EBC Meeting Minutes

EOB Meeting Notes

Tuesday, September 10, 2002; EBC Secretariat Meeting Room

8:30 - 10:30 a.m.

      

 

GENERAL INFORMATION:

  1. Summary of Chairman's plans for second half of this year
    Chairman will travel to France soon and also visit director-level officials of the EC and Mr. Davignon of the EUJBDRT around mid-October. He was pleased with the RT and EBC's input and exposure was good. Now is the time to leverage that good exposure by finding keen companies to join the RT.
    Chairman still has to complete his round of courtesy visits to the Ambassadors and Chamber Presidents.
    There will be at least 2 more informal lunches the GOJ investment luncheon group
    There white paper will launched in mid-November at a large-scale luncheon (November 22)

  2. Report on EBC Lamy Breakfast; related articles
    This event was successful with 150 people present and media coverage was obtained (news articles were distributed at the meeting). According to the EC Delegation, Mr. Lamy and his colleagues from Brussels were pleased with the event.

  3. Report on Chiba Government Reception
    We are cooperating with Chiba and Governor Domoto as we hope to make Chiba a test case - where they support and act on our recommendations (and also make efforts to create new markets through privatization of public utilities (e.g. municipal water supply)
    The chairman would like to receive from companies by the end of September, a short list of key incentives to recommend to Chiba Prefecture.

  4. EBC-GOJ informal luncheon meeting group - report on August 29 meeting
    Richard Collasse and Alison Murray met with this group on August 29. There were several new faces due to position changes, but it was apparent that the government participants were keen to maintain a close relationship with the EBC. Chiba as a test case for special incentives, relaxation of some national regulations in special purpose zones and market creation by privatization or semi-privatization were discussed. The EBC agreed to circulate information about an Okinawa study tour for JETRO.

  5. Event for EU Vice President September 20
    EBC will host a breakfast with 15 people - 6 from the EC and the EC Delegation - in the private room of the Les Saisons Restaurant at the Imperial Hotel. The guest is the Vice-President, Ms. Loyola de Palacio. In addition to her role as Vice-President, she is responsible for energy and transport. The EBC party will consist of: Mr. R. Collasse, Mr. C. Sedgman, Mr. D. Blume (auto), Mr. H. Tempel (auto), Mr. G. Wende (Airlines), Mr. J Holck (Shipping), Mr. M. Ceva (Telecom/High-tech), Mr. R. Mountford (Asset Management), Mr. J-F. Minier (Securities/Banking).

  6. Meeting with Delegate Minister of Industry, France, September 20
    Mr. R. Collasse as EBC chairman will meet with the Delegate Minister of Industry France, Ms. Fontaine, to brief her about specific issues of interest to her in Japan. He will be accompanied by Mr. C. Sedgman, Mr. M. Ceva (3rd-generation/telecom technologies), Mr. J-F Minier (financial sector), Mr. G. Fasol (nanotechnology/biotechnology). Mr. Collasse will raise the issue of EBC funding as Ms. Fontaine has been involved in EU funding matters in the past. The meeting will be followed by a CCIFJ lunch for Minister Fontaine and the EBC will host the three EBC members joining the briefing meeting.

  7. Letter from Hermes
    The distributed letter was sent to Mr. R. Collasse. The EBC will either endorse action (letter/petition) to be taken by the Comite Colbert or produce a separate letter of support. A copy of the letter will be sent to Mr. Laurent Dubois, the relevant EBC Chairman (Patents, Trademarks and Licenses Committee)

  8. Letter from Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
    The EBC has been requested to sponsor (name only) a two-day entry course to be held in Tokyo in late November 2002. This is OK in principle pending confirmation of the organization's reputation (check with BCCJ, Michael Hancock)

  9. Collaboration with EC Delegation's Update of EU's Regulatory Reform Submission and Visit of Mr. C. Baron
    The EBC is responding to a request by the EC Delegation to provide input into revision of the annual submission to the Japanese government on regulatory reform. Casey Sedgman is coordinating the response in parallel with production of the 2002 white paper. Several EBC committee chairmen and other EBC personnel are participating in briefing meetings for a visitor from the EC in Brussels. (Refer to distributed information.)

  10. Presentation at SCCJ (Executive Director)
    EBC Executive Director, A. Murray, made a presentation in Japanese to women working for corporate members of the SCCJ. The 30-minute presentation provided an explanation of the EBC and its activities and as requested by the SCCJ, included a commentary on her own background and life in Japan and her experience as a women working in a male-dominated organization. Appeared to be helpful in closing information gap between EBC and the employees of EBC's SCCJ corporate members. (Refer to distributed information.)

SPECIAL ITEMS:

  1. Membership of Spain in EBC Council
    Following Richard Collasse's intervention with the Spanish Ambassador earlier this year, and in the absence of a Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Japan, the Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade has joined the EBC and already paid a subsidy fee following the "Enterprise Ireland" model. Mr. Ernesto Gimenez, Commercial Attache of the Embassy of Spain, will represent Spain in the Council following the "Declan Collins/Enterprise Ireland" model.

