Policy Areas Archives

G20/OECD AntiCorruption Conference

Published on April 30, 2013

A strong business contingent turned out for the third annual High-Level Anti-Corruption Conference for G20 Governments and Business, which took place April 25-26 at the Paris headquarters of the OECD. Jointly organized by the Russian Presidency of the G20 and the OECD, with support from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the conference brought together some 300 participants from government, business and civil society to discuss the priorities laid out in the 2013-2014 G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan and B20 recommendations to governments.

BIAC Chairman and USCIB board member Charlie Heeter (Deloitte) said the OECD can and should play an important role by developing global frameworks to address the problems of corruption and bribery and continuing its active involvement in the G20 process. It is important to create fair conditions for all market participants, foster consistent implementation of existing rules to create a level playing field and fight corruption and fraud through collective action, education, training, and partnership approaches that are mutually beneficial.

Heeter said governments should create an efficient legal and institutional framework, also addressing the demand side of corruption. The private sector has a key role to play, both by supporting governments to take action and by taking appropriate measures to address the challenges of corruption.

Erik Belfrage, chair of the ICC Commission on Corporate Responsibility and Anti-Corruption, underscored how concrete ICC tools for training and capacity building help companies – particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) – fight corruption. Belfrage, who is also chairman of the International Council of Swedish Industry, called attention to the groundwork laid by the ICC Rules on Combating Corruption, which provide a global standard for the private sector to fight corruption.

Read more on the ICC website.

Staff contact: Shaun Donnelly

More on USCIB’s Trade and Investment Committee

Business Hails Supreme Court Ruling on Alien Tort Statute

Published on April 17, 2013

4486_image001New York, N.Y., April 17, 2013 – The United States Council for International Business (USCIB), which champions the interests of U.S. global companies, hailed today’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court largely insulating companies from lawsuits under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), an 18th-century law used in recent years by activists to lodge numerous suits alleging corporate complicity in human rights abuses overseas.

“After many years of sounding the alarm against abuse of the ATS, we are extremely gratified that the court has handed down such a clear and well reasoned ruling,” stated USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson. “The justices have essentially shut the door to further use of the Alien Tort Statute to target companies based on alleged activity without any clear connection to the United States.”

The court unanimously upheld a lower court’s ruling dismissing a lawsuit accusing two foreign-based units of Royal Dutch Shell Plc of aiding and abetting human rights abuses in Nigeria, although the justices differed in the details of their reasoning. The majority said the ATS generally should not apply to conduct beyond U.S. borders.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that in the case, Kiobel v. Shell Petroleum, “all of the relevant conduct took place outside the United States.” The justices were unanimous on the outcome in the Shell case, but issued differing opinions explaining their reasoning. Roberts’s opinion cited a “presumption against extraterritoriality,” saying that legal principle limits the reach of the Alien Tort Statute when it comes to conduct overseas. Four justices issued a separate opinion saying they would have reached the same result using different reasoning.

For over a decade, USCIB and other business groups have warned against abuse of the ATS as a vehicle to lodge spurious lawsuits against companies over allegations of conduct that often bore little, if any, connection to the United States. In some cases brought under the ATS, there has been little connection to any corporate activity whatsoever, with companies having operations in a country effectively serving as stand-ins for governments alleged to have committed abuses.

More broadly, business has expressed concern over the extraterritorial application of national laws in general, including in the area of human rights, and has called for clearer international human rights standards and better enforcement of national laws as an alternative. USCIB joined in filing an amicus brief in support of Shell in the Kiobel case.

USCIB Vice Chairman Thomas Niles, a retired U.S. ambassador and former president of USCIB, wrote an influential 2002 op-ed in the Financial Times complaining about abuse of the statute and urging U.S. courts to curtail its use.

“Business and legal experts have argued for years that the ATS should not be interpreted as providing grounds for suits against companies, especially where the alleged actions have no connection to the United States,” Niles said. “We are glad that the Supreme Court took the time to review both the specifics of the Kiobel case as well as the broader issue of extraterritoriality, and needless to say we agree with the justices’ ruling.”

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.

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

New Report Says Trade Finance Not to Be Feared

Published on April 16, 2013

4489_image001The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) today issued Global Risks – Trade Finance 2013 providing a timely, accurate and comprehensive outlook on the risks in trade finance from the global trade finance industry’s perspective.

