Competitiveness and Innovation Archives

USCIB Welcomes ILO Framework to Abolish Violence, Harassment in World of Work

Published on June 25, 2019
USCIB VP for Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs Gabriella Rigg Herzog at the ILC

In addition to marking the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Centenary Anniversary, this year’s International Labor Conference (ILC) focused on the adoption of a new ILO Centenary Declaration and a new ILO Convention and Recommendation on Violence & Harassment in the World of Work. USCIB Vice President for Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs Gabriella Rigg Herzog was on the ground leading USCIB’s U.S. Employer delegation, which represented USCIB member companies for the entire duration of the two-week ILC, taking place June 10-21 in Geneva, Switzerland. Herzog was joined by more than 5,700 delegates at the ILC, who were representing members of the respective groups that comprise the tripartite structure of the ILO – workers, governments and business.

USCIB engaged actively in both the Centenary Declaration and Violence & Harassment discussions, and was particularly pleased to be part of the successful adoption of the new Convention on Violence and Harassment. “Both violence and harassment are unacceptable behaviors that have no place in our societies – and especially not in our workplaces,” said Herzog in her remarks at the concluding ceremony of the ILC. “The Convention document is aspirational in its vision, as it should be for such an important and universal concern. The Convention also clarifies that for public and private employers to effectively work to eradicate these negative practices, such efforts must be commensurate with their degree of control.” 

Herzog also noted disappointment that ILC participants did not join the Employers group in sufficient numbers to ensure that LGBTI would be explicitly cited in the new ILO instruments for protection. “Every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, and protection from violence and harassment applies to all people, without exception,” stressed Herzog. “As we enter the second century of the ILO’s history, we call upon the Secretary-General Guterres of the United Nations and Director General Ryder of the ILO to be unwavering in their work to bring added and necessary clarity to international instruments to ensure that they are truly inclusive so that ALL PEOPLE may be protected from violence, harassment and discrimination EVERYWHERE,” Herzog contended.

According to Herzog, adoption of an ILO Convention by the ILC is a clearly a great accomplishment, especially on such an important topic as violence & harassment. Even more important, however, will be for governments to take the next step to actually ratify the convention because that would trigger a responsibility for governments to modify their domestic laws to give effect to the provisions within any new ILO convention. This will be a critical next step if we want to see the needed changes to eliminate violence and harassment in countries and workplaces around the world.  

Still, the passage of the Convention and Recommendation, together with the Centenary Declaration, constitute important steps in tackling issues that have, are, and will affect governments, employers and workers.  Looking to the ILO’s coming 100 years, Herzog stated at the ILC, “We must all continue to respect the value and context of social dialogue and other labor relations systems in helping to navigate change.  As the ILO’s founders wisely understood 100 years ago, open and honest tripartite dialogue, based on trust and political will, can be an important tool for finding shared solutions and facilitating the implementation of reforms geared towards the future.”

 

USCIB Urges Reversal of 1-800 Contacts FTC Ruling

Published on June 18, 2019

USCIB filed an amicus brief with regards to 1-800 Contacts, Inc. case to highlight the challenges American businesses would face under the recent Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) decision’s approach to antitrust liability for trademark settlements, and explain the potential negative impacts the decision would have on businesses, consumers and competition if left to stand.

USCIB General Counsel Nancy Thevenin led the process for USCIB. “The Commission’s decision creates substantial uncertainty regarding the enforcement and settlement of intellectual property rights, increases the risk of arbitrary enforcement against even routine settlements, and potentially exposes settlements to such risk for decades,” warned Thevenin. “The decision should be reversed.”

Earlier this year, the FTC decided to impose antitrust liability against 1-800 Contacts, the largest online retailer of contact lenses in the U.S., on the basis that 1-800 Contacts’ settlements of trademark infringing lawsuits against at least fourteen competing online contact lens retailers restricted trade. Among other things, USCIB’s amicus argues that the Commission’s decision ignores the critical importance to business of intellectual property rights and its enforcement and would unfairly require the lawful exercise of such rights to a higher pro-competition standard.

USCIB thanks Eileen M. Cole, Bryant D. Gant and Seiji Niwa of member firm White & Case for their work with the amicus.

