JOURNAL OF THE UNITED STATES COUNCIL FOR …

JOURNAL OF THE UNITED STATES COUNCIL FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SPRING 2014 VOL. XXXVI, NO. 1

INTERNATIONALBUSINESSJOURNAL OF THE UNITED STATES COUNCIL FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SPRING 2014 VOL. XXXVI, NO. 1

BUSINESSBUSINESSBUSINESSBUSINESS

Inside

Responsible marketing 4

UN development goals 5

Supreme Court rules on arbitration 12

Building Prosperityin the Digital Agepage 3

2 USCIB International Business Spring 2014 www.uscib.org

avoid legal uncertainty by spelling out clear responsibilities between buyers and sellers in cross-border sales contracts, and have been endorsed by the UN Commission on International Trade Law. These terms, such as FOB (Free on Board), are regularly incorporated into sales contracts worldwide and have become part of the daily language of trade, the backbone of global commerce.

While little known outside the trade finance community, ICC’s Uniform Customs and Practices for Documentary Credits, known as UCP 600, and related rules were first issued in 1933 and have been updated and adapted regularly to provide essential standards and templates to lenders and borrowers looking to arrange letters of credit and other financing for exports and imports. ICC’s Banking Commission, which establishes and monitors these crucial rules, includes hundreds of trade finance professionals from around the world, with strong USCIB member participation. Its next semi-annual meeting takes place this November in Istanbul.

Based on industry need, ICC also authors various model contracts, guidelines for certificates of origin, and provides guidance on corporate anti-bribery measures. The USCIB International Bookstore offers many of these trade publications. (Coming soon: Using Franchising to Take Your Business International.) Visit www.internationaltradebooks.org to learn more about these essential titles.

USCIB members play leading roles in all of these ICC rules-setting exercises. But of course, you don’t need to be a member to take advantage of these tools. Companies large and small, all over the world, use and abide by ICC’s rules of the road. (Naturally, if you want to have a hand in developing them, you need to be a member of USCIB.) It’s just another example of the essen-tial role played by the world business organization in the increasingly vibrant and integrated world of international trade and investment.

Contact Peter Robinson at (212) 703-5046 or [email protected].

From time to time, I like to showcase the activities of our global business network. As most readers know, USCIB is the American affiliate of three worldwide business groups: ICC, the International Chamber of Commerce; IOE, the International Organization of Employers; and BIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD. This network is part of what makes USCIB a uniquely valuable platform for our business members, and a vital source of industry views for policy makers.

ICC is the oldest of these groups, the “world business organization,” with national committees and direct members in over 130 countries around the world. ICC performs three essential functions: policy advocacy on behalf of global business, arbitration of cross-border commercial disputes, and rules-setting. It’s this last role that I want to address in this column.

At the heart of international trade are rules, norms, standards and tools that help facilitate the daily flow of global commerce. Through its longstand-ing rules-writing function, ICC has developed a large array of standards, codes, voluntary rules and guidelines to facilitate business and foster best practices. These rules help reinforce business self-regulation becoming the standards by which industry agrees to conduct its business. They provide an invaluable service to companies around the world and are used in billions of dollars’ worth of transactions annually.

This rule-making started soon after ICC was founded in 1919. In fact, in the interwar period – when there was no GATT or World Trade Organization – ICC acted as a real international path-breaker, developing rules of the road on trade that effectively paved the way for later, binding agreements by governments following World War II.

Examples of this critical rule-making include the Consolidated ICC Code of Advertising and Marketing Communications. First developed in 1937, and most recently revised in 2011, the ICC marketing code is the most widely recognized model for national self-regulation of ad standards around the world. With rigorous standards on a variety of marketing practices and issues, it most recently served as the basis for new global guidelines on alcohol marketing and digital ad placement (see page 4).

ICC’s International Commercial Terms, known as Incoterms®, are another example. First developed nearly 80 years ago, these shorthand terms help

Peter M. Robinson, President and CEO, USCIBthe

first word

Setting the Rules of the Road in Cross-Border Commerce

It’s not just governments that determine international trade and investment standards – the International Chamber of Commerce has been doing so for over 80 years.

USCIB International Business Spring 2014 www.uscib.org 3

Policies affecting the development and use of information and communications tech-nologies (ICTs) are evolving quickly around the world. At the same time, ICTs now consti-tute a fundamental building block for global growth, competitiveness and job creation. This was the backdrop for a major confer-ence in Washington, D.C., “Growth, Jobs and Prosperity in the Digital Age: OECD Shapes the Policy Environment,” held in March at the Microsoft Innovation & Policy Center. The event was organized by the USCIB Founda-tion, together with OECD and its Business and Industry Advisory Committee.

Participants discussed how emerging technologies create the potential for greater efficiencies, new business opportunities, economic growth and job creation, as well as risk-based approaches to privacy and security. They also considered the trade policy dimension, including how cross-border data flows are regulated under existing trade rules, and how this could change. And they considered the contributions of the OECD, including its 2008 “Seoul Declaration,” in helping to shape Internet and ICT policies that sup-port growth, innovation and broad societal benefits.

“The multi-stakeholder approach is a linchpin of the OECD’s work on ICTs and the Internet,” said Andrew Wyckoff, director of the OECD’s Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry. “This approach has served to inform our role as a shaper of international dialogue, as a provider of comparative cross-border data and evidence, and as a forum for sharing experiences and collective learning.”

Wyckoff reflected on the OECD’s role in creating policy consensus among governments, business and the wider Internet community. He said the OECD’s Internet Policy Making Principles represent a “common philosophi-cal approach” to Internet policy making. “This is essential,” he said. “This is

where growth will come from in the decade to come.”

