Competitiveness and Innovation Archives

Business Urges China to Halt Controversial Cyber Banking Regulations

Published on April 15, 2015

Computers_loresUSCIB joined a coalition of 31 trade associations from around the world urging the Chinese Communist Party to end banking regulations that require foreign technology companies to give source code and encryption keys to Beijing officials. The global business community has argued that the China Banking and Regulatory Commission guidelines discriminate against foreign providers of information and communications technologies (ICTs) and would effectively shut foreign firms out of  China’s banking sector.

In a letter sent to the Chinese Communist Party on April 13, USCIB and 30 other trade associations called on Chinese leaders to suspend the cyber banking guidelines and open up to stakeholder input.

“Sovereign interest in a secure and development-friendly cyber economy is best served, in any country, by policies that encourage competition and customer choice, both of which necessitate openness to non-indigenous technologies, as well as an ongoing dialogue between industry and government,” wrote USCIB and other associations in the letter. “Approaches that keep out certain technologies would likely render China’s affected industries slower to innovate, more costly to operate, and less capable of managing dynamic security threats leaving Chinese networks less secure.”

Officials from the U.S., the European Union and Japan have criticized the banking rules. U.S. officials say China is using cyber security as an excuse for protectionism.

UPDATE: China issued written notification on April 16, 2015 that it had temporarily suspended implementation of these regulations.

Students Travel To D.C. To Discuss Antitrust Law With Federal Officials

Published on April 6, 2015

Duke Today – April 6, 2015

Duke university undergraduate students met with the chair of USCIB’s Competition Policy Committee, among others, during their visit to Washington, D.C. as part of their research into the politics of market competition in the global economy.

Students Travel To D.C. To Discuss Antitrust Law With Federal Officials

 

New ICC Report Sheds Light on How to Combat Counterfeit Products

Published on March 27, 2015

4989_image002The Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP) initiative – a project of the International Chamber of Commerce – released a study outlining the steps that intermediaries can take to help keep fake and pirated products out of the supply chain and off the Internet.

The report, “Roles and responsibilities of intermediaries: Fighting counterfeiting and piracy in the supply chain,” looks at key intermediaries in the physical world and those providing infrastructure and services online, yielding the most comprehensive review to date of the many types of intermediary channels that are being utilized by criminal networks to sell and distribute fakes and pirated content.

“Trade is being revolutionized by the emergence of integrated global value chains and the explosion of online commerce,” said Jeff Hardy, director of BASCAP.

Hardy added: “Intermediaries – from express shipping firms through to online search engines – are now a central part of the global economy. This is an overwhelmingly positive development, but intermediaries must ensure they have adequate systems in place to address growing counterfeiting and piracy risks.”

Read more at the ICC’s website.

FTC’s Brill Backs Enhanced Consumer ‘Right To Obscurity’

Published on March 17, 2015

Law360 – March 10, 2015

Addressing USCIB’s Internet policy conference (held jointly with BIAC and the OECD), Federal Trade Commissioner Julie Brill says looking to aspects of a contentious European ruling on the “right to be forgotten” could help inform U.S. consumer protections.

http://www.law360.com/privacy/articles/629481

 

 

Promoting Inclusive Growth in the Digital Economy

Published on March 12, 2015
Daniel Sepulveda (U.S. Department of State) gives the keynote luncheon address on the OECD’s role in shaping the future of the digital economy.
Daniel Sepulveda (U.S. Department of State) gives the keynote luncheon address on the OECD’s role in shaping the future of the digital economy.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) hold tremendous potential to create economic opportunity, address social challenges and include everyone in the digital economy. In just a few years, the Internet and related technologies have gone from being mere tools to supporting the foundation of the entire global economy. As an editorial in The New York Times today noted, about half of the world’s population had mobile phone service last year, while one-third of all people used mobile networks to connect to the Internet. Countries that can better leverage the Internet to serve their needs will prosper.

Everybody stands to benefit from the Internet. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has pioneered the multi-stakeholder model for Internet governance, ensuring that governments, businesses, members of the technical community and civil society are engaged in dialogues about how the Internet is managed. It is crucial that policymakers understand the role the OECD plays as a forum for building consensus around principles in the ICT space, helping to inform policies that both tap the transformational potential of the Internet for economic growth while ensuring that the benefits of that growth are distributed deeply into society.

