EOB Meeting Notes

Tuesday, October 19, 2004, EBC Office

8:30-10:30 a.m.

Expected Attendees: R. Collasse, A. Murray, C. Sedgman, M. Lachaussee, A. Zimmermann, H. Porat, P. Gibb, G. Schlosser, E. Ullner, M. Otter

Apologies: D. Delgorge, P. Elbers, T. Henriksen, T. Varlid

1. REPORT FROM THE EBC CHAIRMAN:

1. Membership of Japan Investment Council (JIC)
R. Collasse's invitation to join the Japan Investment Council has been approved by the Cabinet Office. The first meeting will be held on November 15 and R. Collasse will make a presentation on the 2004 EBC white paper.

2. December 15 Cocktail party
 Invitations have been sent to Japanese government guests and it is hoped that Chamber Presidents, EOBs, Committee Chairmen, and Ambassadors will attend. An invitation with a package of supporting material will be sent from the EBC Secretariat to the Prime Minister via the Cabinet Office.

3. Government Investment Discussion Group lunch (September 10)
R. Collasse and A. Murray attended and the discussion focused again on tax deferral on stock swaps

4. Meeting with Ambassador Zepter (September 28)
R. Collasse and A. Murray met with Ambassador Zepter. Discussion focused on having a mini government doorknock on November 8. Other discussion related to follow-up of the EJBDRT and the EU-Japan Summit

5. Mini Government Doorknock (November 8) - EC Delegation organizing
A mini doorknock to METI, MOFA and the Cabinet Office on November 8 will be organized by the EC Delegation as courtesy visits prior to the white paper launch. Ambassador Zepter and R. Collasse will visit Chief Cabinet Secretary Hosoda and METI Vice Minister Kusaka and probably the MOFA Deputy Minister.

6. Breakfast meeting with ACCJ President, Chairman and Executive Director/RC, AM & CS (October 6)
This meeting was held to discuss coordinated follow-up on the push for tax deferral on stock swaps and to consider other avenues of collaboration. It was decided that the ACCJ President and EBC Chairman would have a joint press conference in the new year, probably focusing tax deferral of stock swaps and privatization.

2. REPORT FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:

1. White paper update - launch update
Will be held at the Westin Hotel. As usual, there is not an overwhelming response from committee members. Hoping for 150 members and 50 guests, but the breakdown will more likely be 1:1, which means considerable cost to the EBC to subsidise the event. Deputy Foreign Minister (Economics), Mr. Ichiro Fujisaki, will attend again this year and speak.

2. MCE seminar (Oct. 7/8, Nov. 9/10)
This was a very professional seminar attended by 7 people, all of whom were satisfied. Very labour-intensive for the EBC with only small financial benefit

3. Human resources seminars with Proconsulting (Sep. 13/14)
These were also well received and raised about 120,000 yen for the EBC

4. Telecom Fundraising (Meeting with Ultracall - September 28)
This scheme is raising about 30,000 yen per month for the EBC. If more members signed up it would make much more. Ultracall would like to raise the level. EOB members are asked to consider switching to Ultracall and also to promote the scheme to others in their chamber. Ultracall will tailor services and prices to suit the user if it is possible. A percentage of their charges is donated to the EBC. They are cheaper than most providers. Ultracall can be contacted via A. Murray and Mr. Sakamoto will visit potential users for a consultation.

5. Meeting with Metro president (September 30)
Metro has now joined the EBC, but the name of the Retail committee should be changed to Retail, Wholesale and Distribution Committee.

6. Meeting with Japan Management Association (October 12)
The JMA is now planning to hold training seminars aimed at European companies. They visited the EBC seeking advice. We will distribute information about their seminars to members when appropriate.

7. Meeting with Director-General of Eucomed (October 20)
K. Hashimoto (Medical Equipment Committee), A. Murray and C. Sedgman met with the Director-General of Eucomed, which is the European Federation of Medical Device Associations. They will consider ways to collaborate with the EBC (perhaps as overseas member or sponsor or via representation for a fee via the EBC office) A. Murray to prepare proposals and send to them.

3. REPORT FROM POLICY DIRECTOR:

1. Report on committee news from policy director and Report on cross-sector policy items
Refer to sheet distributed in the meeting

4. CONSTITUTION:

1. Update on Voting
All in favour except for the Netherlands Chamber and the ICCJ, whose vote is pending confirmation on October 20

5. ORGANISATIONAL MATTERS: 　

1. Update on Questionnaire on EBC chair
All in favour of reaffirming R. Collasse as Chairman for 2005

6. TASKFORCE UPDATE:

1. Update on activity
The taskforce considered various approaches to calculating contributions and will resume the exercise with more alternatives at the next meeting. No one formula has yielded an acceptable result at this stage.

2. Next meeting - November 2

7.DAIMLERCHRYSLER CUP: 　

1. Result
The North American team won the cup this year. It may be held closer to the end of October next year to avoid the threat of inclement weather - the weather this year was excellent, but there were many typhoons.