Wyckoff joined a roster of speakers from government, industry and the OECD that reviewed the latest technological and policy developments in digital privacy, big data, cloud computing and other emerging tech-nologies, and considered how these could be leveraged by policy makers to achieve maxi-mum growth, innovation and employment. These included: Diego Molano Vega, Co-lombia’s minister of information technologies and communications; Commissioner Julie

Brill of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission; and Liesyl Franz of the U.S. Department of State’s cyber issues office.

“As work to revive our economies continues, the digital economy provides a powerful tool to improve productivity, increase innovation and growth, as well as create new jobs,” said Jorgen Abild Andersen, chair of the OECD’s Committee on Digital Economy Policy. “The OECD is committed to bringing together governments and key stakeholders to develop policies to support a flourishing digital economy.”

Joseph Alhadeff vice president and chief privacy officer with Oracle Corp., who serves as chair of BIAC’s Committee on Information, Com-munications and Computer Policy and vice chair of USCIB’s ICT Policy Committee, said: “In light of recent economic developments, it is under-standable that policy makers are taking a renewed look at how best to ensure ICTs can continue to meet broad economic and societal needs.

“This program served to underscore the important role that OECD policy frameworks and economic analysis play in providing needed facts and guidance that assist both business and regulators in developing the poli-cies that help foster continued growth and evolution of the global digital economy and information society.”

Growth, Jobs and Prosperity in the Digital Age

coverstory

U.S. to Transition Internet Domain FunctionsReaction was muted to the March announcement by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that it intends to transition key Internet domain name functions. But USCIB said it looked forward to a promised multi-stakeholder dialogue that ICANN and the Internet community will convene to develop productive responses that meet NTIA’s criteria.

“We especially applaud NTIA’s resolve to ‘maintain the security, stability and resiliency of the Internet Domain Name System’ and not to ‘accept a proposal that replaces the NTIA role with a government-led or an inter-governmental organization solution,’” said USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson.

USCIB has been a stalwart supporter of the multi-stakeholder model for Internet governance. “We believe the consultative input of business, govern-ment, the technical community and civil society is imperative to ensure that the Internet remains an open, safe and secure platform for innovation, creativity, job creation and economic growth throughout the world,” Robinson said.

Diego Molano Vega, Colombia’s minister of information technologies and com-munications, was among the speakers at the conference.


A new global resource has been published by the International Chamber of Commerce to help strengthen self-regulation for marketing alcohol. By clarifying how existing global principles should be applied in practice, the ICC Framework for Responsible Marketing Communications of Alcohol offers companies and advertising self-regulatory bodies a guide for bolstering responsible practices across markets. It will also serve as the basis for developing self-regulatory rules for marketing alcohol where these do not exist.

The ICC framework, issued in March, was developed by the body of global experts responsible for devel-oping and updating the Consolidated ICC Code of Advertising and Mar-keting Communications Practice, which serves as the gold standard for most national and indus-try-wide self-regulation.

“The framework takes principles, such as social responsibility, and spells out what it means when developing or assessing an alcohol marketing com-munication,” said Oliver Gray, executive director of the European Advertising Standards Alliance and co-chair of the ICC task force that drafted the framework.

“So whether you are marketing beer in Japan, wine in Argentina or spirits in the U.S., promoting your product as a means for social success, performance in sport or attractiveness to the opposite sex is not an acceptable practice,” he said. “And for self-regulatory organizations reviewing advertisements to enforce those principles, this extra clarity will be invaluable.”

According to Jonathan Huneke, USCIB’s vice president for communications and public affairs, who staffs USCIB’s Marketing and Advertising Committee, the drafters worked in close consultation with the alcohol industry, including in the United States. “We wanted to make sure that the framework could help companies meet their commitments to strengthening self-regulation, but without disrupting exist-ing codes.”

“We have been strongly supportive of this effort,” said Brett Bivans, senior vice president of the International Center for Alcohol Policies. “This is a significant step in strengthening and clarifying high standards of responsible marketing, and we will work closely with ICC and other partners as the frame-work is implemented.”

ICC has served as the authoritative rule-setter for international advertising since the 1930s, when the first ICC code on advertising practice was issued. Since then, it has updated and expanded the ICC self-regulatory framework where needed to assist companies in marketing their products responsibly and to help self-regulators apply the rules consistently.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Responsible Alcohol Marketing

How to Prevent Misplaced Digital AdvertisementsICC has called for companies across the digi-tal advertising ecosystem to work together to develop safeguards against advertisement placements that support illegal activity or harm brand reputation. In a March state-ment, ICC urged industry cooperation on the development of a self-regulatory mechanism that reduces the likelihood of advertisements being placed on sites dedicated to either engaging in or facilitating illegal activity or around content that an advertiser deems to be harmful.

“There is consensus among everyone in the ecosystem that advertising should not sup-port illegal activity,” said Brent Sanders, chair of the ICC Commission on Marketing and Advertising and associate general coun-sel for Microsoft Corporation. “This statement acknowledges the importance of a collective solution and encourages cooperation to set up effective, feasible self-regulatory solu-tions.” Sanders also chairs USCIB’s Marketing and Advertising Committee.

ICC recommends that an appropriate self-regulatory system to address misplaced advertising should include:

• using commercially reasonable efforts and measures to reduce the risk of advertise-ments being placed on sites dedicated to either engaging in or facilitating illegal activ-ity, or on sites that the brand identifies as undesirable for its products/services; and

• developing commercially reasonable policies and processes for removing or ex-cluding sites dedicated to either engaging in or facilitating illegal activity from their mar-keting campaigns and/or services, and the development of an industry-wide standard for expeditiously terminating such non-com-pliant advertisement placements.


