EBC Meeting Minutes

EOB Meeting Notes

Wednesday, February 01, 2006; EBC Office, 08-30 a.m. - 10.30 a.m..

      

Attendees: R. Collasse, A. Murray, J.Edberg, G. Schlosser, P. Gibb, H. Porat,
M. Lachaussee, A. Zimmermann, F. Cazzoli, B. Winderickx (for D. Delgorge)
Regrets: P.van Oppen, E. Ullner, D. Delgorge, M. Schaedlich, T. Varlid, T. Henriksen

1. REPORT FROM THE CHAIRMAN:

  1. Lunch with Government Investment Luncheon Group - February 3
    This is the next in the series of lunches with Japanese government officials and other organisations to discuss measures to promote investment. This lunch will be hosted by the Keidanren.

  2. EJBDRT - update on dates
    The original dates set were July 9 and 10, but these may be changed to 13 and 14. If it is held on the July 9/10 dates, R. Collasse will not be able to attend due to conflicting Chanel dates. The 2006 RT will be held in Tokyo under Co-Chairman Baron Jacobs for the first time. Yonemura San (sherpa to Co-Chair Kobayashi) visited R. Collasse on January 31 to express the Japanese side's worry about attendance by the EU Side's business leaders. R. Collasse obtained a high-level participant (CFO) from AXA last year and AXA is willing to co-chair a new working party on financial services, which still needs to be finalised.

  3. Other items

    1. An article was distributed - a good article about the EBC appearing in the French
      Counsellors' journal

    2. R. Collasse was visited by Ms. Ichikawa of MOFA to "explain" the reaction of Mr.Ishikawa to the EBC 2005 White Paper.

    3. R. Collasse met recently with Mr. Yamanaka (Chairman of the FDI Committee of the Keizaidoyukai). They discussed the possibility of holding a joint Keizaidoyukai-EBC seminar on measures to increase FDI into Japan. Ms. Clara Gaymard, who is the Invest in France Ambassador, will visit Japan in April, which might be a suitable time to hold some type of joint activity. The probable date is April 27. (Subsequent to the EOB meeting, the Keizai Doyukai has indicated that it cannot hold a seminar in April, but could arrange for Ms. Gaymard to give a lecture to the Keizai Doyukai FDI committee if the timing is convenient for both sides -still under discussion)

2. REPORT FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:

  1. Office activities

    • A visit from Ms. Marianne Gumaelius, Deputy Head of the EC's Unit for IPR, Procurement, New Technologies and Trade Relations. She expressed great support of the EBC white paper and A. Murray noted that large sections of her copy had been highlighted with a yellow marker, indicating that she had studied it closely. (1/27)

    • A joint EBC/ACCJ/ANZCCJ taskforce meeting was organized by the EBC and was held in the offices of J-F Minier. (1/30)

    • A. Murray and J. Edberg had lunch with Mr. S. Kamijo (EBC Medical Equipment Chairman) to discuss future management of the committee (see details below under 3B) (1/31)

    • A. Murray with Ms. Lina Zukauskaite, Counsellor of the Lithuanian Embassy. She has requested observer status in the BoG and A. Murray briefed her on the EBC and the role of the BoG etc. She will attend the BoG meeting on February 3 (2/1)

  2. Agreements
    Agreements with European Wood, ETPA (Executive Training Programme Association) and Eurochambres have been made and contracts are being drafted.

  3. Crisis Management/Consulting - formation of advisory group to set conditions, etc.
    As discussed at the December BoG meeting, the EBC could provide a fee-charging crisis management consulting service to companies that are not yet established in Japan or to companies with an issue that is not of concern to other members of their EBC committee and is not, therefore, taken up by the commmittee. The secretariat will seek advice from key EBC members on charges, terms & conditions, etc. in order to provide such a service.

  4. Eurochambres-funded visit to Brussels (for ETP promotion training)
    A. Murray will visit Brussels in late February to attend an ETP promotion training seminar to be organised by Eurochambres. Eurochambres will provide the air fare and cover some of the accommodation cost. A. Murray will extend the trip to include visits to the European Commission, Eucomed, the EU-Japan for Industrial Cooperation (the RT Secretariat) and Baron Jacobs (RT Co-Chair).

