Policy Areas Archives

Business Presses Capitol Hill to Act Now on Russia Trade Act

Published on September 10, 2012

russia usa jigsawLast week, USCIB and other top business associations joined in pressing top Congressional leadership to swiftly pass legislation that would enable U.S. firms to compete on an equal footing in Russia as that country joins the World Trade Organization.

In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the industry groups urged the leadership to work together to pass Russia PNTR (permanent normal trade relations) legislation this month.

“This legislation, which is the top trade priority for the business community this year, is needed to give U.S. manufacturers, farmers, and service providers a fair chance to compete and sell more of their goods and services to Russia,” stated the letter signed by USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson and the nine other business association heads.

Underscoring that Russia is now a WTO member as of August 22, the business leaders stressed that, “more than 150 WTO countries – except the United States – can now fully benefit from much better access to the Russian marketplace and important new WTO rights, including stronger IP protections, greater transparency, and recourse to the WTO’s dispute settlement procedures if Russia fails to meet its commitments.”

By contrast, they noted, “the United States will not have the same WTO rights and economic opportunities until Congress passes Russia PNTR.  This creates business uncertainty for U.S. companies seeking to expand in the Russian market and also gives foreign competitors a significant advantage in securing new sales and contracts there.”

In addition to USCIB, the letter was signed by the heads of the American Farm Bureau Federation, Business Roundtable, Coalition of Services Industries, Emergency Committee for American Trade, Information Technology Industry Council, National Association of Manufacturers, National Foreign Trade Council, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and U.S.-Russia Business Council.

Staff contact: Rob Mulligan

Business association letter on Russia PNTR

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SEC Issues Rules on Conflict Minerals

Published on August 30, 2012

Gold Rush Fuels DR Congo CrisisEarlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted final rules to implement Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank law requiring companies to publicly disclose whether they source four metals – tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold – from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) or an adjoining country, and whether doing so benefited armed groups in the DRC.

The eastern portion of the DRC has been affected by civil and military conflict for decades, leading to numerous UN and other international efforts to stem the violence.  Section 1502 was included in Dodd-Frank to respond to concerns that armed groups in the DRC are using mining and minerals trade to help finance the conflict.

“While the SEC rules included some limited changes sought by business, they still contain many overly prescriptive and burdensome provisions, and are likely to ensure the continued de-facto embargo of minerals from the DRC as companies seek to avoid having to report under the rules,” said Adam Greene, USCIB’s vice president of labor affairs and corporate responsibility.

Additionally, Greene noted that the SEC failed to conduct an adequate cost-benefit analysis of the new rules:  even though the SEC increased their cost estimate from $71 million to $3-4 billion, the new figure still falls well below other estimates that range from $8 to16 billion, and no effort was made to quantify the benefits of the new rule.  As a result, it is nearly certain that one or more U.S. business groups will sue the SEC to block the adoption of the Final Rules.

Independent from the SEC rulemaking process, the OECD has developed due diligence guidance for sourcing minerals from areas of conflict  minerals and is currently coordinating a multi-stakeholder process to help companies and trade associations implement the guidance.  The SEC rules explicitly recognize the importance of OECD guidance as the only meaningful international benchmark to which corporate due diligence measures must conform.

Given the important role of the OECD guidance in these or any SEC rules, USCIB has participated directly in the OECD’s work, in order to ensure that the guidance is practical, reasonable and risk-based.  USCIB will continue to play this role going forward and has taken on a leadership role in the governance of the process, which will help us to ensure that it remains effective and well balanced.

Staff contact: Ariel Meyerstein

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ICC Responds to the EC Proposal on Third-Country Access to Internal Procurement Markets

Published on August 3, 2012

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC’s) Task Force on Public Procurement has responded to the European Commission’s (EC) proposed changes and updates to procurement rules for approval by the European Parliament and Council.

ICC’s response aims to promote discussions and foster further evaluations of the potential consequences of the proposal made on March 21, 2012. For the EC, the proposal should be urgently passed by the European legislative bodies due to the reluctance of some non-European Union (EU) countries to open up their markets further in the course of on-going multilateral or bilateral trade negotiations.