Ambitious 2014 U.S. Trade Agenda Hailed

In March, USCIB welcomed the release of President Obama‘s 2014 U.S. Trade Agenda, which outlines ambitious priorities for expanding American trade and investment around the world, in support of expanded job growth and en-hanced U.S. competitiveness.

“We agree with the president that international trade and investment play a critical role in creating jobs, promoting growth and strengthening the middle class,” said USCIB Senior Vice President Rob Mulligan. “The American busi-ness community is working hard to advance and support this agenda both at home and abroad.”

“President Obama’s trade strategy for 2014 is driven by a commitment to cre-ate jobs, promote growth and strengthen the middle class through the creation of new export opportunities for American farmers, workers and businesses,” said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. “In the coming year, USTR will continue to execute the President’s trade vision that relies on opening mar-kets, leveling the playing field for American workers and producers and fully enforcing our trade rights around the world.”

Mulligan said the USTR agenda dovetailed well with USCIB’s own 2014 Global Trade and Investment Agenda. Key goals in the USCIB agenda include:

• reaching bipartisan agreement on Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation

• completing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations

• finalizing agreement on expansion of the Information Technology Agreement

• making significant progress on the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Part-nership (TTIP) as well as the Trade in International Services Agreement nego-tiations, and

• advancing discussions of a U.S.-China bilateral investment treaty.

“We are working closely with USTR and the other relevant U.S. agencies to advance this ambitious agenda across the board,” said Charles R. Johnston, chair of USCIB’s Trade and Investment Com-mittee and managing direc-tor of global government affairs at Citigroup. “In addi-tion, USCIB will work with its overseas business partners to foster support for U.S. trade and investment goals among our trading partners.”

USCIB serves on the steering committee of the Trade Benefits America Coalition (www.tradebenefitsamerica.org), which seeks to enhance under-standing among lawmakers and the public about the benefits of U.S. trade agreements and advocates for passage of the Trade Promotion Authority. USCIB also plays a leading role in U.S. business coalitions on the TTIP and TPP talks and has provided industry insight to U.S. negotiators on many aspects of these negotiations.

“The most essential piece of the trade puzzle is Trade Promotion Authority,” said Johnston. “Without TPA, we cannot negotiate effectively, and Congress’s ability to help guide U.S. trade policy is limited. For these reasons, we urge the Obama administration and Congress to work together to swiftly pass effective TPA legislation.”

Launch of Talks to Free Up Trade in Green Tech ApplaudedIn January, USCIB applauded the announcement of a new initiative by the United States and key trading partners to boost trade in environmental goods and services through the WTO. It said the positive step would build on December’s “Bali package” of trade liberalization measures as well as commit-ments in the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) forum.

USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson said: “USCIB members agree that moving towards greener economic growth will depend on the widespread deployment of innovative technologies and management systems through more open trade, whether to address climate risks, improve food, water and energy security or offer cleaner goods to consumers in developing countries.”

Also in January, Robinson spoke on January 15 to the International Trade Association of Greater Chicago on the topic of “America’s International Trade Agenda: An Opportunity for Growth.”

In his remarks, Robinson looked at what is driving our rejuvenated trade policy and at the importance of specific negotiations, including the Bali agreement as well as trade negotiations with Asia and Europe. He concluded with a clarion call for business action and engagement to press for swift adoption of the Trade Promotion Authority in the U.S. Congress.

Read the complete text of Robinson’s remarks at www.uscib.org/docs/2014_01_15_robinson_chicago_remarks.pdf.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman is responsible for putting President Obama’s trade agenda into action. (Photo: USTR)


Business Weighs in on UN Sustainable Development Goals

In a January paper, USCIB identified four broad prerequisites and catalysts for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The paper sets out US-CIB’s view that the SDGs and broader UN Post-2015 Development Agenda are vital to improving the UN’s contributions to development and sustainability. The USCIB SDG Recommendations also call for substantive engagement opportuni-ties for representative business organi-zations to participate in and inform the UN SDG deliberations.

The USCIB SDG Recommendations focus on:

• Good Governance

• Economic Growth and Economic Empowerment

• Innovation

• Infrastructure

The paper highlights 10 issues that merit particular attention in the SDGs, with many elements in common with those set out in the UN High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. USCIB developed these Recommenda-tions via its SDG Working Group chaired by Brian Lowry (Monsanto) and Tam Nguyen (Bechtel).

“The U.S. business community has a strong stake in meaningful and practical SDGs,” said Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for strategic internation-al engagement. “National implementation and the right conditions in-country are the foundations on which a UN new paradigm for international development should be based. The SDGs will be successfully put into practice in those countries that have institutions and practices in place, and involve their private sector in meaningful ways.”

Washington, D.C. forum

In February, Kennedy and Nguyen joined Ann Condon (General Electric), who chairs USCIB’s Environment Committee Chair, as featured speakers at a February Chevron Forum at the Center for Strategic and Inter-national Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.

Entitled “Business in the Post-2015 De-velopment Agenda,” the forum served to underscore the business case for private sector-led investment in development. Speakers emphasized the importance of good governance and economic growth and empowerment, and drew attention to USCIB’s recommendations.

“Business has a critical role to play, said Con-don. “For example, investment flows dwarf government development aid. Businesses can leverage their resources and expertise in ways that drive growth in developing econo-mies and bring innovative solutions to solve sustainable development challenges.”

Nguyen agreed. “Unlike the MDGs a de-cade ago, U.S. multinationals are more

informed and engaged,” he told the forum. “They have shifted from mere observers to participants in promoting sustainable development.”

Other speakers at the CSIS forum included White House Counselor John Podesta and Daniella Ballou-Aares of the State Department.

