIB played a strong and vocal role in developing the UN principles, which are a sensible and responsible alternative to the overreach of the Dodd-Frank law.  Policy makers should use the UN principles as a model for ensuring appropriate action by companies to keep their supply chains clean, while also maintaining pressure on local governments to live up to their fundamental responsibilities.

Mr. Robinson’s bio and contact information

Other recent postings from Mr. Robinson:

Opening the World for Business (Summer 2011)

The OECD at 50 (Spring 2011)

Dealing With State-Owned Enterprises (Winter 2010-2011)

Leadership’s Legacy, and Its Promise (Fall 2010)

Business Groups Seek More Aggressive Promotion of CleanEnergy Exports

Published on July 27, 2011

Clean_EnergyNew York, N.Y., July 27, 2011 – The United States Council for International Business (USCIB), which represents America’s top global companies, has joined with an array of leading U.S. business groups in urging ramped-up efforts to promote U.S. clean energy exports. The groups unveiled their proposal at a briefing on Capitol Hill today.

“Meeting the global demand for American clean energy technology will be critical for job creation and American technological leadership in the years ahead,” said Rob Mulligan, senior vice president and head of USCIB’s Washington, D.C. office. “To do this, we need a more coordinated and aggressive approach by the U.S. government in promoting exports of U.S. environmental goods and services.”

The business groups put forward a six-point plan to help guide action by the U.S. government in promoting green technologies. They recommend the following principles:

1. Ensure technological neutrality in efforts to encourage clean technology exports

2. Activate U.S. commercial diplomacy, including the International Trade Administration, in support of clean tech exports

3. Require robust monitoring and reporting on clean technology export programs

4. Further develop flexible clean technology funding mechanisms

5. Protect U.S. intellectual property rights globally

6. Reduce barriers to international trade in environmental goods and services.

“Taken together, these efforts would help clear away significant barriers at the domestic and international levels to American clean energy exports, thereby supporting robust job creation and innovation in this critical sector,” said Mr. Mulligan.

In addition to USCIB, signatories to the principles were the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, Business Roundtable, Coalition of Services Industries, Emergency Committee for American Trade, Information Technology Industry Council, National Foreign Trade Council, National Association of Manufacturers, National Electrical Manufacturers Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The proposal was released at a briefing featuring Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on International Trade, and Representative David Dreier (R-CA), chairman of the Committee on Rules in the House. Also at the briefing, a panel of senior representatives from the business and environmental communities and U.S. government discussed how promoting U.S. clean energy exports can help unlock foreign markets and grow businesses and jobs in the United States.

Panelists included: Jennifer Haverkamp, director of the international climate program at the Environmental Defense Fund; Mark Linscott, assistant U.S. trade representative for environment and natural resources; Ty Mitchell, vice president and general manager of LED lighting, Cree; Peter Perez, deputy assistant secretary of commerce for manufacturing; and Tim Richards, managing director for energy policy with GE Energy. The discussion was moderated by Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council.

 

About USCIB

USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and prudent regulation. 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, 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.

 

Business statement: “Encouraging U.S. Clean Energy Exports: A Set of Private-Sector Principles”

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

Countries Decline to Ramp Up Disclosure of Product Information

Published on July 8, 2011
USCIB’s Helen Medina at the conference in Chisinau, Moldova
USCIB’s Helen Medina at the conference in Chisinau, Moldova

Timely work by USCIB and other business groups around an intergovernmental conference paid off when parties to the Aarhus Convention rebuffed efforts to widen possible public environmental disclosure rules to include proprietary product information.

The scene was the fourth meeting of parties to the convention, which took place June 27 to July 1 in the Moldovan capital Chisinau. Attending on behalf of business and industry were Helen Medina, USCIB’s director of life sciences and product policy, attended the meeting in Moldova and was joined by Alessandra Salamini (Monsanto), Michelle Orfei (Croplife International) and Robbie Schreiber (European Crop Protection Association).

Formally known as the UN Economic Commission for Europe Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, and named after the Danish city where it was signed in 1998, the Aarhus Convention links environmental protection and human rights, laying our procedures for public access to information, participation and redress in local, national and cross-border environmental matters. Some 40 European and other countries are party to the convention.

“The Aarhus Convention is not just an environmental agreement,” noted Ms. Medina. “It is also about government accountability, transparency and responsiveness. It grants the rights to the public, and it imposes obligations on countries and public authorities regarding access to information, public participation and access to justice.”