The task force reasserted that ICC, in accordance with its mandate, cannot support any instrument purporting to limit access to markets, irrespective of the developments in trade policy that may have prompted its introduction. Parts of the EC proposal might lead to such limitations, the task force concluded.

Click here to read more on ICC’s website.

Staff Contact: Shaun Donnelly and Justine Badimon

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ICTs and the Internet Can Strengthen Economic Growth and Recovery

Published on July 24, 2012

Investment in information and communication technology (ICT) and the Internet has the potential to boost job creation and economic growth during the current economic crisis, according to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), but opportunities for these technologies must be appropriately harnessed for this to take place.

ICC Commission on Digital Economy this week released ICTs and the Internet’s impact on job creation and economic growth, a tool designed to help policy makers seize opportunities to improve economic conditions.

Findings from studies collected in the paper show a positive correlation between investment in the Internet and other ICTs, and an increase in economic activity. High-speed networks and ICT services not only create a platform for this activity, but also improve the competitiveness of an economy.

The studies show that this potential for growth is even more substantial in developing countries. For each 10 percentage-point increase in high speed Internet connections there is an increase in economic growth of 1.38 percentage points for developing countries, according to research from the World Bank.

ICC urges policymakers to maintain a commitment to policies that will promote investment in the Internet and ICTs, which in turn will support sustainable economic growth and recovery.

Read more and download a copy of the report on ICC’s website

Staff contact: Barbara Wanner

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Business Cheers as Senate Panel Green-Lights Russia Trade Bill

Published on July 19, 2012

capitolNew York, N.Y., July 19, 2012 – The United States Council for International Business (USCIB) welcomed the Senate Finance Committee’s approval of legislation to establish permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with Russia.

“This is a critical first step in securing U.S. access to an important emerging market,” said USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson.  “As Russia joins the World Trade Organization, it is opening up many new opportunities for foreign trade and investment, but the U.S. will miss out on these and be at a disadvantage versus our competitors if we do not adopt PNTR.  We urge swift consideration by the full Senate, and passage by both houses of Congress before the August recess.”

Russia’s upper house of parliament has voted to ratify entry into the WTO.  The country will become the WTO’s 156th member 30 days after Russian President Vladimir Putin approves the measure, and will begin cutting import tariffs and opening up large sectors of its economy to foreign investment.  Passage of PNTR is required to lift trade restrictions on Russia under the 1970s-era Jackson-Vanik amendment, which have been deemed to violate WTO rules.

Robinson noted that Russia is also taking steps to join the 34-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which would entail additional steps to open Russia to foreign trade and investment.  Through its membership in BIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, USCIB is working to advise the OECD and its member governments on appropriate terms for Russian entry into the organization, and is assessing the potential impact for U.S. business.

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 information is available at www.uscib.org.

Contact:

Jonathan Huneke, VP communications, USCIB
(212) 703-5043 or jhuneke@uscib.org

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USCIB Urges USTR to Deny Ecuador Access to ATPA Preference Benefits

Published on July 2, 2012

Washington, D.C., July 2, 2012 – The United States Council for International Business (USCIB) has strongly supported the U.S. Government’s network of trade preference programs to accord qualifying developing countries duty-free access into the U.S. market.  We believe that these preference programs have, over time, shown their value to U.S. consumers, to U.S. manufacturers seeking inputs, and to the beneficiary nations.  But we have always seen these unilateral U.S. programs, including the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA), and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) as conditional programs, not an entitlement.  We believe that beneficiary countries’ eligibility for these preference programs is appropriately conditioned under U.S. law and regulation on meeting the eligibility criteria.