USCIB, working with the Global Business Alliance for Post-2015 Development, will continue to weigh in at UN meetings to frame the SDGs, and in the High-Level Political Forum that will be held in New York this July. The SDGs are slated to be completed and delivered to the UN General Assembly for approval in 2015.


G20 Business Scorecard Sees Progress, Opportunities Ahead

The G20 has made steady progress on business goals since 2011, according to the latest G20 Business Scorecard, published by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The third installment of the annual scorecard, released in March, reveals a year-to-year improvement in score since ICC’s monitoring began, while still noting that progress remains poor in several crucial areas, including energy and the environment.

“The G20 continues to make progress on a robust agenda to accel-erate economic growth and job creation,” said ICC Chairman Terry McGraw, chairman of McGraw Hill Financial and also chairman of USCIB. “The business community is commit-ted to working together with policy makers on is-

sues of critical importance such as trade and investment that can produce job growth and long-term prosperity.”

Among the positive outcomes that led to this year’s higher score was the G20 sup-port for the historic World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade Facilitation and the extension of the G20 standstill on protectionist measures until the end of 2016. The improvement in score also reflected G20 efforts to increase access to finance for small and medium businesses and the recognition of business as a key partner in the fight against corruption.

But the positive overall trend also masked deficiencies in individual categories. Among the lows was the failure to recognize the importance of information and communica-tion technologies (ICTs), no movement on carbon pricing and a lack of discussions on a high-standard multilateral framework for international investment.

The scorecard – which rates the overall responses by G20 nations to key business goals during the 2013 Russian presidency – measures progress on business priorities on a scale of: “inadequate,” “poor,” “fair” or “good.” The scorecard looks at the G20”s collec-tive response to business goals only and does not rate individual countries or the G20”s entire agenda. Four areas are assessed: Trade and Investment; Financing for Growth and Development; Energy and Environment; and Anti-Corruption.

A fifth chapter, Job Creation and Human Capital, was prepared in partnership with the In-ternational Organization of Employers (IOE) and the Business and Industry Advisory Com-mittee to the OECD (BIAC). This chapter examines the steps taken by the G20 to address global unemployment but does not rate its progress at this stage. (See story at right.)

The G20 and Global Workforce ChallengesThe B20 Human Capital Task Force has called on G20 leaders to adopt practical, actionable and measurable recommenda-tions to address the challenges facing today’s global workforce.

Speaking in February to the G20’s Employment Task Force as it met in Sydney, Steve Sargent, president and CEO of GE Aus-tralia & New Zealand and co-chair of the B20 Human Capital Task Force, summarized B20’s recommendations in five key areas:

• maximizing job creation potential• providing education, training and skills to meet labor

demand• creating solutions to better match supply and demand• encouraging labor flexibility to adapt to rapid changes• implementing measurable targets to ensure accountability

and progress.

“Repositioning of global economies, rapidly changing technol-ogy and shifting social dynamics continue to impact today’s work environment,” said Sargent. “Business, government, educational institutions and community organizations need to step up and take greater responsibility for delivering practical, actionable and measureable solutions that support economic growth, business growth and jobs growth.”

Sargent said action should be taken to ensure people are ap-propriately skilled, and have the capability and flexibility to participate in the workforce of today and into the future. “While G20 countries each face their own challenges, we have a real opportunity to work together to deliver a sustainable improve-ment in global job creation, skills development and workforce flexibility. The challenge may be great, but there are viable solutions.”

The B20 Task Force previously urged that G20 members would continue to work closely with members to ensure that prior recommendations, such as addressing youth unemploy-ment through the Global Apprenticeship Network (GAN), are implemented. “We are delighted that the IOE-BIAC GAN initia-tive for creating opportunities for young people and ensuring skills continues to be supported by the B20 as a key means to addressing youth employment,” said IOE Secretary General Brent Wilton, the other task force co-chair.

ICC and USCIB Chairman Terry McGraw (second from left) at last year’s G20 Summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

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ICC Mediation Competition Attracts Teams from around the World

The biggest-ever ICC Mediation Competition, which took place over six days in February in Paris, brought together 66 university teams and 120 professional mediators from around the world. In a final closely observed by some 350 spectators, law students dem-onstrated their mediation advocacy skills in solving a hypothetical but lifelike dispute over the patenting of a newly invented pharmaceutical drug. Applying ICC’s new Mediation Rules, a team from Monash University in Australia played the part of the requesting party, and a team from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich played the respondent, with team members acting as either counsel or client. The team from Munich emerged victorious, earning internships with the ICC International Centre for ADR and the litigation and arbitration department of the law firm Linklaters.

Somali Clampdown Causes Drop in Global PiracyPiracy at sea has reached its lowest levels in six years, with 264 attacks recorded worldwide in 2013, a 40 percent drop since Somali piracy peaked in 2011, according to the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB). Just 15 incidents were reported off Somalia in 2013, down from 75 in 2012, and 237 in 2011. “The single biggest reason for the drop in worldwide piracy is the decrease in Somali piracy off the coast of East Africa,” said IMB Director Pottengal Mukundan. Somali pirates have been deterred by a combination of factors, including the key role of international navies, the hardening of vessels and other recommendations in the shipping industry’s Best Management Practices, the use of private armed security teams and the stabilizing influence of Somalia’s central government.

A To-Do List on Gender EqualityUSCIB Senior Advisor Ronnie Goldberg, who serves as the IOE’s North American regional vice president, took part in a March panel on equal pay at the 58th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York. The panel, organized by the International Labor Organization and the government of Finland, facilitated the sharing of experiences and challenges, across countries and regions, of promot-ing equal pay for women and men, and informed the discussions during the session of the Commission on the Status of Women. Articulating the global voice of employers, Goldberg stated: “Employers support not just the human rights case, but the compelling business and economic case for unleashing women’s skills and talents and empowering them to enjoy equal access to job opportunities and career devel-opment.” She laid out a menu of actions employers and governments can take to promote women’s advancement and gender equality in the workplace.

