EBC Board of Governors' Meeting

Wednesday, May 25, 2005; Europa House, 08:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Attendees: R. Collasse, A. Murray, J. Edberg, C. Marquant, S. Ginoux, J-F Minier, P. Stalman, P. Sevaistre (for H.De Mestier/M. Lachausee), J. Bertrand, Y. Oishi (for D. Delgorge), R. Kracklauer, G. Roth, Dr. Grathwohl, H. Mueller, S. Dale, S. Economou, A. Ponzetta, A. Kangro. C. Halling, A. Lanigan
Regrets: A. Pockett, V. Heiberg, P. Baron, V. Trelut, J-P Oulevey, T. Varlid, G. Schlosser

1. REPORT FROM THE EC DELEGATION:

Comments from P. Duponteil, Head of Trade and Commerce

• The 14th EU-Japan Summit that took place in Luxembourg on May 2nd was a success. Items included Iraq, arms embargo, Iter, WTO, and Japanese support for the appointment of former Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy to the WTO Council and as Director General of the WTO (subsequently elected)
• The EU-Japan Interparliamentary Meeting was held in Tokyo from 15 to 20 May 2005. A delegation of
  members of the European Parliament was welcomed for the first time by Mr. Koizumi, which suggests a clear interest by Japan in deepening relations with the EU.
  

2. REPORT FROM THE EBC CHAIRMAN:

1. JIC meetings (March 16 and April 8) and subcommittees
   The March 16 meeting was dominated by comments relating to the hostile Livedoor takeover bid and not much progress was made. On April 8, the ministries responded to the JIC's new list of priorities and responded to questions from the council members, including R. Collasse. Several EBC-derived issues are now included in the priority list, including the food additives issue and others. The 2 main areas on which the JIC will focus in the future will be the M&A infrastructure and healthcare reform. The EBC recommended that relevant subcommittees be formed in order to invite external experts to join the discussions. This recommendation was accepted and R. Collasse will join both subcommittees and invite some industry experts from the EBC to attend, pending approval from the Cabinet Office.
2. Presentation to LDP Corporate Governance Committee (May 26)
   The EBC will make a presentation with the ACCJ to the LDP on the topic of corporate governance and FDI in Japan on May 26th. Between 100-200 people are expected.
   The presentation and EBC'S FDI position paper were distributed in the BoG meeting
3. Breakfast meeting with ACCJ group re LDP presentation (May 16)
   A breakfast meeting with ACCJ was conducted to prepare complementary speeches at the LDP scheduled for May 26. The American intervention will focus on technical aspects, and the European's intervention on Japanese emotional behaviour re M&A. The meeting went well and was an opportunity to coordinate the ACCJ and EBC presentations to the LDP R. Collasse will be citing French data showing that 30% of Frances's GDP originates from FDI, which is a very positive argument. It was agreed that the ACCJ and the EBC would participate in a common press conference by the end of June as a follow-up to the presentation.
4. EBC-FDI Taskforce meetings (March 16 and April 19)
   The new EBC FDI Taskforce has met twice. J. Edberg produced an EBC FDI position paper and discussion so far has focused on this paper.
   The FDI position paper was distributed in the meeting.
5. Meeting with Ambassador Zepter (May 10)
   Among the topics discussed was the upcoming presentation of the ACCJ and EBC at the LDP on May 26th, possible dates in November for the EBC white paper launch, and the current status of the 2005 EJBDRT.
6. Meeting with Enterprise Estonia Chairman (May 16)
   RC met with Ms Tea Varrak, Chairman of the Board of Enterprise Estonia, built on the model of Enterprise Ireland. She had been well briefed on the EBC and Japan and RC gained the impression that Enterprise Estonia is a dynamic organisation.
7. Government investment lunch group meetings (March 25; June 28)
   These lunch group meetings are an opportunity to pass on messages to the Japanese Government. The topic of Airbus was raised by R. Collasse at the March 25 lunch and the delay in the triangular stock swap merger measure for M&As will be raised at the June 28 lunch.
8. EUJBDRT
   The EBC is very active in the preparation of the EU-Japan Business Dialogue Round Table that will be held on July 8th in Brussels. A paper regarding the event is being prepared now by J. Edberg. Mr. Honda, R. Collasse's counterpart (co-chairs of Working Party 1) is playing an important role, allocating several staff members to work on the Japanese section of the paper. There could be a section about Airbus Industries in the EJDBRT.
   The chairman of Vodafone has been invited and Airbus Industries also might participate. It has to be noted that although there were no participants from the financial services industry until now, R. Collasse has been advocating inclusion of the financial services sector. The Japanese side will include a few high-ranking executives from the financial services. On his side, R. Collasse has solicited Mr. de Castries and Mr. Duverne, both with Axa, who have interest in the event and might participate in the EJBDRT in 2006.
   Baron Jacobs will become the new co-chairman of the EUJBDRT and replace Viscount Etienne Davignon as the European co-chairman of the Round Table.