Based on data from ICC’s Trade Register, a comprehensive online database of over 15 million transactions provided by 21 banks, the new report shows that trade finance is a relatively low-risk asset class that should not be feared by financial institutions, nor over-regulated by governments.

In relation to comparable corporate default rates, the trade register data recorded a lower level of defaulted transactions adding weight to the hypothesis that trade finance transactions enjoy a lower than average likelihood of default. For medium- and long-term Export Credit Agency (ECA)-backed transactions, a similarly relative low risk is observed.

The ICC Trade Register contains data reflecting no less than 60-65% of traditional global trade finance activity, worth approximately US$2-2.5 trillion. Data reveals fewer than 1,800 defaults were made across close to 8.1 million short-term trade finance transactions. This equates to an approximate 0.02% default rate on a transaction basis. Consolidating the volume of trade and export finance and the likelihood of default for trade and export finance products, the ICC Trade Register is vital to crafting fair regulations necessary for a well-functioning global trading and banking system.

“The ICC Trade Register has been instrumental in fostering dialogue with regulators on a global scale. The integrity of the data is proven and is a strong incentive for other banks to participate,” said Pascal Lamy, director general of the World Trade Organization.

Kah Chye Tan, chair of the ICC Banking Commission and global head of trade and working capital at Barclays said: “I hope that by focusing on the critical connections between default levels in trade finance and the shaping of new regulatory recommendations, decision-makers will be able to engage collectively in efforts to improve the global financial system’s overall resilience.”

Read more, and download a copy of Global Risks – Trade Finance 2013, on the ICC website.

Staff contact: Eva Hampl

More on USCIB’s Banking and Trade Finance Committee

USCIB Members Help Launch Inaugural Meeting of OECD Security Experts Group

Published on April 10, 2013

USCIB members made important contributions at the April 8 inaugural meeting in Paris of a special OECD Experts Group convened to consider possible revisions the OECD’s 2002 “Guidelines for the Security of Information Systems and Networks.” They said the principles set forth in the 2002 guidelines remain relevant, but should be updated and supplemented to reflect the complexity of today’s world, the broader range of actors involved, and increased need for coordination and cooperation.

The group, led by Joe Alhadeff, vice president and chief privacy officer with Oracle (who serves as vice chair of USCIB’s ICT Policy Committee as well as chair of BIAC’s Technology Committee), included representatives from AT&T, Centre for Information Policy Leadership,Cisco, DLA Piper, Intel, Juniper Networks, and Verizon, supported by Barbara Wanner, USCIB’s vice president for ICT policy.

In particular, USCIB members urged that a number of concepts be incorporated into any update of the OECD Guidelines. These include the following:

  • Information security policies should be developed on a global, voluntary, consensus basis.
  • Government policies should be “technology neutral,” focusing on the desired process or security-related outcome, and avoid dictating or mandating any specific technology solution or product
  • In order to enable continued innovation, policy makers should not unnecessarily restrict the cross-border flow of technologies.
  • In light of industry’s fundamental role in the digital economy, public-private partnerships should be a key feature of national policy as well as ongoing information security discussions at the international level.
  • Fostering a trusted, global, and interconnected digital economy requires participation by all countries in a global dialogue aimed at harmonizing policy approaches to security.

The meeting also addressed the importance of establishing a risk-based approach to security as a centerpiece of the OECD Guidelines. In addition, while the language should be “high-level” in scope, participants agreed that the guidelines also should include sufficient information enabling policy makers to inform those at the operational level how to implement the concepts.

The Experts Group will continue its work for the better part of 2013, using online capabilities to facilitate dialogue as well as meeting on the sidelines of other OECD or international gatherings. The group will present its final report of recommendations at the December 2013 meeting of the OECD’s Working Party on Information Security and Privacy.

USCIB’s CEO on Cybersecurity Podcast

Against the backdrop of rising concern over cyber-security, USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson took part in a recent video chat looking at what policy makers and business executives need to know to address the threat.

Organized by Lumension, a leading provider of endpoint management and security, the chat addressed personal privacy, espionage, cyber-warfare, and existing or planned regulation in the U.S. and elsewhere. Robinson discussed some of the main international efforts to address cyber-security and related issues, and the broad principles at stake.

Other participants included Pat Clawson, Lumension’s chairman and CEO, Richard M. George, senior advisor for cyber-security at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and Richard Stiennon, founder and analyst with IT Harvest.

You can access a podcast of the video chat by clicking here.