Addressing Europe’s Demographic ChallengeIOE Secretary General Brent Wilton visited the Estonian capital Tallinn in March to participate in the national employers confederation’s annual forum, which this year addressed the issue of maintaining economic growth in the face of a shrinking labor force. Wilton cautioned against underestimating the demographic challenge that will affect European competitiveness in the coming years, calling on business groups to work closely with governments to seek solutions. “The aging of societies has deep implications for the growth potential of many econo-mies, for the supply of skilled workers, and for the stability of social security systems,” he said. “The business environment must be prepared to change as circumstances evolve. Reform cannot be con-ducted as a one-off activity, but must take place as an ongoing process.”

International Organization of Employers www.ioe-emp.org

International Chamber of Commerce www.iccwbo.org

Laura Wolfe (left) and Mary Grace White of the New York University School of Law teamed up to win a place in the quarterfinals of the annual ICC mediation competition.


Trade Promotion Authority Bill WelcomedUSCIB applauded the introduction in January of bipartisan legislation to re-establish Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, Ranking Member Orrin Hatch, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp. “TPA is essential for the United States to capitalize on new, market-opening agreements with Asia, Europe and other key trading partners,” said USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson. “Trade delivers better jobs and faster growth. But we won’t be able to complete or implement these pacts without Trade Promotion Authority. So we urge the Congress to act swiftly to pass this legislation.” Last year, USCIB joined leading business groups in founding the Trade Benefits America Coalition (www.tradebenefitsamerica.org), an effort to educate on the benefits of U.S. trade agreements and advocate for passage of TPA. The coalition is actively working with Congress and the Obama administration, and engaging with state and local officials across the country, to get the facts out about the benefits of trade and build support for TPA.

Cheers for Confirmation of CBP ChiefBusiness welcomed the Senate’s confirmation in March of Gil Kerlikowske as commissioner of Customs and Border Protection (CBP). USCIB said Kerlikowske’s experience and expertise will play an integral role in furthering CBP’s goal of simultaneously securing the border and expediting the at-the-border trade process, which it called vital for the smooth flow of goods. “Gil Kerlikowske is a wonderful choice to head CBP, which has been

vacant for far too long,” said USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson. “His leadership will raise the already excellent standard of work done by Customs and Border Protection.” Robinson expressed the business community’s gratitude to Thomas Winkowski for his admirable service as acting CBP commissioner, noting in particular his efforts to keep U.S. trade flowing during last fall’s U.S. government shutdown. Kerlikowske was previously director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and he has served as Seattle’s police commissioner and in the Department of Justice. He brings knowledge of enforcement, safety and Washington State’s trade-based economy to the CBP position.

Executive Order Streamlines Imports and ExportsIn February, USCIB welcomed an executive order from President Obama that will simplify the export-import process for America’s businesses by streamlining the flow of goods across borders. The order is timely as it comes on the heels of the historic World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement, in whose negotiation the U.S. played an integral role. The Trade Facilitation Agreement is a binding commitment that will precipitate quicker movement, release and clearance of goods between WTO member countries. The Executive Order mandates the completion of an International Trade Data System to streamline the way executive departments and agencies interact with traders, by the end of 2016. USCIB said the system will reduce paperwork for U.S. companies in global markets and will help create new jobs at home and abroad.

washingtonwire

India and China Outreach on Base ErosionA delegation from the BIAC Taxation and Fiscal Affairs Committee held February meetings in New Delhi and in Beijing with national tax authorities to discuss the G20-OECD project to address “base erosion and profit shifting.” The delegation met with the incoming chair of the Indian direct taxation board and an advisor to India’s finance minister. In China it sat down with the director general of the international taxation department, among others. BIAC members, including USCIB’s Carol Doran Klein, made clear their commitment to making the BEPS project work to meet the concerns of all govern-ments involved, while at the same time ensuring that governments continue to encourage cross-border trade and investment that will provide jobs and growth. As key members of the G20, China and India will play a critical role in the project (as will the Brazilian government, with which a BIAC delegation met last October).

BIAC Chairman Talks Trade at Washington ForumIn January, BIAC Chairman Phil O’Reilly discussed trade policy and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks in remarks to the Global Business Dialogue forum in Washington, D.C. O’Reilly, CEO of Business New Zealand, laid out broad conceptual points to guide the TPP parties. “It’s important that we don’t let today’s politics get in the way of what will be a deal that will transform the Pacific trading environment over the next 20 to 30 years,” he said. Citing influential research from the OECD on global supply networks and trade in value-added, the BIAC chairman stated: “The world is increasingly dominated by global value chains, so that the new glue of trade is not containers going across a wharf, they are an outcome. The new glue of trade to my mind is investment.”

Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD www.biac.org


USCIB’s Klein Named to “Global Tax 50”

Carol Doran Klein, USCIB’s vice president for taxation, has been named one of International Tax Review‘s “Global Tax 50” for 2013, reflecting her own expertise and achievements as well as the business community’s close engagement with policy makers on international taxation.

In its profile of Klein in its year-end issue, the influential publication said: “In a year that has seen large multilateral moves to tackle base erosion and profit shifting [BEPS], Klein has had her plate full in ensuring the concerns of U.S. business are heard. And with multiple action items on the OECD’s BEPS Action Plan scheduled for comple-tion in 2014, her influence will continue to be critical if the views of U.S. business are to be heard in this international context.”