 

USCIB Responds to US Tariff Escalation With China

Published on June 18, 2019

In response to the recent escalation of tit-for-tat tariffs between the United States and China, USCIB submitted comments on June 17 to the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on the proposed modification to Section 301 regarding China’s policies and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property and innovation. USCIB members are concerned that proposed tariffs on essentially all Chinese imports will stifle the U.S. economy and will not achieve the Administration’s goal of changing China’s behavior.

Following this submission, USCIB’s China lead Eva Hampl is getting ready to testify at USTR on Friday, June 21. “While China’s forced technology transfer requirements, state interventions, and other unfair trade practices harm many U.S. companies, workers, consumers, and competitiveness, these tariffs can also similarly endanger the U.S. economy,” warns Hampl. “Specifically, this proposed list now includes categories of products that only impact U.S. companies, and not their global competitors. Ceding market share to competitors is not weakening the Chinese economy, it is merely weakening the U.S. market.”

USCIB also joined with Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, alongside 661 other companies and association, to send a letter to President Trump on June 13 urging the administration to negotiate a strong deal with China that addresses longstanding structural issues, improves U.S. global competitiveness and eliminates tariffs. “This goal can be achieved without taxing Americans,” the letter emphatically stated.

The letter also stated that “broadly applied tariffs are not an effective tool to change China’s unfair trade practices” and would “result in the loss of more than 2 million U.S. jobs, add more than $2,000 in costs for the average American family of four and reduce the vale of U.S. GDP by 1.0 percent.”

USCIB Sponsors Seminar on Mitigating Business Risk With Arbitration

Published on June 17, 2019

USCIB/ICC USA sponsored a seminar in Albuquerque, New Mexico on June 14 on international arbitration and how that state’s businesses can use arbitration to mitigate the risks of doing business overseas. Some thirty New Mexico business executives, lawyers and law students attended the presentation, which was opened by Roberta Cooper Ramo, former president of both the American Bar Association and the American Law Institute.

Marek Krasula, counsel for the ICC International Court of Arbitration in New York and David Wilson, partner at Sherman & Howard in Denver, provided an overview of ICC arbitration and how to best draft contracts to provide for it. Matthew Draper, a partner at Draper & Draper in New York and Santa Fe, moderated a panel discussion addressing issues of particular relevance to local companies, such as using arbitration to protect IP rights, recovery of attorneys’ fees by prevailing parties, and keeping the costs of arbitration to a minimum.

“The ICC’s new Expedited Procedures, which apply when less than two million dollars is at stake, reduce significantly the time and cost of dispute resolution, and may be a good fit for New Mexico companies,” said Draper.

Vice Dean of the University of New Mexico School of Law Camille Carey noted in her closing remarks that she hoped the law school would expand opportunities for students to learn about international arbitration.

USCIB Statement on WTO e-Commerce Negotiations

Published on June 6, 2019

USCIB has issued Recommendations on the WTO e-Commerce negotiations, reflecting member priorities and goals for the negotiations, which had their first round in May. The recommendations are being shared with relevant government officials and stakeholders.

At the December 2017 WTO ministerial in Buenos Aires, 71 countries agreed to begin discussing new global rules to facilitate the expansion of the digital economy. Thanks to intensive work by those countries, last January 76 countries (notably including the U.S., EU, and China) announced the launch of formal negotiations.

In addition to this paper, USCIB is actively engaging in the negotiations in Geneva via various efforts, including the Digital Trade Network and the International Chamber of Commerce.

“The vast majority of the world’s economy is at the table,” wrote Nick Ashton-Hart, the Digital Trade Network’s Geneva representative, in the most recent issue of USCIB’s magazine, International Business. “Since it is estimated that the digital economy underpins approximately one-third of global GDP this is a negotiation that will impact industry everywhere.”

Tax Conference Provides First Look at OECD’s Digitalization Roadmap

Published on June 6, 2019
L-R: Pascal Saint-Amans (OECD), Gaël Perraud (French Ministry of Economy & Finance), Brian Jenn (U.S. Treasury), Pam Olson (PwC), Louise Weingrod (Johnson & Johnson)

Global companies are facing potentially seismic shifts in the taxation of their operations, with national tax authorities seeking to keep pace with a rapidly digitalizing business environment. This was the backdrop when more than 250 global tax professionals, government officials and other tax experts gathered in Washington, D.C. June 3-4 for USCIB’s annual OECD International Tax Conference. This year’s event provided an especially timely window into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s work to develop tax policy recommendations to governments.

