Competitiveness and Innovation Archives

WHO Urged to Improve Consultation With the Private Sector

Published on March 22, 2013
WHO headquarters in Geneva
WHO headquarters in Geneva

USCIB is joining with other industry groups in urging the World Health Organization to improve its procedures for engaging with the business community and other stakeholders.

In February, as part of a broader reform effort, WHO’s executive board decided to conduct public, Web-based consultations on draft principles and policies of engagement with non-state actors.

“USCIB is pleased that WHO is now undertaking this process to consider how to engage with the private sector and other stakeholders,” said Helen Medina, USCIB’s director of product policy.

“In spite of the contributions that business makes to health care innovation, and the impacts of WHO norms and standards on business, WHO has traditionally maintained limited options for business observer organizations.”

WHO is the lead organization for health policy matters within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.

Reflecting on decades of experience in undertaking proactive engagement with other intergovernmental bodies, including in the areas of environmental affairs and product policy, USCIB encouraged WHO to follow the lead of other UN agencies in better integrating business views into its deliberations.

In its submission, USCIB noted that the private sector is highly diverse in terms of industries, company size and geographical location. Given the wide array of issues addressed by WHO, USCIB said it is essential to provide business and industry adequate representation in order to enable broad and deep engagement across the private sector.

Business and industry is vested in good outcomes for society and human health, USCIB said, and it plays an important role in addressing global health priorities. The private sector can harness its expertise to innovate, research and provide solutions in areas related to health and wellbeing. Business’s commercial activities generate employment, tax revenue and other important resources for societal and individual well-being.

USCIB said the WHO should strive for transparency, engage with business and industry as part of civil society, and take the private sector’s science-based views into account.

At the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, UN member states agreed that sustainable development could not be achieved by governments alone. Engagement with business and industry, along with other important societal interests, is a recognized feature of many other UN bodies.

USCIB will continue to work with its industry partners to encourage WHO to follow the lead of other UN bodies in engaging business and other groups in a transparent and consistent manner, respecting good governance and transparency, and avoiding conflicts of interest.

USCIB’s comments were submitted alongside those of other industry groups, including the International Organization of Employers (part of USCIB’s global network), CropLife International, the Global Alcohol Producers Group, the International Food and Beverage Alliance, and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations.

Staff contacts: Helen Medina and Norine Kennedy

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

More on USCIB’s Product Policy Working Group

EU Tax Commissioner Briefs Members on Planned Tobin Tax

Published on February 26, 2013
L-R: European Union Taxation Commissioner Algirdas Semeta, EU Ambassador to the United Nations Ioannis Vrailas, USCIB Executive Vice President Ronnie Goldberg
L-R: European Union Taxation Commissioner Algirdas Semeta, EU Ambassador to the United Nations Ioannis Vrailas, USCIB Executive Vice President Ronnie Goldberg

On February 22, USCIB members met with the European Union’s commissioner for taxation, customs union, audit and anti-fraud, Algirdas Semeta,  at the EU Mission to the United Nations in New York. The meeting was chaired by EU Head of Delegation Ioannis Vrailas, and the commissioner was welcomed by USCIB Executive Vice President Ronnie Goldberg.

Commissioner Semeta spoke in detail about the debate regarding the EU’s proposed financial transactions tax (FTT) directive, for which a report was released on February 14, as well as the Commission’s views on a global approach to an FTT.

Saying the Commission believes that financial institutions should contribute to the cost of economic recovery, Commissioner Semeta stated that the FTT would also discourage speculative transactions that he said contributed to the financial crisis. He reviewed the more than 40-year policy debate over the FTT – nicknamed the “Tobin tax” after one of its early proponents, economist James Tobin – noting that a principle argument against the tax has been that it cannot be done if it cannot be implemented globally.

The Commission agrees that global implementation is best, he said, but that this is not possible at the present time, and that an FTT can be designed on a regional level. The place a financial transaction takes place is irrelevant; what is important is who trades with whom. The commissioner warned that neglecting the market of the 11 countries poised to adopt the FTT would not be a rewarding model, especially since they represent 90 percent of the eurozone and one-sixth of the global marketplace.

Commissioner Semeta also discussed corporate taxation and answered questions from participants on additional taxation topics as well as customs union.