Now in its third year, the Global Tax 50 lists individ-uals and organizations that have had the greatest influence on tax policy, practice and administra-tion in the last 12 months.

“Hats off to Carol for this richly deserved hon-or,” exclaimed USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson. “I am delighted that all her hard work in representing business views to the OECD, to the United Nations and to national governments – including our own – is being recognized. Carol has become an indispensible resource for the business community and is providing a strong, knowledgeable voice on global tax matters.”

Others included in this year’s Global Tax 50 in-clude: Will Morris, global tax policy advisor with GE and chair of the Taxation Committee at BIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (for which USCIB serves as the Ameri-can affiliate); and Alan McLean, executive vice president for tax and corporate structure with Royal Dutch Shell, who is vice chair of the BIAC committee.

Each June, with BIAC and the OECD, USCIB holds an annual tax policy conference in Washington, D.C. This year’s conference is scheduled for June 2-3 at the Four Seasons Hotel. More information is available at www.uscibtax.org.

Carol Doran Klein

© 2014. For information, contact Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited.

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33859A_Asia-Pacific_advertBLK_2.indd 1 02/04/2014 10:23


USCIB Takes Part in APEC Chemicals Meetings

In February, Helen Medina, USCIB’s senior director for product policy and inno-vation, took part in the APEC Chemical Dia-logue Steering Group and related meetings in Ningbo, China. The sessions were held in concert with the first APEC senior officials meeting of China’s host year.

The goal of the steering group meetings was to prepare for the upcoming APEC Chemical Dialogue meeting in August, which will take place in the northern Chinese city of Harbin.

The Chemical Dialogue is an important forum

in which APEC officials and industry repre-sentatives come together for public-private dialogue on chemical issues in the Asia-Pacif-ic region. It affords industry representatives an opportunity to work with regulators and trade officials from the APEC economies on a variety of project-based issues.

Prior to the steering group sessions, there was an industry meeting in which indus-try participants gathered to discuss their priorities going forward and to formulate industry-wide positions, which were then discussed with their government coun-

terparts. During the discussion about the types of outcomes industry is seeking, Medina made an intervention about the im-portance of having the downstream user’s perspective in the work.

Medina also suggested that, in order to promote the common goal of regulatory coherence throughout the economies par-ticipating, it would be useful to identify the projects that each of these initiatives is un-dertaking that relates to the regulation of chemicals, and to describe the work that is being done.

Earlier this month, in a welcome contrast to a needlessly stringent U.S. approach to con-flict minerals from Central Africa, the European Commission put forward a draft regulation to set up a system of supply chain due diligence self-certification of importers of minerals to the EU. The regulation would encourage indus-try self-certification of responsible imports of tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold from conflict-affected and high-risk areas.

The proposal is based on the OECD’s Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas, the credible international corporate due diligence benchmark. The EU self-certification system calls for the ad-herence to the five steps of the OECD due diligence guidance through monitoring and overseeing of purchases.

USCIB has played a key role coordinating business contributions to the OECD due diligence guidance, and we have advocated for the EU regulation on conflict minerals, working actively with BIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD to encourage responsible sourcing and to offset the disincentives created by Section 1502 of the U.S. Dodd-Frank law, which many observers believe encourages a de facto embargo of minerals exports from the Democratic Republic of Congo and other affected regions.

The OECD due diligence guidance was devel-oped in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, both of which

aim to advance supply chain due diligence practices and avoid the inadver-tent consequences of Dodd-Frank.

EU Proposes Self-Certification on Conflict Minerals


Industry Gears Up for Global Nutrition Conference

The Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) will take place from November 19 to 21 in Rome with the participation of heads of state and government. Organized by two UN specialized agencies, the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization, the event will address major nutri-tion challenges over the coming decades.

According to Helen Medina, USCIB’s senior director of product policy and innovation, the conference is expected to result in a concise, action-oriented outcome document, identifying public policy priorities at the national and global levels to address malnutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and obesity, with a view to achieving agreed global nutrition targets by 2025.

“This will be a watershed event, the first high-level intergovernmental conference on nutrition since the First International Conference on Nutrition was organized by FAO and WHO in 1992,” Medina said. “That confer-ence resulted in a World Declaration and Plan of Action for Nutrition which called on governments to take action toward improved nutrition at the national level, and to establish institutional infrastructure to imple-ment these plans.” She said two documents are expected to come out of the ICN2: a high-level outcome document and a more detailed framework of action for its implementation.

Fostering the private sector’s contributions to improved nutrition

Medina attended last year’s technical meeting that lay the groundwork for the conference. This year, USCIB continues its involvement in the preparations for ICN2 by highlighting how the private sector is contributing to nutrition through the FAO online consultation on the draft outcome document.

In its comments, USCIB recommended that the document recognize the private sector’s contributions to improved nutrition through innovative products, scientific and technological know-how and improved pro-duction and management practices. These can all be increasingly harnessed through effective partnerships with research institutions, farmers, policy-makers and civil society, USCIB said.

Furthermore, the private sector can play a critical role in further strengthening markets, spurring economic growth and improving livelihoods, USCIB said. The comments observed that, while private-sector involvement is critical, there is also a need for government collaboration, particularly in helping to ensure sensible policies, such as reducing barriers to trade, that do not impede the private sector’s potential contributions to the shared societal goal of improved nutrition.

FAO Principles for Responsible Agriculture InvestmentUSCIB is working with the International Agri-Food Network (IAFN) to provide input into the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) set of Principles for Responsible Agriculture Investment (RAI) in the context of food secu-rity and nutrition.