In this regard, while we at USCIB are generally pleased with the reports the Office of the United States Trade Representative sent to the Congress last Friday, June 29, we are quite concerned with the USTR determination to maintain access to ATPA trade preference benefits for the Government of Ecuador.   With Peru and Colombia now moving up to full Free Trade Agreement partner status, Ecuador is the sole potential recipient of ATPA preferences going forward.  Yet, in recent years, the Government of Ecuador has flaunted international and ATPA standards in key areas of rule-of-law and respect for arbitral awards.  We appreciate that USTR has pointed out at some length these failings of the Government of Ecuador in their annual report to Congress last Friday.  But we are disappointed that USTR has, nonetheless, opted to maintain Ecuador’s access to ATPA preference benefits.  We urge that the Administration and the Congress reconsider this decision.  It is inappropriate to reward the Government of Ecuador for its behavior in these key areas with preferential access to our market.  Ecuador should only obtain these benefits by coming into compliance with the eligibility criteria in the ATPA statute.

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 information is available at www.uscib.org.

Contact:
Jonathan Huneke, VP communications, USCIB
(212) 703-5043 or jhuneke@uscib.org

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Big Turnout for APEC Women in the Economy Forum

Published on June 28, 2012

On June 20 the State Department’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, in partnership with USCIB and the National Center for APEC, held the first APEC Women in the Economy Forum: Private Sector Working Group. The half-day workshop was attended by over 50 members of the private and public sectors, including many USCIB members who also participated on panel discussions. The workshop served to bring actionable recommendations and input from U.S. stakeholders to the APEC Women in the Economy Forum taking place in St. Petersburg June 28-30. The June 20 meeting was opened by U.S. APEC Senior Official Ambassador Hans Klemm and Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer.

The APEC forum’s work focuses on four main pillars: Access to Capital, Access to Markets, Skills and Capacity Building and Women’s Leadership. The workshop held panel discussions around each pillar and explored how the four pillars factor into the six topics that Russia is focusing on during their host year, which are: Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Work-Life Balance (or Integration), Corporate Management, IT and Investments in Human Capital. Representatives from USCIB member companies including Deloitte, Eastman Chemical, Intel and Qualcomm were asked to give their expertise in these areas and talk about best practices from their companies.

USCIB Executive Vice President Ronnie Goldberg led discussion on Access to Markets and brought attention to the OECD’s Gender Initiative and BIAC’s recently published report, “Putting ALL Our Minds to Work: Harnessing the Gender Dividend,” which was delivered to the OECD in May. The report advocates the business case for women’s economic empowerment and puts forth policy recommendations to further efforts to maximize the benefits of gender diversity. The BIAC report echoes what APEC is advocating through its Policy Partnership on Women in the Economy.

Attendees brought up many ideas/recommendations and areas where more work needed to be done including, but not limited to:

  • Skills and capacity building—need for more science and technology education
  • Developed vs. developing country divide—access to business and finance training
  • Mentoring and sponsorship
  • Professional development plans in SMEs
  • Sharing information to grow stronger and not to duplicate efforts.

The workshop set a strong precedent for future meetings of the APEC Women in the Economy Forum which is part of APEC’s Policy Partnership on Women in the Economy. We hope that as this work stream evolves and gains momentum going into Indonesia’s host year of 2013, that we will see more private sector engagement across the board. USCIB plans to continue to work with our partners to provide opportunities to engage to our members. We will share an official summary of the workshop with members when available in the coming weeks.

After the workshop, attendees joined USCIB and NCAPEC at a reception where USCIB’s Goldberg provided a welcome address and introduced Lorraine Hariton, the State Department’s special representative for commercial and business affairs. Hariton congratulated the group on a positive and productive session and spoke to the importance of working together to get the message out and share best practices and recommendations to advance women’s role and success in the global economy.

USCIB will work with NCAPEC to hold a de-brief with the State Department early next month to update members on the St. Petersburg meetings and discuss next steps leading to Indonesia as well as further plans for the working group.

Click here to view photos from the reception.

Staff contact: Justine Badimon

Self-Regulation Experts Gather at ICC Seminar on Consumer Savvy Marketing

Published on June 28, 2012

Consumer Savvy MarketingAn engaging roster of top consumer protection and advertising self-regulation experts from the United States and around the world made the line-up of speakers at an ICC seminar on Consumer Savvy Marketing held in New York City on June 7. This seminar, hosted by USCIB and the ICC Commission on Marketing and Advertising, provided the opportunity for companies and legal experts to stay up to date with the dramatically changing landscape of marketing campaigns and to better understand how rules apply to technological and practice developments.