Staff contacts: Justine Badimon, Carol Doran Klein

More on USCIB’s European Union Committee

More on USCIB’s Taxation Committee

Business More Must Be Done to Protect the Internet as a World Resource

Published on February 25, 2013
Jean-Guy Carrier, secretary general of the International Chamber of Commerce, addressed the gathering, which marke4d the 10th anniversary of the UN’s World Summit on the Information Society.
Jean-Guy Carrier, secretary general of the International Chamber of Commerce, addressed the gathering, which marke4d the 10th anniversary of the UN’s World Summit on the Information Society.

At the opening of the first World Summit on the Information Society +10 Review meeting at UNESCO headquarters in Paris today, business representatives appealed to all stakeholder groups within the Internet governance community to do more to protect and strengthen the Internet as it is today.

The International Chamber of Commerce and its BASIS (Business Action to Support the Information Society) initiative used the event to highlight the importance of formulating policy that supports the free flow of information online. This encourages freedom of expression and creates the right conditions for open trade as well as investment in the Internet and the applications and services that run on it, as a path to future global economic growth and social progress, especially through education and learning.

Addressing the multiple stakeholder groups present at the event, including ministers and high-level governmental officials, heads of intergovernmental organizations, senior business executives, Internet technical community leaders and civil society, industry representatives urged that more be done to ensure the permanence of a free, fair and open Internet characterized by the free flow of information.

USCIB Vice President Barbara Wanner attended the meeting and served as the ICC-BASIS rapporteur on multi-stakeholder principles. USCIB member companies made important contributions in a number of topical sessions at the review event, including eLearning (Microsoft), promoting freedom of expression and privacy on the Internet (Google), cultural and linguistic diversity (Disney), and avoiding e-waste (HP).

Read more on ICC’s website.

Staff contact: Barbara Wanner

More on USCIB’s Information, Communications and Technology Committee

At Congressional Hearings, Calls for a “Stable, Secure and Free” Internet

Published on February 11, 2013

4438_image001On February 5, USCIB members took part as the House Energy and Commerce Committee hosted a joint committee hearing on “Fighting for Internet Freedom: Dubai and Beyond.” The hearings focused on developments at last December’s World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), which saw a split over a proposed treaty that some, including the United States and a number of other countries, saw as sanctioning greater government involvement in the management of the global Internet.

At the hearings, all House members present expressed support for the U.S. government’s decision not to sign the WCIT treaty because it included provisions that would subject the Internet to international regulation, according to Barbara Wanner, USCIB’s vice president for information, communications and technology (ICT) policy.

“There were bipartisan expressions of support for a draft bill that would affirm U.S. policy as supporting an Internet that is ‘stable, secure, and free of government control,’ and governed through a multi-stakeholder model involving dialogue on Internet policy among government, business, civil society, academia, and the technical community,” Wanner said. The bill has not yet been formally introduced, with Congressional staff seeking to secure as many principal sponsors and co-sponsors from both parties as possible.

All of the witnesses, which included Ambassador David Gross, chair of USCIB’s ICT Policy Committee and a partner at Wiley Rein LLP, said the proposed legislation would serve as a powerful statement of U.S. commitment to policies aimed at ensuring that the Internet does not come under the purview of international regulations. The witnesses, all of whom participated in the WCIT, said that last year’s bipartisan support in Congress for a non-binding resolution supporting an Internet unregulated by inter-governmental agencies had a substantial impact on treaty negotiations, according to Wanner. Countries understood the U.S. negotiating posture and ultimately why the U.S. could not sign the WCIT treaty, since it so clearly flew in the face of principles supported by the Congress.

Wanner said the witnesses underscored that those seeking to subject Internet governance to international regulations would use the upcoming World Telecommunications Policy Forum and World Summit on the Information Society forum, to be held this May in Geneva, to try to build momentum in favor of expanding the role of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in Internet governance at November’s ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan, South Korea. The so-called ITU Plenipot, held every four years, is the top policy-making body of the ITU.

In his testimony, which he delivered in his personal capacity as the former top U.S. official on global Internet policy, Ambassador Gross outlined funding problems faced by the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which for the past seven years has served as the principal venue for multi-stakeholder dialogue on Internet policy and governance. He proposed that if the U.S. government’s goal is to ensure continued multi-stakeholder governance of the Internet, then the United States needs to join business and other governments in providing financial support to the IGF.