To that end, USCIB partnered with the OECD and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC) to host the ICT conference “Promoting Inclusive Growth in the Digital Economy: The Evidence and Practice Base,” to highlight the OECD’s role in framing policy discussions about the future of the Internet. During this day-long conference, sessions focused on why the ICT sector warrants engagement with all stakeholders, how to enable the benefits of digital innovation across all sectors and what the best ways are to promote trade, inclusion and trust in the digital ecosystem.

“Never has a strong business role in this area been more important than now,” said USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson in his opening remarks. “It’s important for business executives and government officials to recognize the unique role OECD plays to involve all stakeholders to tap the potential of the Internet.”

Many speakers weighed in on the OECD’s role in shaping the digital economy, including Andrew Wyckoff, the director of the OECD Directorate for Science and Technology, Christopher Painter, U.S. Department of State coordinator for cyber issues and Houlin Zhao, secretary general of the International Telecommunications Union.

Over 100 representatives from government, business, the technical community and the OECD attended the conference. Keynote addresses included an overview of Mexico’s national plan to scale up its ICT infrastructure by Raul Rendon Montemayor, director general for innovation, services and domestic commerce at Mexico’s Ministry of Economy, as well as a review of U.S. efforts to protect privacy and data security in an increasingly connected world by U.S. Federal Trade Commissioner Julie Brill.

“Basic consumer protection principles apply to exciting new technologies,” Brill concluded. “We need to keep consumers front and center.”

Ensuring multi-stakeholder engagement

The OECD stands at the precipice of a global conversation about connectivity that has brought 3 billion people together. During the conference keynote luncheon discussion, deputy assistant secretary of state Daniel Sepulveda, who will serve as vice chair of the OECD steering group for the 2016 Digital Economy Ministerial in Cancun, Mexico, talked about how to ensure that this new connectivity fosters innovation, lifts people out of poverty, increases the productivity of workers, raises wages, and supports the interconnectivity of supply chains.

Sepulveda reiterated that the multi-stakeholder Internet governance model pioneered by the OECD is necessary because it produces better outcomes. He also warned that there is no guarantee that the Internet will evolve in a way that will allow all stakeholders to use it safely and equally. To achieve the twin goals of fairness and safety, governments must embrace the OECD’s principles on digital inclusion and data privacy so as to maximize the benefits of the digital economy.

Participants agreed that private sector opportunities to invest, good infrastructure and cross-border data flows are essential for leveraging the Internet’s transformational power to address economic challenges and raise living standards. The OECD’s multi-stakeholder model has much to be admired, and even though key challenges remain – such as how to properly organize the participation of stakeholders to tap their particular expertise – the best defense of the multi-stakeholder governance model lies in the current resilience and dynamism of the Internet.

The conference ended with a warning about the dangers of forced localization requirements as they relate to the flow of information from one country to another.

“Leveraging the benefits of the cloud doesn’t mean it has to be in your country,” said Joseph Alhadeff, vice president of global public policy at Oracle and chair of BIAC’s Committee on Digital Economy Policy. “The utility of the technology is worth more than its physical location.”

View conference photos (Flickr)

USCIB Cautions Against WHO Motion to Ban Chemicals

Published on February 27, 2015

chemicals_globe_lo-resThe World Health Organization recently urged the United Nations Commission on Narcotic drugs to ban two chemical substances commonly found in electronics, telecommunications and other products following findings that these substances can be used for illicit purposes.

USCIB and its membership appreciate the WHO’s concern regarding the misuse of these two chemicals, 1,4-butanedio (BDO) and gamma-butyrolactone (GBL). However, in a submission last week to the Federal Register Notice to help inform the U.S. government on the issue, USCIB urged the FDA to consider the potential adverse economic impact of banning the use or restricting the manufacturing of those substances.

“GBL and BDO are high-volume industrial chemicals with multiple uses that touch nearly every part of the economy,” USCIB wrote in a statement. “The chemical industry takes significant steps to educate its customers and coordinate with regulators and law enforcement authorities to help prevent diversion and misuse of its products.”

Furthermore, the industries that manufacture and use BDO and GBL have adopted product stewardship programs that supplement the requirements of existing laws.