Industry representatives were interested in how the convention work program for 2012-2014 would be implemented, especially the work plan for a task force aimed at widening the range of information – including privately held product information – made available to the public. In the end, parties to the convention opted to delete the reference to product information.

“This was a win for us, brought about largely because, prior to the conference, industry did a lot of work on educating the European Union about the slippery slope of giving the public have direct access to product information from the private sector,” Ms. Medina said. “In the end, it was the EU that changed the language.”

USCIB and other industry groups will continue to monitor future discussions to see how this language in the work program translates into practice.

Business also sought to learn how Aarhus Convention principles are being promoted at the global level and in other international environmental discussions. Stakeholders at the Chisinau meeting issued a declaration, “Rio Plus Aarhus – 20 Years On,” which highlights the importance of promoting Aarhus principles of openness, transparency, wide participation and accountability in international environmental decision-making in preparation for the Rio+ 20 Conference in 2012. In this context, the business delegation delivered an intervention which highlighted the need of wide stakeholder engagement in matters relating to sustainable development.

On the last day of the meeting, USCIB’s Ms. Medina delivered a business statement highlighting the positive role companies can play in providing practical solutions to complex global environmental challenges. She stressed the need for improved governance and policymaking, as well as a multi-stakeholder approach, in tackling such environmental challenges as climate change, energy security, waste management, water scarcity and population growth.

 

More on USCIB’s Product Policy Working Group

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

UN Ramps Up Action on Non-Communicable Diseases

Published on June 23, 2011
Panelists at the luncheon briefing on non-communicable diseases. L-R: Dr. Scott Ratzan (Johnson & Johnson), Louise Kantrow (ICC), Donna Hrinak (PepsiCo), Dr. Karen Sealey (Pan-American Health Organization).
Panelists at the luncheon briefing on non-communicable diseases. L-R: Dr. Scott Ratzan (Johnson & Johnson), Louise Kantrow (ICC), Donna Hrinak (PepsiCo), Dr. Karen Sealey (Pan-American Health Organization).

The United Nations plans to hold a high-level meeting this September in New York on combating non-communicable diseases like cancer and diabetes.  In preparation, USCIB and its affiliate the International Chamber of Commerce hosted a luncheon briefing at the UN on June 16 on “Multi-Stakeholder Solutions Addressing Non-Communicable Diseases.”  The event was attended by some 80 representatives of UN member states, industry and civil society.

Speakers at the luncheon came from across the spectrum of health policy and business, and included:

  • Alexander Alimov, senior counselor with the Russian mission to the UN
  • Dr. Karen Sealey, special advisor to the Pan-American Health Organization
  • Donna Hrinak, co-chair of the International Food and Beverage Alliance and vice president of global public policy with PepsiCo
  • Dr. Scott Ratzan, chair of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations and vice president of global health with Johnson & Johnson
  • Erica Whinston, senior manager with Qualcomm

The panel was moderated by Louise Kantrow, ICC’s permanent representative to the UN.  Earlier in the day, USCIB and ICC submitted a joint statement to an interactive hearing for civil society.  The statement focused on the importance of tailored, local solutions as part of a broader global effort in addressing non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the importance of involving the private sector and the need to take a broad, societal approach.

“NCDs are a societal matter and therefore require whole-of-society and whole-of-government solutions,” the statement said, noting that “all companies have an interest in ensuring they have a healthy and resilient workforce to maintain their competitive edge.”

Staff contact: Helen Medina

Remarks by ICC’s Louise Kantrow to the UN civil society hearing on non-communicable diseases

More on USCIB’s Health Care Working Group

Conference Highlights Need for Cooperative Efforts to Rein in Health Care Costs

Published on June 22, 2011

“Governments and the private sector need to work together to offer innovative solutions for health promotion, disease prevention and treatment that will help address the rising health care costs and challenges presented by aging populations,” stated Nicole Denjoy, chair of the Task Force on Health Care Policy at the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, USCIB’s affiliate.  “We need to move from sick care to health care.”

Speaking to over 100 senior policymakers, business figures and academics gathered in Paris for the OECD 50th Anniversary Health Conference on meeting the challenges of aging and multiple morbidities, co-sponsored by BIAC, Ms. Denjoy, the secretary general of COCIR (European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical and Healthcare IT Industry), highlighted the business case for greater collaboration with governments to generate improved health outcomes and greater efficiency in the future.

