Policy Areas Archives

Business Supports Economic Integration in Southeast Asia

Published on April 3, 2015

In the run-up to the launch of the ASEAN Economic Community later this year, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, led by Chair Phil O’Reilly, contributed actively to a series of OECD Southeast Asia Regional Program events held in March in Jakarta, which focused on economic integration in the region. O’Reilly emphasized the importance of this OECD initiative and the benefits that come with good economic governance in the region.

A joint Business Statement by BIAC, the Indonesian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (KADIN), and the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN BAC), was presented to regional policymakers and sets out five important steps for economic integration in Southeast Asia. The Business Statement encourages closer cooperation between Southeast Asian countries and the OECD.

Last month the OECD also released its latest Economic Survey on China. Many of the priorities raised by the BIAC China Task Force during the early drafting stage are reflected in the Economic Survey, such as recommendations that all firms should be allowed to compete on a level playing field, and that China needs to scale down state-ownership in commercially-oriented service enterprises and open up more industries for private investment.

USCIB is BIAC’s American affiliate.

Corporate Governance Spotlighted in G20 Istanbul Forum

Published on April 3, 2015

The OECD Principles of Corporate Governance are being revised with a view to supporting sound financial markets that serve the real economy. The Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the OECD has actively contributed to the discussions and participated in a series of consultations over the last year. On 10 April, the OECD and the G20 are organizing a forum to further discuss the content and the direction of the review of the OECD Principles. It is intended to present the revised Principles at the meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in September 2015 for transmission to the G20 Summit.

The forum will address two specific issues that are of crucial importance to private sector growth: the institutional capacity of small and medium-sized companies to grow and capital market development in emerging market economies. Dan Konigsburg of Deloitte, chair of the BIAC Task Force on Corporate Governance, will represent BIAC as a speaker on the first panel on “Having Finance Serve the Real Economy: Towards New OECD Principles of Corporate Governance.”

USCIB Urges US to Engage Business on UN Climate Action

Published on March 31, 2015

4991_image001USCIB urged senior U.S. cabinet officials to include business in talks about limiting greenhouse gas emissions as part of the United Nations’ global effort to develop a new international cooperative climate accord.

In December 2015, world leaders are expected to conclude a new UN climate agreement, the world’s first binding and universal agreement committing all countries to reduce carbon their emissions. This international agreement is built around each country’s individual Independent Nationally Determined Contribution (INDCs), or national pledge, whereby the country commits to reducing its carbon footprint by a certain amount in the coming decades.

The United States released its INDC proposal on March 31, unveiling a blueprint for cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by nearly a third over the next 15 years. The private sector was not consulted during the drafting of America’s INDC proposal. Business is expected to support and finance the UN’s climate agreement; therefore business must be included in talks to inform the national pledges and the world’s climate change agenda at every step, from setting priorities, to crafting policy options, to taking action.

“We have a common interest in INDCs that are successful and synergistic with international regulatory frameworks and the global marketplace,” wrote USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson in a letter sent Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and other senior U.S. cabinet officials. “We believe that NDCs can be strengthened and aligned through consultation and coordination with business to discuss how proposed efforts will affect the economy and environment, where additional initiatives can supplement and add to INDC submissions and to seek advice on how to assess proposals by other nations.”

USCIB is a member of the Major Economies Business Forum on Energy Security and Climate Change (BizMEF), which comprises national and regional business organizations representing millions of companies all over the world. BizMEF members have participated in and shared at UN climate change conferences since the Copenhagen conference in 2009. BizMEF released a set of views on how business can contribute to the development and implementation of INDCs:

  • Business has a wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise to offer concerning creation and dissemination of innovative technologies and approaches to manage risk and promote opportunities that should be a the very heart of discussions – formal and informal, domestic and international – about what INDCs could achieve.

 

  • Early and continuous involvement of business (and others) will be essential to help understand the feasibility and implications of proposed INDCs. Business can also provide insight on implications of the entire portfolio of proposed INDCs for global commerce, investment, competitiveness and aggregate consequences for emissions and the economy.

 

  • Business has significant experience in measuring, reporting and verification which will be essential to assess policy impacts, environmental integrity and comparative efforts among nations.

As negotiations intensify around the UN climate agreement set to be finalized in Paris in December, USCIB encourages all governments to consult with business going forward to help understand and assess each country’s national pledge.

USCIB Talks Sustainable Development at Brookings Panel

Published on March 30, 2015

4990_image002The United Nations’ Post-2015 Development Agenda is expected to reframe the global conversation around economic and social development – and by extension corporate responsibility – for the next 15 years, applying to all UN member states and potentially touching upon almost every aspect of human existence.

In the run-up to the agenda and the specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which will be finalized by the UN this September, USCIB has played a leading role in making the SDG negotiations accessible to business and showcasing business contributions to sustainable development through the lens of the SDGs in its advocacy with UN Member States.

As part of its efforts to showcase the private sector’s role in the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda, USCIB represented business at a day-long event of high-level policy discussions at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. about “Governance Innovations to implement the Post-2015 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” The conference is an opportunity to revisit the concepts on multi-stakeholder governance introduced by the Helsinki Process on Globalization and Democracy, which formally concluded in 2008.