Banning these substances entirely would hurt a wide range of U.S. industries. Given the critical importance of GBL and BDO to the U.S. economy, the product stewardship programs that are in place to help prevent the misuses of these substances and the potentially devastating impacts of listing under the Psychotropic Convention, USCIB urges the U.S. Government to oppose listing these chemicals under the Convention.

 

Shaping the Future of the Internet

Published on February 13, 2015

Conference to Spotlight Growth and Inclusion in the Digital Economy

USCIB_ICT_Web_banner_2015Washington, D.C., February 11, 2015 – The Internet forms a crucial pillar of the world’s economic infrastructure, and advancements in information and communications technology (ICT) have extraordinary potential to raise living standards across the world. Given recent developments in online privacy, cyber-security and freedom on a global scale, what are the policies that can best harness the transformational power of the Internet to create economic opportunity, address social challenges and include everyone in the digital economy?

These questions will be addressed at an upcoming conference organized by the United States Council for International Business (USCIB), “Promoting Inclusive Growth in the Digital Economy: The OECD Evidence and Practice Base,” on today’s most pressing Internet policy questions for an audience of global business leaders and government officials. This second annual conference, which takes place March 10 at the Microsoft Innovation & Policy Center in Washington, D.C., is being presented by the United States Council Foundation, USCIB’s educational arm, along with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and BIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD.

“It’s important for both business and government to recognize the unique and important role that the OECD has played in conducting evidence-based research and developing related policy recommendations aimed at enabling all sectors to access the economic and social benefits provided by ICTs and Internet-enabled innovation,” said Joseph Alhadeff, vice president of global public policy and chief privacy strategist, Oracle Corporation. Alhadeff chairs BIAC’s Committee on Digital Economy Policy. In this capacity has been a leading advocate for global ICT interests in OECD discussions.

The full-day conference will feature a strong lineup of policymakers and thought leaders from around the world, including:

  • Andrew Wyckoff, director of the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry (STI)
  • Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda, deputy assistant secretary and U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy, U.S. Department of State
  • Houlin Zhao, secretary general, International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
  • Christopher Painter, S. Department of State coordinator for cyber issues
  • Kathryn Brown, president and CEO, Internet Society (ISOC)

Discussions will focus on the OECD’s broad stakeholder participation in Internet policy-making, enabling the benefits of digital innovation across all sectors, promoting trade, inclusion and trust in the digital ecosystem, and addressing online security challenges. The work of the OECD in developing better policies in an open and interconnected digital world is recognized and respected by policymakers and business leaders for the fact-based economic analysis informing its policy recommendations.

In view of the Internet’s importance to all sectors of the economy, the March 10 program will be open to business participants from the ICT community, as well as representatives of the Internet technical community and civil society. Read the full conference agenda here.

About USCIB:

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

 

USCIB Adds Business Voice in Fight Against NCDs

Published on February 11, 2015

WHO_hq_lo-resUSCIB submitted comments to the World Health Organization (WHO) on February 6 stressing the role business plays in combating malnutrition and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs). NCDs are responsible for over 60 percent of the world’s premature deaths, according to the WHO.

Last year the WHO established the Global Coordination Mechanism on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases, an intergovernmental body designed to coordinate activities and multi-stakeholder engagement across sectors as the WHO works toward implementing an Action Plan on NCDs.

“We believe that the private sector has a legitimate role to play in working with the WHO, its Members States and civil society to curb NCDs,” wrote Helen Medina, USCIB’s senior director for product policy and innovation in a submission co-signed by the International Organization of Employers, “and it wants to be part of the solution.”

The submission noted that all companies have an interest in ensuring they have a healthy and resilient workforce, and for that reason the private sector must be included in policy discussions about how to best address NCDs. USCIB reiterated its messages that self-regulation can play a constructive role, public-private partnerships are an effective response to global health challenges and taxes on various foods and beverages have negative, unintended consequences, especially for societies’ poorest consumers.

The submission also included examples from USCIB member companies of business initiatives aimed at improving global health, such as The Coca-Cola Company’s support of the “Exercise is Medicine” program, which encourages doctors to include exercise when designing treatment plans for patients. Also, Nestlé’s Healthy Kids Global Program is a partnership initiative aimed at raising nutrition knowledge and promoting physical activity among school-age children. The program reached almost seven million children in 68 countries at the end of 2013. And Pfizer has supported a pilot project in China called “Healthy Heart – New Life,” focused on developing work-related healthcare services to address chronic disease.

 

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.