Participants enjoyed a dynamic and informative keynote presentation on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) activities and new projects by Lesley Fair, Senior Attorney of FTC’s Consumer Protection Bureau. Ms. Fair shared examples of recent U.S. advertising cases to illustrate how the FTC enforcement serves as a unique backstop to industry self-regulation efforts discussed later in the event. She discussed the FTC’s recently released privacy report and advised that companies with the most success in this area pursue a privacy-by-design approach to their business activities. Ms. Fair offered examples of cases in new media, explained the testimonials and endorsement guides in practice and gave an update on the review of the FTC green guides.

When asked how the FTC’s handles compliance when a company has campaigns overseas or with international cases, she noted that the FTC has worked with other consumer protection bodies in a cooperative fashion. She was also called on to share U.S. experiences with developing economies and notes that the U.S. boasts over a 90% compliance rate for self-regulation.

The seminar also included three discussion panels, addressing: Social Media Pitfalls and Best Practices, Privacy, Marketing and Self-Regulation and Mobile Marketing and Applications: Developments to Watch.

“The seminar provided us with an important opportunity to bring together a dream team from the community of organizations and experts and to showcase the valuable work being done to make self-regulation work,” said ICC Marketing Commission Chair and Microsoft Corporation Associate General Counsel Brent Sanders. “It is definitely an exercise the commission would like to repeat and expand upon next year and beyond.”

ICC has been a major rule-setter in international advertising self-regulation since 1937, when the ICC Commission on Marketing and Advertising issued the first ICC Code on Advertising Practice – one of the most successful examples of business self-regulation ever developed. The revised Consolidated ICC Code of Advertising and Marketing Communication Practice was launched in 2011 along with CodesCentre.com, a one-stop resource for industry, regulators and academics on self-regulation and advertising.

Click here to read more on ICC’s website, including information on speakers and moderators.

Download a copy of the Consolidated ICC Code

CodesCentre.com

Staff Contact: Jonathan Huneke

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“G20 Governments Have Heard the Voice of Business,” Says USCIB President

Published on June 22, 2012
USCIB Chairman Terry McGraw (center), who also serves as vice chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce, speaks at the B20 Summit. ICC Chairman Gerard Worms is at left, and ICC Honorary Chairman Victor Fung at right.
USCIB Chairman Terry McGraw (center), who also serves as vice chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce, speaks at the B20 Summit. ICC Chairman Gerard Worms is at left, and ICC Honorary Chairman Victor Fung at right.

Earlier this week, USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson attended the B20 business meetings preceding the G20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, joining USCIB Chairman Harold (Terry) McGraw III and a host of global business leaders for intensive discussion and dialogue with G20 governments.

In a message to members reflecting on the summit’s outcome, Mr. Robinson wrote: “There is one thing I am certain of: G20 governments have heard the voice of business on a number of critical trade, investment and financial issues. To what extent the G20 truly listened to and learned from business will only be revealed through government actions going forward.”

The B20 Summit has become an annual accompaniment to the G20 Summit, attended by numerous business leaders and incorporating the involvement of each leg of USCIB’s global network – the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Organization of Employers (IOE) and BIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD.

Robinson said this year’s B20 meeting was a well-organized event that incorporated dialogue and exchange between business and government leaders, including both heads of state and heads of intergovernmental organizations, representing an opportunity for business to communicate its views. Position papers were developed through a consultative process established by Alejandro Ramirez, CEO of the Mexican company Cinepolis, who Robinson said “did a great job” as the B20 coordinator appointed by Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Industry task forces organized by ICC and the World Economic Forum examined a wide range of issues in the lead-up to Los Cabos, with ICC leading the task force on trade and investment, which was co-chaired by ICC Honorary Chairman Victor Fung.  IOE Executive Vice President Daniel Funes de Rioja participated in the employment task force, which was co-chaired by USCIB Trustee Jeffrey Joerres, chairman and CEO of Manpower Inc. IOE and BIAC have organized business input to the G8/G20 labor ministerials.