On May 31, the OECD released a work program to develop proposals for allocating a company’s profits among countries that re-balance source and residence taxation and also result in a global minimum amount tax paid on earnings. Drawing from the views of nearly 130 jurisdictions (far broader than the OECD’s membership of 36 countries), the OECD roadmap could result in fundamental changes to national tax laws and bilateral tax treaties, including a move to a much more multilateral approach to international corporate taxation.

USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson asked conference-goers in his opening remarks: “How will a new consensus form around reallocation of taxing rights? Many interests will need to be balanced to achieve a solution that will be ‘globally fair, sustainable and modern,’ to quote the G20. The OECD also needs to keep global growth front and center.”

This sentiment was echoed by Bill Sample, tax policy advisory at Microsoft and chair of USCIB’s Tax Committee.

“Unlike the OECD’s earlier BEPS [base erosion and profit-shifting] exercise, this project will reallocate tax revenues among various countries,” he said. “It’s a political exercise, requiring compromise and the balancing of many competing interests among governments. One thing parties generally agree on is the need to keep these revenue shifts modest, and to have a predictable, sustainable model for global tax policy going forward.”

The conference was the 14th annual gathering on global tax policy developments convened by USCIB, in cooperation with the OECD and its official private-sector advisory body, Business at OECD (also known as BIAC).

The G20’s mandate

G20 leaders have tasked the OECD, with a long and distinguished history of work on international tax policies, to lead work a consensus-based solution to address the impacts of the digitalization of the economy, with a target of developing recommendations by next year.

The OECD’s effort represents “a fundamental rethink of the basics of the international tax system,” USCIB Vice President and International Tax Counsel Carol Doran Klein told Bloomberg News. “The scope could not be broader.”

Economist Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

G20 governments will review the OECD roadmap at a June meeting in Japan.

“Despite the fact that people have been listening to all the talk about this being the largest international tax project, it’s only when people read this and see how wide-ranging this is that they’ll be able to appreciate it,” Will Morris, chair of the BIAC Committee on Taxation and Fiscal Policy and deputy global tax policy leader at PwC, told Bloomberg. “It’s not just about changing technical rules. It’s about saying, essentially, the world has changed, and this system we’re looking at needs to change with it.”

Economist Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s keynote remarks focused on ways to improve the tax capacity of emerging markets, which are expected to receive a growing share of global private-sector investment in the years ahead.

Other panelists and speakers at this year’s conference included:
• Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the OECD Center for Tax Policy & Administration
• Martin Kreienbaum, director general for international taxation, German Ministry of Finance
• Chip Harter, deputy assistant secretary for international tax affairs, U.S. Treasury
• Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, an economist and former finance minister of Nigeria
• Doug O’Donnell, commissioner of the Large Business and International Division, IRS
• Mike Williams, director of business and international tax, HM Treasury (UK).

It’s not too early to mark your calendars for next year’s OECD International Tax Conference, which will take place June 1-2 in Washington, D.C.

USCIB All In Initiative

Published on June 3, 2019

USCIB All In

About

Faced with the urgent need to make faster and smarter progress towards achieving the ambitions of a range of international agreements including the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Framework on Climate Change and its Paris Agreement, inclusive multilateralism is essential. In this context, USCIB has developed a 2 year initiative: “Campaign All In.”