Sally Shipman Wentworth, senior manager with the Internet Society, concurred that the IGF warrants greater support because it plays an invaluable role in helping to build not only technical capacity but also “human capacity” in developing countries. The IGF needs more plentiful and stable funding to enable outreach and engagement to developing countries who may prove invaluable allies as the debate on Internet governance ratchets up in the events leading up to the 2014 ITU Plentipot, Wentworth suggested.

In addition to Gross and Wentworth, witnesses included FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, Harold Feld, senior vice president with Public Knowledge, and Bitange Ndemo, permanent secretary in the Kenyan information and communications ministry, who, befitting the occasion, participated via the Internet.

All formal testimony presented at the hearing is available by clicking here.

 

More on USCIB’s Information, Communications and Technology Committee

APEC’s “Indonesia Year” Gets Underway at Chemical Dialogue

Published on February 11, 2013

4439_image002USCIB continues to maintain a high profile in the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) forum, which groups the United States and 20 other economies in the Asia-Pacific region. This is especially true in areas where we bring high functional expertise, such as customs, privacy and chemicals. The latter issue was among those addressed at this year’s first APEC senior officials meeting (SOM I) in Jakarta at the end of January and the beginning of February. (Indonesia has taken over from last year’s host, Russia; China is slated to serve as APEC host next year.)

Several USCIB members joined Helen Medina, director of life sciences and product policy, at the APEC Chemical Dialogue’s steering group meeting during SOM I. The Chemical Dialogue’s overall goals are to facilitate trade in the region through expanded cooperation and mutual recognition among chemical regulators, to enhance understanding of the chemical industry’s innovative role, and to encourage chemical product stewardship, safe use and sustainability.

This year, the Chemical Dialogue will continue to promote the implementation of the UN’s Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals – a set of guidelines aimed at simplifying regulations and labeling requirements, as well as improving safety and environmental protection – by APEC member economies. Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) and Australia are lending support to the effort by assembling a clearinghouse on labeling initiatives and case studies on how APEC economies are implementing the UN system.

Chemicals Dialogue members are also evaluating the implementation of the EU’s REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) initiative, which regulates use of chemicals throughout a product’s life cycle, and which has had a large impact on companies up and down the supply chain. USCIB’s Medina made the case that regional initiatives like REACH need to take account of the global impact such rules can have, given today’s highly integrated global production networks.

The treatment of confidential business information is an important issue in chemicals regulation and product policy. While regulators must collect product information in order to carry out their programs, companies also need to protect trade secrets. USCIB is leading an effort to survey APEC member economies on their treatment of confidential business information. “Companies must be committed to designing and selling products safe for the users and environment in all markets, and have the confidence that intellectual property will be protected,” commented Beth Hulse, global regulatory manager at GE.

A number of additional programs are underway in the APEC Chemical Dialogue to promote regulatory cooperation and analyze the potential hazards of specific products and substances. USCIB members came away impressed with the discussion in Jakarta. “The sessions provided in-depth insight into cooperation between economies to forge a fair regulatory framework that promotes trade and environmental awareness,” said Poh Cheng Oh, compliance program manager with Hewlett-Packard.

APEC’s 2nd senior officials meeting takes place April 6-19 in Surabaya, Indonesia and include a meeting of trade ministers. The next round of APEC Chemical Dialogue meetings will take place June 22-24, during SOM III, in Meden, Indonesia. The APEC Leaders Meeting takes place October 5-7 in Bali. You can read a 2-page backgrounder on USCIB’s activities and priorities for APEC in 2013 by clicking here.

 

Staff contact: Helen Medina and Justine Badimon

USCIB APEC 2013 Backgrounder

More on USCIB’s Product Policy Working Group

EU Data Law Must Be Improved, ICC Says

Published on January 21, 2013

In conjunction with Data Protection Day/Data Privacy Day, which is observed on January 28, the International Chamber of Commerce has issued comments on the European Union’s proposed General Data Protection Regulation. ICC warned that its lack of clarity on certain requirements, together with the excessive burdens it would place on companies, would chill innovation and weaken the EU’s ability to attract investment. ICC said it was particularly concerned about the proposal’s effect on small- and medium-sized companies.

Christopher Kuner, co-chair of the ICC Commission on the Digital Economy’s task force on privacy and personal data protection said: “The protection of fundamental rights and the promotion of innovation and economic progress, which have been the defining goals of European Union data protection and privacy efforts for the last two decades, are also the goals of the proposed regulation. However, ICC believes that changes need to be made to the proposed regulation to better promote these two goals.”