In addition to Calderon, the B20 gathering was addressed by British Prime Minister David Cameron, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Benin President Yayi Boni. The heads of major intergovernmental bodies also participated, including World Bank President Robert Zoellick, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria and WTO Director General Pascal Lamy.

According to Robinson, government leaders emphasized a common refrain:

  • a commitment to open markets and roll back protectionism
  • the importance of encouraging economic growth and job creation
  • a challenge to business to make its voice heard strongly and to go beyond basic recommendations
  • encouragement of the business community to measure results and actions by governments.

Robinson said business would indeed strive to hold the G20 accountable. “Certainly, the final communiqué endorsed a number of basic business messages,” he said. “I am optimistic and hopeful that the considerable energy that went into the organization of the B20 in Los Cabos will pay off in the long run, and that business will have a continued leadership role in the years ahead.”

Staff contacts: Rob Mulligan and Ronnie Goldberg

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USCIB Welcomes Rio+20 Outcomes That Can Help Deliver Green Growth and Innovation for Sustainability

Published on June 22, 2012

Rio de Janeiro, June 22, 2012 – Responding to the results of the Rio+20 Summit, the United States Council for International Business (USCIB) expressed optimism that agreements reached at the summit would pave the way for American companies to contribute to greener growth.

“While the summit has not achieved all that we wished, Rio+20 has delivered a package of pledges that, taken together, could broaden the engagement of not just governments, but also business, in sustainable development and take it to a new level,” said Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for energy and environment.

Over 120 heads of state met in Rio this week to lay out international priorities for new actions and institutions in a broad range of areas, including scaling up technological innovation, improving access to sustainable energy, and advancing sustainable consumption and production – all of these deliverables were identified by USCIB as critical to a successful and practical outcome.

The Rio+20 agreement renews the commitment of the international community to sustainable development, and reaffirms the importance of promoting an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future by engaging not just governments, but also other stakeholders and the business community.  Specifically, it provides for:

  • the launch of an international effort to frame Sustainable Development Goals, involving important partners, including business
  • the creation of a new international high level forum for sustainable development to raise the level of involvement of governments and other stakeholders, including business.

A large number of USCIB member companies attended the landmark event – more than at any previous UN environmental gathering.  They offered their expertise to negotiators and other important decision-makers gathered here, and participated in the Day of Business organized by the International Chamber of Commerce and its Business Action for Sustainable Development initiative.

USCIB, which launched the Green Economy Dialogue (GED) project last year to foster consensus among business, government and other stakeholders around green growth policies, held GED briefings in Rio, in cooperation with the Japanese and U.S. governments.  The briefings developed recommendations for globalizing green growth approaches, and explored options for public- and private-sector action and partnership.  Speakers from a wide range of companies and government representatives discussed green economy issues as substantive input to Rio+20.  They reflected the necessity of engaging all business sectors in greener growth and more sustainable practices.

USCIB Executive Vice President Ronnie Goldberg highlighted the urgent need to enact policy frameworks that will spur job creation.  “While we see the promise of job creation in new industries and sectors related directly to sustainability, reaching the full potential of greener growth will require sensible government policies to make all jobs greener,” Goldberg said at the U.S. Center Green Economies Dialogue event on June 18.

Encouraging corporate sustainability reporting was among the specific business recommendations set out in the text.  “U.S. companies will continue to explore approaches to communicate sustainability and will participate to share models of good practice in this area,” said Clifford Henry, associate director of corporate sustainable development with The Procter & Gamble Company and chair of USCIB’s Corporate Responsibility Committee.

USCIB’s Kennedy, who served as a member of the U.S. government delegation in Rio, said USCIB had represented the views of U.S. companies throughout the negotiating process.  “We underscored the importance of open trade and investment, and the need to protect intellectual property rights and proprietary information,” she said.  “We appreciate the U.S. delegation’s strong efforts to promote technological innovation in the Rio+20 outcomes.  We are pleased that governments rejected harmful provisions that called for weakening of IPRs, a reassessment of existing IPR and patent rules, or preferential access to transfer of technology.”

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 the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Organization of Employers and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the 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
+1 917.420.0039 (mobile), jhuneke@uscib.org

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