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Belated Greetings for the Year 2002 This is our first outreach for the year 2002. Though belated, we welcome everyone back to another year of activities. We have a number of events, activities and various matters to tell you about in this bulletin. Several committees have held meetings in the EBC office meeting room already this year and others are planned for the near future. The first Executive Operating Board (EOB) meeting will be held at the EBC office on Tuesday, February 26 and the first Council-Committee Chairmen meeting on Thursday, February 28. At the Secretariat, we have been busy with the usual year-start administrative tasks, including the membership confirmation process mentioned in the next item. There have been changes in the EOB and some chamber president changes as well. These have all been updated on our website, http://www.ebc-jp.com, so please check for the latest names by clicking "About the EBC" then "Organization". Membership Confirmation Process Completed We have now completed the process of confirming EBC committee membership intentions for 2002 and clarifying category status under our newly introduced membership category system. We are very pleased to announce that five companies have chosen to support the EBC in the Special Sponsors category. These companies will be listed in the EBC publicity folder and on the EBC website. We will be contacting the relevant companies very soon in this regard. The small number of committee members who did not return their reply forms, even after several reminders, have been registered as retaining their membership under category (2) - European national chamber member and EBC committee member. We will be sending the lists of members to the various chambers for invoicing by early next week. Please make sure that your chamber membership status is current. Committee Chairmanship Update In accordance with Article 1, Items a), b) and c) of the EBC Committee Rules (http://www.ebc-jp.com Click "About EBC" then "Regulations" then "Committee rules"), the committee chairmanship should be reviewed by April 1. A committee chairman can serve for two 2-year consecutive terms, but a formal reaffirmation or election is required before April 1 of the relevant year for relevant committees. If this applies to your committee this year, appropriate action should be initiated. It is understood that special circumstances exist for certain committees as discussed in the past. Please contact the Secretariat if you have any queries. Does Your Committee Have a Vice-Chairman? The EBC Secretariat encourages all the EBC committees to select a Vice-Chairman. This allows some sharing of the burden of responsibility and work and also enables your committee's interests to be represented at scheduled and extraordinary committee chairmen meetings if the chairman is not available. Currently, two committee chairmen meetings have been scheduled for 2002, but it is highly likely that additional meetings will be called for various purposes. Although the election of a vice-chairman is not a constitutional requirement at present, we do recommend that all committee chairmen have a deputy to ease the workload and increase the EBC's operating efficiency. Are You Using the News Section of Our Protected Website As we announced to you in the December (5) bulletin, we have launched a protected section of the EBC website. This section contains general and sector-based "News Articles" of potential interest to EBC members. New articles are constantly being added to the files on a weekly basis and old articles archived. Some sections have already accumulated a large number of articles (many translated from the Japanese media) and you may have to wait a short time before they appear on the screen (e.g.: Automotive sector). To enter the protected site, go to our website, http://www.ebc-jp.com , then click on the NEWS & VIEWS section at the bottom of the screen. When you attempt to enter either the news articles or statements section, an ID/password prompt box will appear. If you have lost the ID and password (sent to you in December), please contact me (Alison Murray) at ebcam@ebc.com and I will remind you. The protected site also contains the current Year 2001 trade issues paper "Supporting the Reform Process" in a reader-friendly format. EBC Co-Sponsoring Luncheon with IBA and ACCJ: Combating Terrorist Financing & Money Laundering - Japanese Government Measures The
EBC will co-sponsor a lunch with the International
Bankers Association (IBA) and the ACCJ
to look into Japanese measures underway to combat Terrorist financing and
money laundering. The guest speaker will be Mr. Kiyotaka Sasaki, Director
for International Financial Issues, International Organizations Division,
International Bureau, Ministry of Finance. The Japanese Government has
been making a sustained and diligent effort to cooperate with the global
campaign against terrorist financing and money laundering. Mr. Sasaki will
provide information on asset freezing of terrorist organizations under the
Foreign Exchange Act as well as on-site inspections for compliance to the
Act. He will brief attendees on new legislation that MOF is drafting to
further combat terrorist financing that will include more effective asset
freezing as well as possible enhancement of customer due diligence
requirements. EBC Tax Committee to Hold Seminar on February 27 The EBC Tax Committee will hold a seminar on Wednesday, February 27 to look at the fundamental changes taking place in the corporate tax regime in Japan. Tax facilitated corporate reorganisations were introduced in FY2001, and a consolidated tax system will be retroactively be introduced for FY2002. How will these changes affect your business? What are the advantages and disadvantages of these reforms? Experts from the EBC's Tax Committee will explore these issues. A Q&A session will form part of the event. The seminar will be held from 5:00-7:00pm, Wednesday, February 27, 2002 at the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation http://www.eu-japan.gr.jp/base/access1.html. The cost of the event is 2,000 yen. Participation has almost reached capacity and further registrations might be subject to a "wait for cancellation" process. The Economist Conferences to Hold Accelerated Branding Roundtable The Economist Conferences will be holding a high-powered Accelerated Branding Roundtable in Tokyo to discuss the latest tools and techniques for effective brand building and marketing strategies in Japan. The event will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel, Tokyo on March 13th 2002. Case studies will be presented from international and local marketing experts, including top-level speakers from: Amazon.com, Starbucks Coffee Japan, Max Factor, Prophet, Harvard Business School, Tokyo University and many more. The fee is 100,000 yen and there is no charge for a second delegate from the same company. You can register online at: http://www2.economistconferences.com/doc/ap/brand02/r.htm or by e-mail at egap@themis.ocn.ne or by telephone at: 03-5223-8103. Japan Times Already Preparing EU Special Issue to Mark Schuman Day The Japan Times has started work on a special supplement for May to mark the 52nd anniversary of the signing of the Schuman Declaration on May 9, 1950. This date is regarded as the starting point of European integration and is highly significant for all Europeans. As in the past, the European Business Community in Japan (EBC) fully supports the efforts of The Japan Times in this endeavour and wishes the project every success. We encourage EBC members to extend to the Japan Times, any cooperation and support possible to ensure the success of this project. The special issue will include an article from the Chairman of the EBC and articles that focus on sectors that provide support. We highly recommend this project as a means of demonstrating the EBC's commitment to a closer and collaborative relationship with Japan. I will send all EBC committee members further information supplied by The Japan Times by separate e-mail. EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation Releases Latest JOHOGEN Directory The
EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation has released the 6th edition of
its JOHOGEN Directory, which is now available in hardcopy
free of charge. The 200+ pages directory has been expanded from
the last version to include new chapters, new entries and many other
updates. The following chapters are included: Business Development Event in Pyongyang Scheduled for September 2002 The EU Chamber of Commerce in Korea (EUCCK - South Korea) is involved in the international marketing of the "Pyongyang International Technology & Infrastructure Exhibition and concurrent symposium to be held in Pyongyang, North Korea from 17-20 September, 2002. Information about the exhibition can be found at http://pyongyang-itie.com. If you are interested in participating in this event, please contact Ms. Soo-ok Heijmans, Project Manager, EOCCK at eupro@eucck.org or Tel: +82-2-2236-2086 Some Useful URLs The following are some URLS providing information that might be of interest to EBC members.
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