The objective of the principles, as requested by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), is to promote responsible investments in agriculture and food systems that contrib-ute to food security and nutrition and support the progressive realization of the right to ad-equate food in the context of national food security. The principles address all stakehold-ers that are involved in, benefit from or are affected by investments in food systems.

USCIB has made several recommendations on agriculture investment principles, including on the role of the private sector, and in the areas of investment and the environment, and monitoring and evaluation of implementation of principles. USCIB has had concerns regard-ing the monitoring and evaluation, as well as the roles and responsibilities. Furthermore, the principles do not address the question of who will monitor progress, or whether there will be an entity to which companies and coun-tries will report.

We will continue to monitor progress, as well as provide comments to the Committee on World Food Security’s consultative process, in conjunction with its partner, the IAFN. The Committee on Food Security’s RAI principles will be presented and negotiated at a plenary session in May in Rome.


In a ruling with important ramifications for global investment, the U.S. Supreme Court on March 5 ruled that arbitrators, as opposed to local courts, have authority to resolve jurisdictional disputes under bilateral investment treaties (BITs). USCIB had submitted a friend-of-the-court brief urging the court to rule in favor of arbitrator authority in such matters.

In a 7-2 decision, the justices upheld a $185 million award of an UNCITRAL (UN Commission on International Trade Law) tribunal in a dispute brought by BG Group of the UK under the UK-Argentina BIT, reversing an earlier circuit court ruling. Although the dispute was between British and Argentine parties, the appeal was filed in U.S. courts since the arbitration was conducted in Washington.

The outcome was in line with earlier Supreme Court rulings in commercial arbitration cases, under which arbitral tribunals have enjoyed broad discre-tion to determine whether contractual preconditions to arbitration have been satisfied.

Specifically, the Court noted that a treaty is a contract “be-

tween nations” and that, as a result, arbitral tribunals interpreting procedural provisions in treaties should be afforded the same level of deference as arbi-tral tribunals interpreting procedural provisions in contracts.

In its brief, USCIB argued: “This Court has consistently emphasized the central importance of protecting the decision of parties to a contract to resolve their disputes through arbitration. Applying that basic principle, federal courts have repeatedly held that where parties agree that a dispute should be submitted to arbitration pursuant to one of certain sets of arbitral rules – rules that include provisions delegating to the arbitral tribunal the authority

to determine questions as to its own jurisdiction over the dispute – then the parties have agreed that the arbitral tribunal has the authority to resolve disputes as to arbitrability.”

By virtue of our affiliation with the International Chamber of Commerce, USCIB works closely with the ICC International Court of Arbitration®, the world’s leading forum for the settlement of cross-border commercial disputes.

Supreme Court Backs Arbitrators in Investment Treaty Ruling

We are pleased to announce that an updated Dispute Resolution Library (DRL) is now available in the USCIB International Bookstore. This is the first upgrade since the service was launched in 2008, and it includes new and improved search functions, navigation aids and display options.

You can subscribe to this very useful tool by

visiting www.internationaltradebooks.org.

DRL offers immediate online access to the ICC’s

International Court of Arbitration® Bulletin, the

Dossier series of the ICC Institute of World

Business Law, The Secretariat’s Guide to ICC Arbitration and other ICC publications relating to dispute resolution. Other major attractions of this online library include a wealth of ICC awards and the hundreds of excerpts from ICC awards published in the Bulletin since 1990.

New in USCIB Bookstore: Dispute Resolution Library


USCIB member

and staff news

USCIB’s Competition Committee Charts New Course

It was the end of an era at the February meeting of USCIB’s Competition Committee in Washington, D.C., as longtime Chair Michael Blechman (Kaye Scholer) and Vice Chair Jim Rill (Baker Botts), stepped down and passed the baton to new Chair John Taladay (Baker Botts) and Vice Chair Jennifer Patterson (Kaye Scholer). Blechman and Rill, who have been esteemed and productive leaders of the committee for 20 years, said it has been a great pleasure to work together. Taladay is vice chair of the BIAC Competition Committee, while Patterson co-chairs the ICC Task Force on Due Process. Both also serve as non-governmental advisors to the International Competition Network. In 2014, the USCIB committee will focus on developments in procedural fairness (ICN, trade negotiations, China), due process (waivers and confidentiality), international antitrust cooperation, trade and competition linkages, and regulatory reform.

New Policy Hires Boost Work on Policy, Communications and Trade ServicesWe are delighted to welcome two new additions to our Policy and Program team. Ariel Meyerstein has joined USCIB as Vice President for Labor Affairs, Corporate Responsibility and Corporate Governance, working out of our New York headquarters. With a law degree and PhD in jurisprudence and social policy from the University of California at Berkeley, Ariel has a background in sustainable development and human rights in the extractive and financial sectors, and has worked on issues related to corporate responsibility in the public and private sectors. He comes to us from the law firm of Chadbourne & Parke, LLP and before that Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP. He also has served as a legal adviser at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal and a Judicial Clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Eva Hampl has come aboard as USCIB’s Director for Investment, Trade and Financial Services, working out of our Washington, D.C. office. Eva has a master’s of law in international and comparative law from the George Washington University Law School and a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School. She has worked on investment and trade issues, and done research on transparency in dispute settlement in the WTO and under investment treaties. Eva recently completed a one-year fellowship with GE’s Global Government Affairs and Policy division. Prior to that, she served as a trade associate with the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance and interned at the European Union’s delegation to the United States. She has also served as a law clerk to the Connecticut Superior Court.

In addition, Michael Sicangco has joined USCIB’s Trade Services department as a Carnet Claims Examiner. Michael earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Baruch College/CUNY and previously worked for Michael Page, the recruitment firm, and Quick Billing Service.