3. REPORT FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:

1. Initiation of new policy director - activities
   A program of visits to committee chairman was organized. J. Edberg has been extremely busy - steep learning curve required for preparation for the Japan Investment Council, E-JBDRT, presentation at the LDP's Corporate Governance Committee, several committee position papers, and FDI position paper and so on.
2. Part-time policy officer
   The intern who was expected to work for the EBC through 2005 decided not to come to Japan. Instead we found Christian Marquant, a former ETP participant who was looking for 2 days-per-week work and he will work 2 days per week, mainly in support of committee activities, mainly in support of the Policy Director (who has a 70% time-fraction). The EBC has additional tasks this year (support of the Chairman in the Japan Investment Committee, FDI taskforce and other related activities) and his support in the lobbying effort will be appreciated.
3. Event: i. Demographic seminar
   Around 40 people have signed up to participate in the seminar.
4. Eurochambres visit and EBOs
   Eurochambres, the association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry, is keen to set-up a network and said it has interest in the EBC model. A Eurochambres representative visited the EBC office. She expressed satisfaction with the market research report updates managed by EBC last year. There are no updates required this year. She reported that Eurochambres is attempting to establish a global alliance of European Business Organisations (EBOs) as they are concerned about the number of such organizations appearing, calling themselves European Chambers when some are even organized by private groups. She said that Eurochambres supports the EBC Japan model (the chamber-related EBC structure).
5. ETP presentations - May 23 and 26
   May 23 - A. Murray made a presentation about the EBC to the new ETP programme participants.
   May 26 - This will be a 2-hour session that will remind the current ETP participants about the EBC and also include other aspects that could be informative for this particular group, such as a presentation on taxation and retail issues.
6. RT-WP1 meetings April 12 and May 9 (JT: Koyanagi/Yoshino; EBC: Edberg/Murray)
   The coordination of the EU (EBC) and Japan (Japan Tobacco) sides of Working Party 1 started with a meeting at the EBC office with JT on April 12 and a follow-up meeting on May 9.
7. Office lease renewal
   The office lease was renewed for 2 years in February with no change in conditions.
8. White paper 2005:
   (i) The outreach sponsorship actions will start in mid-June.
   (ii) Production Schedule: the white paper will be finalized at September end. It will then be sent to the translators and printer to be ready for a launch in mid-November.
   (iii) Likely launch date: the 21st or the 24th of November.
9. Others
   It was mentioned that the meeting room of the EBC is at the disposal of its stakeholders who might need a room for meetings. Both the BLCCJ and SCCIJ will hold their board meetings in the room.

4. REPORT FROM THE POLICY DIRECTOR (J. Edberg):

1. Committee report
   (i) Retail
   The point that the tableware is an over regulated market was made through the Retail Committee's position paper and J.Edberg and the committee are following up on distribution of the tableware paper with METI and MHLW (seeking responses and organizing meetings). In collaboration with the committee, he is also collecting information on the regulatory environment for tableware in various European countries.
   (ii) Telecommunications
   J. Edberg gathered information on the spectrum allocation from Vodafone and had meetings with the Cabinet office and the MIC.
   (iii) Food
   A constructive meeting took place with the Ministry on food additives.
   (iv) Materials
   EBC is moving forward on the nickel-related products tariffs issue and is arranging meetings with the METI officials in charge of this sector.
   (v) Airlines
   Action is being taken to acquire a better understanding of the airlines market before consulting the ministries.
2. Cross-cutting issues report
   • The joint presentation of the ACCJ and EBC at the LDP , an important event for the EBC, has been prepared.
   • The EBJDRT will include some issue-specific matters, particularly regarding the telecommunications
     sector this year. This year, we are required to assess progress on all of the issues raised last year.

5. FUNDING & FUND-RAISING:

1. Audit of cash balances and of cash receipts and disbursements - 2004
   The original documents were distributed in the meeting

6. ORGANISATIONAL ITEMS:

1. Election of Two "New" Committee Chairmen to BoG and final BoG Line-up
   Laurent Levan and Stephane Ginoux were elected as Committee Chairmen representatives on the Board of Goverors.
2. EOB Committee Liaison list
   The list was distributed at the meeting

7. FUNDING TASKFORCE:

1. Feedback from Chambers on modified proposal and next step - voting by e-mail to allow calculations for September meeting???
   There has been no negative feedback on the latest version of the proposal. The voting will have to be conducted by e-mail. Relevant material will be sent out along with the BoG meeting minutes. There will be a 60-day period for voting.

8. DAIMLERCHRYSLER CUP REPORT:

1. Progress report
   The outreach for sponsors has started. Registration is open. Sponsors will have their logo on the website of the event (http://www.dccgolf-japan.com/).

9. ANY OTHER BUSINESS: 　

Any Other Business
J-F Minier reported that Article 821 has recently been introduced to the new corporation law without sufficient time for public comment. It has passed the House of Representatives and will go to the House of Councillors in June. J.-F. Minier said that information is needed on the impact that that law may have beyond the financial sector.