Ariel Meyerstein, USCIB’s vice president for labor affairs, corporate responsibility and corporate governance, was a featured speaker on a panel on “National Consultation Processes for Multi-stakeholder Engagement and National Accountability.” The panel addressed how to engage domestic stakeholders to adapt the SDGs to national contexts and to develop national strategies for implementing the SDGs, as well as how to make national data accessible for domestic accountability and to create space for civic engagement to support the goals’ implementation.

Meyerstein noted that a significant accomplishment of the SDG process thus far was the level of buy-in they have generated in contrast to the UN’s earlier Millennium Development Goals, which were not adopted through a similarly broad consultative process with all Member States or the private sector.  What remains to be achieved, he said, is “how to put nationally-based governance frameworks in place that will encourage multi-stakeholder partnerships to help drive implementation and true national ownership and collaboration in achieving the SDGs.”

Other panelists included Nancy Lee (Millennium Challenge Corporation), Robert Orr (Dean of the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland) and Paul O’Brien (Oxfam).

From March 23 to 27, the UN began a round of SDG negotiations on goals and targets, including discussions on indicators and metrics. As the UN works to finalize the goals by September 2015, USCIB will continue to advocate for business to be consulted and relied upon as a partner in planning and implementing sustainable development strategies both globally and on the national level.

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.

USCIB Congratulates USTR Froman for Leadership on TFA

Published on March 25, 2015
USTR Michael Froman
USTR Michael Froman

USCIB submitted a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman on March 23 congratulating him for his leadership in implementing the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). The United States was one of the first countries to accept the TFA, a trade deal that will streamline cross-border trade and create an estimated 21 million jobs and add $1 trillion to the global economy over the course of a decade.

Two-thirds of WTO members must ratify the TFA before the agreement goes into force, and the United States serves as an example to other countries in ensuring the agreement’s ratification and implementation. Swift adoption of the TFA is critical for the business community, as it will spur economic growth and enhance competitiveness at a time when supply chains routinely cross multiple borders in the production of goods and services.

“The United States is playing a critical leadership role in implementation of the TFA and can count on the full support of the business community,” wrote USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson in the letter.

USCIB has advocated strongly for the TFA, organizing two policy conferences on the multilateral trade agenda: “Exploring New Approaches to Trade, Investment and Jobs” in D.C. in October, for which Froman was the keynote speaker, and the “Customs and Trade Facilitation Symposium” in February in Miami.

Read the letter.

USCIB Defends Investor Dispute System at World Economic Forum

Published on March 25, 2015
Shaun Donnelly (left) in Geneva.
Shaun Donnelly (left) in Geneva.

As debate continues over whether Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) ought to be included in U.S. trade agreements such as the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), USCIB represented American business interests at the Investment Policy Group meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) in Geneva on March 23 and 24.

Shaun Donnelly, USCB’s vice president for investment and financial services, attended the meeting as one of just three business representatives among the group’s 25 investment experts convened by WEF and ICTSD.

This Investment Policy Group ‎is one of 18 parallel expert groups under the E15 initiative, jointly implemented by WEF and ICTSD, to develop policy recommendations to governments and international organizations across a broad range of trade and investment issues by late 2015. At the investment group meeting, academics, lawyers, international organization officials and business representatives debated a range of investment issues and options. Herbert Oberhaensli of USCIB member Nestle and Nicolle Graugnard from the International Chamber of Commerce secretariat in Paris joined Donnelly at as business representatives at this session.

Much of the discussion centered on ISDS, which grants an investor the right to use dispute settlement proceedings against a foreign government. USCIB argued that ISDS is a necessary legal instrument to truly incentivize and protect international investment flows that are vital for economic growth, development and job creation.

The E15 initiative’s Investment Policy Group will meet again in June to finalize its recommendations.

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

 

 

Economist Report: Human Rights are a Matter for Businesses

Published on March 17, 2015

4981_image002With the support of the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Organization of Employers and other business organizations, the Economist Intelligence Unit published a report on the intersection of global business and the protection of human rights. “The Road from Principles to Practice: Today’s Challenges for Business in Respecting Human Rights” evaluates the state of play in business and human rights since the adoption of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in 2011.

The report shows that 83 percent of executives surveyed from a wide variety of sectors believe that human rights are a matter for businesses, not just for governments. 71 percent also said that their company’s responsibility to respect human rights goes beyond “obedience to local laws.”

While this response suggests corporate attitudes are evolving quickly, only 22 percent say they have a publicly available human rights policy in some form, and 44 percent say that human rights are an issue on which CEOs take the lead. The most common barriers to progress, according to the respondents, are lack of understanding of their company’s responsibilities and lack of training and education for employees.

The report also shows that companies do not see a business case – focused on immediate costs and benefits – for human rights, but rather see respecting human rights as helpful in building good relationships with local communities, protecting the company brand and reputation, and serving ethical considerations.

The study also draws on in-depth interviews conducted with Ed Potter, director of global workplace rights at The Coca-Cola Company and chair of USCIB’s Labor and Employment Committee; John Ruggie, former UN Secretary-General’s special representative on business and human rights; Bob Collymore, CEO of Safaricom and other experts from civil society, human rights and business organizations.