Read more on ICC’s website.

More on USCIB’s Information, Communications and Technology Committee

Business Disappointed by WCIT Outcome, but Supports U.S. Stance

Published on December 17, 2012

4415_image001New York, N.Y., December 17, 2012 – The United States Council for International Business (USCIB) expressed disappointment at the outcome of the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT). The UN gathering in Dubai split, with the United States and many other countries rejecting a proposed treaty on global telecom policy, which was viewed by many as seeking to extend government authority and management over the Internet.

“Like everyone else, I am disappointed with the outcome of the WCIT negotiations,” stated David Gross, partner with Wiley Rein and chair of USCIB’s Committee on Information, Communications and Technology, who attended WCIT as part of the U.S. delegation. “However, I am encouraged that the world recognizes the vital importance of international telecommunications and the Internet in providing social, cultural and economic benefits to everyone.”

The WCIT conference was organized by the UN’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which allocates global radio spectrum and develops technical standards in interconnection of telecom networks and technologies. The ITU last updated its major governing treaties in 1988, before widespread use of the Internet.

“No single organization or government should attempt to control the Internet or dictate its future development,” stated Ambassador Terry Kramer, the lead U.S. negotiator. “We are resolute on this.” He said there were disagreements among participants over government regulation of Internet companies, the regulation of content such as spam, and whether the ITU should set rules on cybersecurity, among other things.

“The entire U.S. delegation, including Ambassador Kramer and the team of government officials and representatives of civil society, academia, and industry, did a spectacularly good job,” said Gross.

USCIB has long championed policies to expand information flows and the global Internet, promote information security, and expand market access for telecommunications and other information services. It works with a range of international business groups with official standing in the UN and other international forums, and it advises the U.S. government on international information and telecommunications policies and treaty negotiations.

According to Barbara Wanner, USCIB’s vice president of information, communications and technology policy, the group and its business members will take stock of the outcome at WCIT and will evaluate appropriate recommendations on how best to move forward.

“This is indeed a disappointing outcome, but we are gratified that the United States and other countries recognized the paramount importance of maintaining a vibrant and open global Internet,” she said.

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, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide, and works to facilitate international trade and investment. More at www.uscib.org.

More on USCIB’s Information, Communications and Technology Committee

U.S. Negotiator Lays Out Vision for Global Telecom Conference

Published on November 13, 2012
Ambassador Terry Kramer, the lead U.S. negotiator for the World Conference on International Telecommunications
Ambassador Terry Kramer, the lead U.S. negotiator for the World Conference on International Telecommunications

The open and free nature of the Internet has helped to fuel tremendous economic activity in developed and developing countries alike. The keys to ensuring its continued success as a driver of development and innovation lie in a multi-stakeholder approach to governance, and in liberalized telecommunications markets – not in government regulation.

This was the main message delivered by Ambassador Terry Kramer, the head of the U.S. delegation for the upcoming World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), at a USCIB briefing today in Washington, D.C. Kramer discussed preparations for the WCIT, which will be held December 3-14 in Dubai, with USCIB members and other interested parties at the event, which was hosted by David Gross, a partner with Wiley Rein LLP and chair of USCIB’s Information, Technology and Communications Committee.

Kramer discussed the latest U.S. submission to WCIT, a treaty conference held under the auspices of the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU). He also explored the state of play concerning proposals aimed at increasing ITU control over Internet governance.

Citing figures showing that, in recent years, the highest average annual growth rates for Internet use have been in Africa (30 percent) and Asia (17 percent), as compared to lower growth in Europe (10 percent) and the United States (4 percent), Kramer said U.S. negotiators will have a very compelling argument at WCIT that the Internet is not the sole province of the United States. In fact, emerging economies have benefited the most from their ability to freely access cyberspace.

Certain developed and developing economies have supported proposals aimed at generating revenue from content transmitted online from a sending party, as well as giving governments a greater hand in managing internet traffic. Kramer said the U.S. delegation will strongly oppose both proposals. The former, which amounts to a tax in the Internet, would have the effect of stifling Internet-generated economic activity in many developing countries, while the latter represents a very slippery slope toward online censorship, he said.