All In has launched a global conversation on how to strengthen dialogue, partnership and engagement with business to advance implementation of 2015 outcomes via the multilateral system. The Campaign brings together policymakers and global businesses in key UN cities to begin a conversation on opportunities for harnessing the power of all industry sectors to achieve the SDG goals and other sustainability initiatives.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet speaks at the All In Roundtable

Campaign All In was launched during a roundtable event on May 8, 2019 in which USCIB partnered with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the International Organization of Employers (IOE) to convene the first All In Roundtable on Inclusive Multilateralism, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Business. Further ‘All In’ roundtables are planned for Bangkok on June 11 and in New York in July. Together, the three roundtables will address six key themes:

  1. Enabling Public-Private Partnerships with the UN for the SDGs (Geneva)
  2. More than the sum of the parts: Leveraging public private cooperation in science and technology for the SDGs (Geneva)
  3. Using Value Chains to mobilize multi-sector engagement and synergy for the SDGs (Bangkok)
  4. Economic Empowerment and inclusion to catalyze SDG impact (Bangkok)
  5. Investing in Infrastructure in all its forms for the SDGs (NYC)
  6. Measuring and Mainstreaming Impact of Private Sector Engagement on SDGs (NYC)

Utilizing the outcomes from the 2019 discussions, All In will develop a 2020 Action Plan for Inclusive Multilateralism.

Events

Geneva Week roundtable

Upcoming:

  • New York UN General Assembly Conference
    • When: September 11, 2019
    • Where: Millennium Hilton New York One UN Plaza
    • Agenda: Available here
    • Registration: Available here

Past:

ICC Celebrates 100 Years, Sets Out Vision for Next Century

Published on May 29, 2019
L-R: Peter Robinson (USCIB), Norine Kennedy (USCIB), Thomas Pletscher (ICC Switzerland)

The International Chamber of Commerce, the oldest and largest component of USCIB’s global business network, celebrated its centennial at a gala event in Paris on May 28. USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson and Vice President Norine Kennedy were among the hundreds of attendees.

The world business organization was founded in 1919, out of the ashes of World War One, under a commitment by international business to build bridges through cross-border trade and investment and to serve as “merchants of peace.”

On behalf of its 45 million companies worldwide, ICC issued a declaration setting out a vision to shape the future of global business for the next century.

Mirroring the call by ICC’s founders, the declaration sets out guiding principles for ICC as a purpose-driven international organization, working with renewed purpose to “make business work for everyone, every day, everywhere.”

Listing a number of potential upheavals facing the global community – including climate change, digital transformations and rising inequality – the ICC declaration states: “In the years ahead, these disruptions will become increasingly pronounced in the absence of concerted action by global leaders to mitigate negative outcomes and drive collective solutions.”

Click here to read more and get the full declaration.

Ahead of ICC’s Centennial Summit, ICC launched a new work program to fulfill commitments set out in the Centenary Declaration. Leveraging ICC’s global membership in over 100 countries, ICC will execute the work program through five newly created and versatile knowledge hubs deploying five pivotal campaigns to enable business worldwide to secure peace, prosperity and opportunity for all.

“Faced with pressing global challenges in the 21st century, ICC and the global business community can – and must – do more as a force for good in the world,” said ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton. “We will respond to this imperative with brave and bold action to meet the ambition of our renewed purpose.”

At OECD Ministerial, Business Engages on Digital Transformation

Published on May 29, 2019
L-R: Peter Robinson (USCIB), OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria, Andrew Wyckoff (OECD), Charles Johnston (Citi)

On May 22-23, a strong delegation of global business leaders participated in the 2019 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting, stressing the need for integrated policies that will enable business to fully deliver on the potential from the digital transformation for economies and societies.

This pivotal exchange platform allowed global members and corporate leaders affiliated with Business at OECD (known by the acronym BIAC), part of USCIB’s global network, to convey what business needs from international collaboration to promote both economic growth and inclusion. The high-level dialogue featured multiple interactions with ministers of economy, trade, foreign affairs, and finance from 36 OECD countries and key non-member economies. Senior business leaders – including Peter Robinson, USCIB’s president and CEO, Alexandre Ricard, CEO of Pernod Ricard, BIAC Vice Chair Charles Johnston, managing director of global government affairs with Citi and a USCIB board member, and Saori Dubourg, board member from BASF – formally addressed ministers during the program.

The OECD Ministerial outcomes and adopted instruments reflected critical policy recommendations from the 2019 Business at OECD Statement to Ministers, notably the need to appropriately involve stakeholders as future policy recommendations are developed, guidance that will enable data governance based on trust, and continued support for OECD evidence and facts on tax, competition and trade, including on tracking market distorting support measures and barriers. BIAC commended the adoption of the OECD Artificial Intelligence principles and the creation of an OECD Observatory on AI – business involvement in this area will be critical to achieve innovation in a number of fields including health, environment, and anti-corruption.