She said businesses, as contributors to health budgets, employers of older workers, and providers of goods and services, have a vested interest in reducing the overall cost burden, while increasing efficiency and quality of health care.  Close cooperation with governments will help incentivize the business community to make the necessary investments today that will yield the solutions needed for tomorrow.

Despite big improvements in health since the founding of the OECD in 1961, health policies have been slow to adapt to new challenges. Ms. Denjoy said.  Addressing the health care needs of the future requires urgent attention from policymakers as the transformation for the health care system takes years to develop and implement.

Read more on BIAC’s website.

Staff contact: Helen Medina

More on USCIB’s Health Care Working Group

OECD website

 

USCIB’s Ronnie Goldberg Reelected to ILO Governing Body

Published on June 21, 2011
At the International Labor Conference, L-R: John Kloosterman (Littler Mendelson), Kristin Lipke (U.S. Department of Labor), USCIB’s Ronnie Goldberg and John Oswalt (Procter and Gamble).
At the International Labor Conference, L-R: John Kloosterman (Littler Mendelson), Kristin Lipke (U.S. Department of Labor), USCIB’s Ronnie Goldberg and John Oswalt (Procter and Gamble).

USCIB Executive Vice President Ronnie Goldberg was re-elected to the Governing Body of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in a vote  conducted in Geneva last week . The Governing Body is the executive council of the ILO and meets three times annually in Geneva. It takes decisions on policy and establishes the program and budget of the 183 member states of the ILO.

The ILO is a tripartite United Nations agency where representatives of government, business and labor work jointly to promote greater respect for labor rights around the world.  USCIB represents the interests of American business in the ILO through its role as the U.S. affiliate of the International Organization of Employers (IOE).  Ms. Goldberg also serves as the IOE’s regional vice chair for North America.

In a related development, Adam Greene, USCIB’s vice president for labor and corporate responsibility, was recently named by Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis to the National Advisory Committee for the Labor Provisions of U.S. Trade Agreements, which provides advice on the implementation of labor chapters of U.S. free trade agreements as well as the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation.

The ILO Governing Body election took place during the annual International Labor Conference, at which a new international labor standard aimed at improving conditions for domestic workers was adopted. The U.S. employers’ delegation to this year’s ILO conference was headed by Edward E. Potter, director of global workplace rights with The Coca-Cola Company and chair of USCIB’s Labor and Employment Policy Committee.  In addition to Ms. Goldberg and Mr. Greene, the delegation included John Kloosterman (Littler Mendelson), Kent McVay (Coca-Cola), John Oswalt (Procter and Gamble) and Kevin Sullivan (IBM).

Other outcomes of this year’s conference included guidance on labor inspection and a decision to negotiate an ILO recommendation on social security.  Heads of state and government addressing the delegates included German ChancellorAngela Merkel and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Staff contact: Adam Greene

More on USCIB’s Labor and Employment Policy Committee

ILO website

Global Business Welcomes UN Special Representatives Human Rights Report

Published on June 10, 2011

The three main pillars of USCIB’s global business network – the International Organization of Employers, the International Chamber of Commerce, and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD – have joined together in welcoming the final report of Professor John Ruggie, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special representative on business and human rights.  On May 30, after six years of study and consultation, Professor Ruggie released his final report, entitled “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework.”

In their joint statement to the UN Human Rights Council, the IOE, ICC and BIAC thanked Professor Ruggie for “his dedication and tireless effort over the past six years to develop open communication and consensus among all stakeholders, which has been a significant part of his contribution to the way in which these issues are addressed.”

They continued “Our organizations have actively engaged with [Professor Ruggie] throughout his mandate by participating directly in numerous consultations, submitting joint comments or statements on various reports produced by the mandate, and engaging in ongoing communication with [him] and his team during the entire mandate.”

The groups endorsed the report’s “Protect, Respect, Remedy” framework, which clearly distinguishes the roles of national governments and third parties, including business enterprises, in upholding human rights.

The joint statement said: “Business is committed to meeting its responsibility to respect human rights and we fully expect that states and other stakeholders will do the same within their respective duties and responsibilities. Our organizations also remain committed to working with the UN Human Rights Council and other stakeholders during the implementation phase to advance the framework and the Guiding Principles in a way that creates a sense of ownership of the issues among our members, which we see as a key success factor in dissemination and adoption of the Principles.

Staff contact: Adam Greene

More on USCIB’s Corporate Responsibility Committee