Kramer stressed that a treaty negotiation like WCIT, which potentially could result in revised, binding International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs), is not the appropriate place to address the issues driving these proposals, which include financing broadband build outs and addressing spam, hacking, and other security-related challenges. Rather, these issues are best dealt with in appropriate global forums that enable dialogue and input from multiple stakeholders.

Kramer acknowledged that all parties concerned want a forward-looking successful outcome to WCIT – which may not be easy to realize given complexity and divergent nature of the proposals. He said he favors an approach aimed at identifying opportunities for success. Further discussion of problematic proposals would then be pursued in other non-treaty forums.

More on USCIB’s Information, Communications and Technology Committee

Internet Governance as Foundation for Job Creation and Economic Growth

Published on November 5, 2012
Baku, Azerbaijan
Baku, Azerbaijan

USCIB and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) will use their presence at the 7th annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) on November 6-9 in Baku, Azerbaijan to reinforce the value of a multi-stakeholder approach to public policy development around the Internet and enhanced cooperation in stimulating economic growth.

Jean-Guy Carrier, secretary general of the ICC on behalf of ICC’s Business Action to Support the Information Society (BASIS) initiative, delivered a key message that stakeholders must collaborate more fully in order to bring about the positive policy changes needed to deliver open trade and Internet investment to enhance future economic growth and maintain the free flow of information online.

“There is a clear and positive correlation between investment in the Internet and the growth of economic activity,” he said. “To truly capitalize on this potential for economic growth, cooperation needs to be facilitated and promoted across the whole spectrum of organizations addressing Internet-related issues, including those that are private sector-led, multi-stakeholder and intergovernmental.”

Addressing approximately 1,700 business leaders, government officials, Internet technical experts, and civil society representatives attending this year’s IGF, Mr. Carrier said: “Business feels more strongly than ever that open trade and investment, respect for the rule of law and regulatory predictability, provide a path to growth and job creation. What’s more, bridging borders through global trade and the economic ties made possible by the Internet, has lifted millions of people out of poverty and contributed to improving living standards around the globe.”

Every year at the IGF, ICC’s BASIS serves as the voice of global business in the international dialogue on how the Internet and ICTs can better serve as engines of economic growth and social development. It is ICC’s’ longstanding belief that the IGF’s unique format and founding principles should be protected to ensure that genuine progress continues to be made towards addressing some of the most important global economic and social Internet issues.

David Gross, chair of USCIB’s Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) Committee and partner at Wiley Rein LLP, will be a featured speaker, providing the business perspective on a plenary panel exploring “Managing Critical Internet Resources.” In addition, Joseph Alhadeff, vice president of global public policy and chief privacy officer of Oracle Corporation and chair of Information, Computer and Communication (ICCP) Committee for BIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, will contribute his considerable expertise on global privacy policy to a plenary session, “Security, Openness, and Privacy,” which will examine issues affecting security and openness of the Internet as it relates to human rights and access to knowledge. Barbara Wanner, USCIB’s vice president of ICT policy, will also attend the IGF.

 

Click here to read more on ICC’s website.

More on USCIB’s Information, Communications and Technology Committee

IP Protection Key to Russias Economic Development and Growth, ICC BASCAP Warns Leaders

Published on October 22, 2012

4395_image002The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) told business leaders and government officials – including Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev – gathered in Moscow for the International Forum on Anti-counterfeiting 2012 that efforts to stabilize the economy and stimulate economic growth must include intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in order to drive innovation, development and jobs.

“This conference comes at an important time as Russia joins the World Trade Organization (WTO) and takes on direct participation in the WTO Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS),” wrote ICC Secretary General Jean-Guy Carrier in an open letter to the Forum participants. “Russia’s adoption of TRIPs will be a significant boost to the fight against counterfeiting – here in the Russian Federation and worldwide.”

Representing ICC’s Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP) initiative at the Forum, BASCAP Director Jeffrey Hardy presented the findings from the BASCAP report “Promoting and Protecting Intellectual Property Rights in the Russian Federation”.  The report sets out BASCAP’s recommendations for policy and legislative changes needed to bring Russia’s IP regime and IP enforcement efforts up to international standards.

Just 20 years ago, Russia was one of the worst IPR infringers in the world, and even with some recent reforms, counterfeiting and piracy in Russia still amounts to a staggering 24% of key retail sales, equal to nearly a trillion rubles, according to the report.

Click here to read more on ICC’s website.

BASCAP – Promoting and Protecting Intellectual Property in the Russian Federation