3. FUNDING & FUND-RAISING:

  1. Statement of Cash balances and of cash receipts and disbursements - 2005 (to be audited in March)
    Distributed in the meeting

  2. Additional funding lines (other than stakeholder and committee member fees):

Confirmed:

  1. European Wood:
    In 2006, identical to 2005 (and the latter half of 2004), the EBC will receive 2.4 million yen/year for subletting a section of the office space, and providing facilities, equipment, storage and utilities 

  2. Ultracall donations
    Global Tank (Ultracall) is continuing to provide a proportion of its earnings from EBC members as a donation to the EBC. This was in excess of 360,000 yen in 2005 and Global Tank hopes to exceed this substantially in 2006 by encouraging more EBC members to be Ultracall customers

  3. Golf (DaimlerChrysler cup) registration fees
    This amounted to about 200,000 yen in 2005 and can be expected again in 2006

  4. ETPA office hosting
    From February 2006, EBC will receive 2.4 million yen/year for subletting a section of the office space, and providing facilities, equipment, storage and utilities. EBC will also receive funds to pay the salary of an appropriate staff member (currently C. Marquant) for 2 days per week.

  5. Eurochambres for ETP promotion
    EBC has been subcontracted by Eurochambres to promote the ETP programme in Japan. In return for this service, the EBC will receive approximately 1 million yen, plus funds to cover the cost of an event

  6. Eucomed for visit organisation and liaison services
    In 2006, the EBC will provide Eucomed (European association of medical equipment industries) with visit/meeting organization services (for at least 4 visits) and proactive liaison with the EBC Medical Equipment Committee in return for a contracted fee.

Under discussion - To be confirmed:

  1. Eurochambres for market report updates
    The EBC has agreed to undertake the updating of 4 market research reports under a subcontract from Eurochambres.
    Medical Equipment committee for "secretariat" hosting
    The EBC Medical Equipment Committee is considering employing a person to manage the committee's activities and may rent EBC office space, facilities, equipment, storage and utilities for a fee. This may not take place until later in the year or subsequently as the committee has not yet taken a firm decision on this matter. If it goes ahead, the EBC will try to assist in identifying an appropriate person.

4. REPORT FROM THE POLICY DIRECTOR:

  1. Committee items

    • J. Edberg reported that the EBC Retail, Wholesale & Distribution Committee has submitted public comments to the proposed changes of the City Planning law making it considerably more difficult to build large-scale retailing facilities in Japan. The submission was preceded and followed up with visits to both METI and MLIT.

    • The EBC Tax Committee has been contributing actively in the debate on the tax reform proposal submitted by the LDP in mid December. The Committee also visited MOF to express EBC views on changes in tax rules for "semi-permanent residents". The Tax Committee is planning to hold a seminar on the new corporation law jointly with the EBC Legal Services Committee

    • On the construction side, the EBC visited the Housing Industry, Ceramics & Construction Materials Division of METI to discuss a new voluntary labeling system for insulation propensities of windows to be introduced this year. The EBC Construction Committee is working together with European Wood, as well as Industries in Europe to provide the information requested. Next step is an information meeting with METI and foreign manufacturers.

  2. Cross-cutting items
    Most efforts on the part of the EBC secretariat have been focused on trying to get article 821 of the Corporations law revised before implementation in May this year. An EBC taskforce consisting of members from EBC, ACCJ and ANZCCJ have conducted a number of meetings with the Ministry of Justice as well as with Members of Parliament. Good news before Christmas was followed by less good news in January.

6. ORGANISATIONAL ITEMS:

  1. Replacement of one of the three committee chairmen representatives in the BoG
    Hans Tempel, Chairman of the EBC Automobile Committee, had expressed interest in standing as a Committee Chairmen Representative in the Board of Governors. His name was submitted to the committee chairmen and his nomination was adopted without dissent. (However, please note that changes have occurred since the EOB meeting. Subsequently, D. Delgorge has stepped down from the Senior Vice-Chair position due to the pressure of work and The German chamber's EOB member has changed from G. Schlosser to H. Tempel. Since the German chamber is a major stakeholder of the EBC, R. Collasse has appointed H. Tempel to the Senior Vice-Chair position. This has, therefore, created a vacancy again among the three committee chairmen representatives, which will be filled in due course.)

  2. Treasurer Recommendation from EBC Chairman
    The EBC Chairman has nominated Erik Ullner (EOB member for Finland with an investment banking background) to serve as EBC Treasurer and E. Ullner has accepted.

DAIMLERCHRYSLER CUP REPORT:
Year 2006 planning report from Hans Porat
The tentative date is September 29, 2006. The event will be held at the same club, but perhaps on a different course within the club.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS: ………
Any Other Business
None