Also, Christopher Zoia has joined USCIB as Communications Manager, with responsibility for website content development and dissemination, production of USCIB’s e-newsletters as well as this magazine, and social media strategy. He recently earned dual master’s degrees in international affairs and journalism from Columbia University. Prior to graduate school, Chris worked in Washington, D.C. as a researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focused on international economics and American foreign policy, and coordinated Carnegie’s Economic Strategy Roundtable series. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and English from the University of Chicago.

Welcome to all our new USCIB team members!

New USCIB MembersWe are delighted to welcome the following companies and organizations as the latest additions to USCIB’s diverse membership:

To learn more about how USCIB membership can benefit your organization, contact Alison Hoiem (202-682-1291 or [email protected]).

Brown-Forman CorporationEaton CorporationFacebookHerbert Smith Freehills LLPJohnson ControlsMasterCard

Semiconductor Industry AssociationSidley Austin LLPSorini, Samet & Associates, LLCTroutman Sanders LLPL-R: Jennifer Patterson (Kaye Scholer), John Talladay (Baker Botts), Michael Blechman (Kaye Scholer), Jim Rill (Baker Botts),

Rob Mulligan (USCIB)


upcomingevents

International Business Forum on Integrating Respect for Human Rights in BusinessLearning from Best Practices of Leading CompaniesSeptember 18, 2014National Center for Civil and Human RightsAtlanta

USCIB, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the International Organization of Employers are again part-nering to hold a major business forum on business and human rights. The forum will include a frank and open discussion on the importance and challenges of integrating human rights in business. It will provide a unique opportunity to engage with business leaders and other experts in this emerging fi eld, and partici-pants will come away with a better understanding of how to integrate human rights as part of their overall corporate responsibility to respect human rights. Progress made at the global level will be discussed, based on guidance provided in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Contact Rachel Spence ([email protected]) or visit www.engagingbusiness.org for more information.

International Commercial Arbitration WorkshopJuly 21-25, 2014Microsoft Innovation & Policy CenterWashington, D.C.

The ICC International Court of Arbitration® and the University of Florence will host this fi ve-day workshop featuring drafting sessions and interactive discussions with renowned arbitrators and practitioners. Through examination of a mock case, participants will gain greater understanding of the ICC arbitration process, and will learn strategies and tactics in drafting arbitration documents under the 2012 ICC Rules of Arbitration. Please contact Alexandra Akerly ([email protected]) for more information.

2014 OECD International Tax ConferenceJune 2-3, 2014Four Seasons Hotel, Washington D.C.

The OECD, USCIB and BIAC, in cooperation with a range of supporting organizations, host their latest annual conference on the OECD’s new in-ternational taxation initiatives. Panels will address current OECD tax projects and will in-clude speakers from business, the OECD and the U.S. government. The event provides a unique opportunity for U.S. business represen-tatives to interact directly with key representatives from the OECD’s Center for Tax Policy and Administration as well as senior tax offi cials from the U.S. and other OECD coun-tries. Key speakers include: John Koskinen, commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service; Masatsugu Asakawa, chair of the OECD Com-mittee on Fiscal Affairs and deputy vice minister with Japan’s Ministry of Finance; and Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the OECD’s Center for Tax Policy and Administration. For more in-formation, please visit www.uscibtax.org.

WE PROUDLY SUPPORT THEUNITED STATES COUNCIL

FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

1212 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036

may 2014

6 New York Annual Proskauer Lecture on International Arbitration6 Paris ICC Commission on Trade and Investment Policy7 New York USCIB Working Group on the UN Sustainable Development Goals15 Paris ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR19 - 21 Seoul 4th Annual ICC Asia-Pacific Conference: International Arbitration -- A

Regional Journey28 New York ICC Mediation Rules North American Launch

june 2014

2 - 3 Washington, DC 2014 OECD International Tax Conference4 - 6 Tallinn, Estonia ICC Commission on Commercial Law and Practice9 - 10 Johannesburg ICC/FIDIC Conference on International Construction Contracts and the

Resolution of Disputes10 - 11 Paris ICC Commission on Digital Economy10 Geneva IOE Leaders Summit11 Washington, DC USCIB Trade and Investment Committee 18 Washington, DC USCIB Customs and Trade Facilitation Committee 23 - 24 Paris BIAC China Task Force24 Paris BIAC Workshop on Women’s Entrepreneurship

july 2014

19 Sydney, Australia B20 (Business 20) Summit21 - 25 Florence, Italy ICC/University of Florence International Commercial Arbitration Workshop

september 2014

9 New York 9th Annual ICC New York Arbitration Conference18 Atlanta 7th Annual USCIB Human Rights Conference

International Business is published quarterly by the United States Council for International Business. It is intended for infor-mational use only and should not be construed as an authoritative statement of USCIB views or policy.

We welcome your comments and submissions E-mail them to [email protected] or submit by mail to: Editor, International Business, United States Council for International Business, 1212 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036.

Visit www.uscib.org or see our monthly e-newsletter, “What’s New at USCIB,” for the latest news and information from USCIB and our global business network. USCIB members may also visit our password-protected Members Only section to review materials from USCIB committees and other exclusive information.

How to subscribe: USCIB members may request this publication free of charge by con-tacting USCIB Member Services (212-703-5095, [email protected]). Non-members may subscribe to this and other USCIB print publications for a nominal fee by contacting USCIB Commu-nications (212-703-5063, [email protected]).

Editor: Jonathan Huneke, VP communica-tions & public affairs, USCIB United States Council for International Business 1212 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10036 Tel: 212-354-4480 Fax: 212-575-0327 Web: www.uscib.org

Copyright © 2014 United States Council for International Business. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1939-8301

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