  2. EUJBDRT

    • Comments on 2002 RT by chairman
      Richard Collasse reported that the RT had been very successful and that both governments were pleased with the specific nature of the issues discussed. Richard was very much involved in preparing the overall conclusions for the entire RT and the press release as well. The objective was to present the Japanese government with 4 very specific issues that could be resolved by the time of the next RT, thereby providing very positive feedback to the dialogue.

    • Participants for 2003 - Priority list of 5 companies from each Chamber by September 27
      It does not appear that Mr. Davignon will step down as EU co-chair next year, but Richard has gained his approval to obtain a priority list of new European members of the RT. The chairman/CEO based in Europe would be the member and the local representative here in Japan would be the sherpa. The only criteria are that the companies should be active in Japan, committed to Japan and well-known/respected in Europe.
      Although service industries have not been included in the past, they can be included in the list if they meet the above-mentioned criteria.
      To prepare this list, Richard would like to receive from each chamber, a list of 5 companies, in order of priority, which would be good candidates for participation. In order for Richard to take the list to Brussels for discussion with Mr. Davignon next month, this list is to be submitted by September 27.

  3. White Paper

    • Interim results of Outreach for White Paper/EUJBDRT funding (via sponsorships, orders)
      Please refer to the distributed sheets. Current total of funds raised stands at 4,735,000 yen, which is 1,470,000 yen less that of last year. This deficit is roughly equivalent to the deficit in chamber orders for white papers. The amount is adequate to produce a low-budget version of the papers, but not really enough to comfortably subsidize the launch event nor to replace the funds used to pay for the contracted work to produce documentation for the EUJBDRT earlier this year.

    • Status of Chamber & embassy paper orders
      Please refer to the distributed sheets. Currently the contribution for orders from the chambers is zero contrasting sharply with the 1,485,000 yen of last year. EOBs are requested to urge their chambers to place orders for white papers for at least their board members.

    • Production status
      Currently under production with the final deadline of October 1 for submission of all final contributions and comments to Casey Sedgman for production of the English version. Late submissions cannot be accepted due to the highly tight schedule for translation and printing of the Japanese version.

    • Launch event (dependent on extra funds from more orders)
      Scheduled for November 22 at the Keidanren Hall's Diamond Room

FUNDING & FUND-RAISING ITEMS:

  1. Update on Committee Membership Invoices and Chamber Payments
    All payments have now been made, but some were quite late, including some chamber subsidies.

ORGANISATIONAL ITEMS:

  1. EOB liaison responsibilities update and reporting format

    • Three new EOB members (Belgium/Mr. Duco Delgorge; Austria/Mr. Michael Otter; Sweden/Mr. Lave Lindberg. It was decided that liaison responsibilities would remain as before until the end of the year. Accordingly, the three new EOB members would assume their respective predecessors's responsibilities.

    • An extraordinary EOB meeting will be held on November 14 to focus on committee matters.

    • A prototype committee report form will be distributed by e-mail as a suggested means of keeping track of the allocated committees. It is a modified version of the "David Blume" reporting form (developed by David a couple of years ago).

  2. Request for merger of Securities and Banking Committees to form "Universal Banking Committee"
    The two committees will meet this month to discuss and vote on this proposal, after which it will be presented to the EOB and Council officially. Since there is a common goal of both committees, the proposal makes sense.

  3. Creation of membership category for Industry Associations
    Fee structure (e.g. Based on size: less than 15 members, 400,000 yen; 15 members of more, 750,000 yen
    A concrete proposal needs to be prepared in order to retain the members of EFPIA Japan (formerly the EBC Pharmaceutical Committee) formally next year (their combined membership fees amount to 1.3 million yen, which is a substantial loss and the face of the pharmaceutical industry should be retained by the EBC. It was decided to place this issue on the agenda for the taskforce.

  4. Request for Retail Committee
    Tommy Kullberg (SCCJ/Ikea) has requested the formation of a retail committee. A. Murray proposes an outreach to all EBC members and the chambers in late October to determine the level of interest, with the aim of having a committee ready to start operating in the new year.

  5. CLEPA response to EBC counterproposal
    After further discussion and negotiation, CLEPA and the EBC have drawn up new terms and conditions for a new 6-month contract based on a lower level of service.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

  1.  

    • e-Commerce/Telecom Carriers - September 10: joint speaker meeting

    • Food - submission of letter to MHLW

    • New Human Resources Committee

    • Asset Management - submission of response to call for public comments
      As per the distributed materials

CONSTITUTION-RELATED ITEMS:

  1. First Taskforce meeting - result of sign-up for September 13 meeting
    As per the distributed sheet

OTHER BUSINESS:

  1. Other Business: None