While in Paris, USCIB’s Robinson BIAC Secretary General Russel Mills and Senior Director Nicole Primmer attended a reception for ministers at the U.S. Mission to the OECD hosted by U.S. Charge d’Affaires Andrew Havilland. Robinson added that the week’s activities “gave me an opportunity to connect with the OECD leadership, including Jeffrey Schlagenhauf, the newly appointed OECD deputy secretary general from the United States.”

BIAC members also convened for the 5th occasion the current G20 and B20 (Business 20) presidencies to share business recommendations to G20 leaders ahead of the Osaka Summit. The event featured the participation of the Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, Shinya Katanozaka, president and CEO of ANA Holdings, and the OECD’s leadership. Business speakers from BIAC’s French and German national members MEDEF and BDI, its Argentinian observer UIA, and from Accenture also debated views with five G20 sherpas and senior government officials. In this meeting, Business at OECD Chair Phil O’Reilly affirmed the importance of ensuring continuity and frank exchanges across presidencies to achieve tangible outcomes in G20 declarations and implementation actions.

Earlier, the Business at OECD Annual General Assembly brought together BIAC’s executive board, leadership from national organizations from 30 OECD and non-OECD countries, and associate expert groups to discuss our strategic priorities for global governance and national challenges. The meeting also benefited from a conversation with leadership from 12 major BIAC policy groups to present the OECD agenda across critical issues, our business perspectives, and the role the OECD can play in these fields.

Ulrik Vestergaard Knudsen, deputy secretary general of the OECD, gave a keynote address to participants on major OECD initiatives affecting businesses, and Alvaro Pereira, director of the Country Studies Branch of the OECD Economics Department, responded to insights from BIAC’s 2019 Economic Survey, and also shared main themes from the 2019 OECD Economic Outlook.

USCIB Applauds Approval of OECD Principles on Artificial Intelligence

Published on May 22, 2019

Washington, D.C., May 22, 2019 – The United States Council for International Business (USCIB), applauds the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) approval on May 22 of the OECD Principles on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Working through Business at OECD (BIAC), a core group of USCIB members participated in a special, 50+ member experts group that was convened to scope these principles. They contributed directly to the development of five complementary, values-based principles for the responsible development and stewardship of trustworthy AI and five recommendations for public policy and international cooperation.

Importantly, these principles are not prescriptive. They highlight human-centered values, fairness, transparency, robust security, and accountability as foundational elements for AI deployment that will ensure inclusive growth, sustainable development and well-being. The principles, which were developed through multistakeholder dialogue involving input from business, government, civil society, the technical community, and labor unions, also recognize the appropriate role of governments in creating an enabling environment for research and development to drive innovation in trustworthy AI. They call upon governments to develop mechanisms to share data and knowledge and programs to equip people with digital skills so they can transition to new employment that will harness AI for economic and societal good. The OECD’s 36 member countries, along with Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru and Romania, who signed up to the AI Principles at the organization’s annual Ministerial Council Meeting today in Paris, further agreed to cooperate across borders and sectors to share information, and develop international, interoperable standards to ensure safe, fair and trustworthy AI.

“USCIB is honored that its members played a direct role in shaping principles that will enable us to tap the extraordinary potential of Artificial Intelligence in a manner that will improve economic and societal well-being across diverse sectors such as energy and the environment, healthcare, and transportation, to name a few,” said USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson. “Perhaps most important, these principles include important safeguards that keep human-centered values at the core of AI deployment and prevail upon all ‘AI actors’ to respect democratic values throughout the AI system lifecycle, commit to transparency, and to demonstrate accountability, among other responsibilities. We see a bright future ahead and look forward to the adoption of these principles by OECD members and non-members alike,” added Robinson.

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, generating $5 trillion in annual revenues and employing over 11 million people worldwide. As the U.S. affiliate of the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Organization of Employers and Business at OECD, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide, and works to facilitate international trade and investment. More at www.uscib.org.

Contact:
Jonathan Huneke, USCIB
+1 212.703.5043, jhuneke@uscib.org