Staff contact: Barbara Wanner

More on USCIB’s Information, Communications and Technology Committee

UN Urged to Engage Private Sector on Sustainable Development Goals

Published on March 29, 2013
Louise Kantrow, ICC’s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York
Louise Kantrow, ICC’s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), part of USCIB’s global network, participated in the first session of the UN General Assembly’s Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which met March 14-15 at UN headquarters in New York to launch the intergovernmental process of developing a set of sustainable development goals.

ICC UN Permanent Representative Louise Kantrow addressed the UN General Assembly and delivered an intervention on behalf of business and industry, the scientific and technological community, and local authorities to emphasize the critical importance of engaging all stakeholders and major groups, particularly business, to ensure proper design and successful implementation.

Members of the Open Working Group were named after the adoption of a General Assembly resolution earlier in January which concluded extensive negotiations among member states to determine which countries should occupy the 30 seats.

Kantrow said that each goal should be well defined, underpinning all three dimensions of sustainable development. “Enabling conditions for sustainability will need to be front and center, building on a foundation of economic growth, improved quality of life, good governance, inclusion and strong institutions as key drivers of development,” she said.

Kantrow encouraged member states to build on recommendations that came out of the Rio+20 Conference in 2012 and to make the best use of the collaboration mechanisms, created through the Rio+20 process, through enhanced participation of major groups and other stakeholders in line with the multi-level and multi-stakeholder model.

USCIB, in partnership with ICC and other parts of its global network, will continue to provide business input to the SDG development process.

Staff contacts: Adam Greene and Norine Kennedy

APEC Members Look at Advertising Standards

Published on March 26, 2013

4472_image002Prior to the February meeting in Indonesia of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Committee on Trade and Investment, each of the lead representatives of the 21 member economies were urged by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), part of USCIB’s global network, to support work advancing advertising standards in the region.

USCIB is working with ICC and a range of U.S. business groups to present business views to APEC member economies throughout Indonesia’s host year.

ICC, a leading proponent of self-regulation in many spheres, maintains a highly regarded code on marketing and advertising, which is used as a model by self-regulatory authorities around the world. In a letter, ICC Secretary General Jean-Guy Carrier expressed global business support and ICC endorsement of an Australian-led initiative to develop common principles for advertising standards across APEC economies, with the aim of reducing technical trade barriers.

eferring to a report from a November 2012 dialogue in Vietnam, where government and industry participants issued recommendations, Carrier highlighted the importance of APEC support and follow-up on capacity building proposals to help economies getting started or wishing to further develop national standards to the ICC Code and the best practice model recommendations for self-regulation. Read more on ICC’s website.

On February 19, USCIB’s Marketing and Advertising Committee organized a call with the U.S. Trade Representative’s office and the ICC Marketing Commission to discuss self-regulation in advertising in the APEC area, and the possibility for capacity-building within APEC to promote effective self-regulation of advertising. Outcomes of the call included exploring a possible workshop on self-regulation during the Indonesia APEC year and reporting out to senior APEC officials on the ICC’s code.

Staff contact: Justine Badimon and Charlene Flick

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

At Paris Dialogue OECD Seeks Business Input on Obstacles to Trade

Published on March 15, 2013
USCIB’s Rob Mulligan at the OECD International Business Dialogue
USCIB’s Rob Mulligan at the OECD International Business Dialogue

The OECD International Business Dialogue 2013, held earlier this month in Paris in partnership with BIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, brought together government officials and business representatives from OECD member countries, as well as major emerging economies, to identify the most pressing obstacles to international trade and contribute to informed policymaking based on first-hand insights.

As part of the dialogue, the OECD asked companies to complete a survey entitled, “What are the obstacles that your company faces in doing business internationally?” The survey is available here. Results will be made available in April.

USCIB Senior Vice President Rob Mulligan presented dialogue participants with the key findings of a recent study commissioned by USCIB and the Business Roundtable on the emergence of global supply networks as key platforms for international trade and investment. He said governments have a lot to do in terms of facilitating cross-border commerce if they want to avoid standing in the way of their own countries’ potential economic progress.

“Many governments don’t seem to recognize that the way companies do business globally has changed over the last 10-15 years, or they are intentionally trying to turn the clock back on current business models,” Mulligan said. “Our member companies are encountering policies and practices in many countries that seek to limit their ability to move goods and services across borders. These policies make it more difficult for companies to build and utilize the supply networks that are critical to their growth.”

The chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce, Gerard Worms, discussing ICC’s Open Market Index, which rates countries on their openness to international trade and investment, said that government authorities equipped with better information on their country’s market performance were better able to honor commitments on open trade and investment and resist taking protectionist measures to “protect” domestic industries and jobs.

“While G20 leaders play a key role in ensuring that governments around the world work collectively to lower trade barriers and stimulate growth and job creation, the Open Markets Index reveals that rather than leading by example, most G20 countries achieve only average scores for openness,” said Worms. “In particular, high-growth BRIC economies tend to perform below average on most measures of openness.” Read more on ICC’s website.

U.S. business delegation visits OECD

BIAC Chairman Charles Heeter and OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria speak with the visiting American business delegation.
BIAC Chairman Charles Heeter and OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria speak with the visiting American business delegation.

Later in the month, BIAC Chairman Charles Heeter (Deloitte), who also serves on USCIB’s board, led a delegation of executives from primarily American companies to Paris to meet with OECD officials and learn more about the organization’s work, priorities and interface with the business community.

Over two days, the delegation discussed broad global economic challenges and the OECD’s work related to the G20, as well as OECD initiatives in the areas of tax, trade, the Internet, corporate governance and energy.

All told, executives from some three dozen companies took part in the delegation.

Staff contact: Rob Mulligan

More on USCIB’s Trade and Investment Committee

News Brief High Standards Needed in U.S. – China Investment Treaty

Published on March 5, 2013

Columbia University’s Vale Center has published a short essay by Shaun Donnelly, USCIB’s vice president for investment and financial services, presenting the business case for a high-standards U.S.-China bilateral investment treaty (BIT). The essay appears in the center’s journal Columbia FDI Perspectives and is available by clicking here.

Donnelly’s piece responds to an earlier essay in the journal by Karl Sauvant and Huipeng Chen advocating a different approach toward the China BIT negotiations. He argues that it is essential to get a comprehensive, high-standard BIT with China, with meaningful market-opening liberalization as well as strong investor-state dispute resolution provisions, and not to settle for a quick compromise with lower protections just for the sake of getting a deal. Donnelly argues that both the U.S. and Chinese governments – as well as their respective business communities – need the strong protections and dispute-settlement provisions one can only get in a high-standard, 21st-century BIT.

USCIB is actively working to promote member views in the context of the U.S.-China BIT negotiations, and views a high-standards BIT as a key element in USCIB’s 2013 trade and investment agenda.

Staff contact: Shaun Donnelly

More on USCIB’s Trade and Investment Committee

WTO Aims to Strengthen Contacts With the Business Community

Published on March 1, 2013
L-R: ICC’s Stefano Bertasi, the WTO’s Keith Rockwell and Evian Group’s Carlos Braga
L-R: ICC’s Stefano Bertasi, the WTO’s Keith Rockwell and Evian Group’s Carlos Braga

At a February 21 event organized for the business community at the World Trade Organization’s Geneva headquarters, the WTO announced the results of a recent survey of businesses and launched a dedicated web area for business on the WTO website. It also launched an electronic newsletter targeted specifically at the private sector.

At the event, Stefano Bertasi, policy director at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), for which USCIB serves as American affiliate, provided an update on ICC’s World Trade Agenda initiative, and Carlos Braga of the Evian Group gave his perspective on the relations between business and the WTO.

“This meeting is the first of what we hope will be a series of encounters between the WTO and the business community through which we hope to strengthen our dialogue and our interaction,” said Keith Rockwell, the WTO’s director of information and external relations.

USCIB recently released its own 2013 trade and investment agenda, which is complementary to ICC’s initiative and focuses on completing trade agreements with Asia and Europe, moving forward with strong new bilateral investment treaties, including with China and India and revitalizing work in the WTO. USCIB’s agenda also aims to address new regulatory challenges around the world that bear on market access for U.S. trade and investment, including preferential treatment for state-owned enterprises and efforts by governments to impose forced localization requirements on companies as conditions for market access.

The aim of the new WTO web page is to make key information for the private sector, such as trade statistics and trade monitoring news, easily accessible in one dedicated area. The newsletter, which will be issued on a regular basis, includes the latest business-focused trade news from the WTO. It will be circulated electronically to all business representatives who register online.

Staff contacts: Rob Mulligan

More on USCIB’s Trade and Investment Committee

ICC website