EBC Meeting Minutes

EOB Meeting Notes

Tuesday, March 25, 2008; EBC Office, 08:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

      

Attendees: R. Collasse, A. Murray, J. Edberg, C. Mayali, C. Eklund, D. Delgorge, M. Theoval, M. Hoffmann (for H. Tempel), A. Groff, E. Ullner, S. Cahill
Regrets: H. Tempel,, C. Eilersen, P. Thewliss, M. Loefflad, R. Scherpenhuijsen Rom, G. Keown

1. REPORT FROM THE CHAIRMAN:

  1. On February 15, EBC Chairman gave a presentation, to the Working Group of the Council for Economic and Fiscal Policy on the EBC's proposal for a comprehensive EU-Japan Economic Integration Agreement (EIA) based on mutual recognition of standards and regulations. He outlined key EBC EIA recommendations for enhancing foreign direct investment and boosting bilateral trade between the EU and Japan.

  2. EIA Activities and Developments

    1. On December 13, the EBC Executive Director attended the first EIA Task Force meeting. On March 11, the EBC Policy Director attended the second EU Taskforce meeting. On March 27, both the EBC Executive Director and EBC Policy Director attended the first joint EIA Task Force between the EU and Japan.

    2. In early March, the EBC Chairman met with Mr. A. Seilliere, President of BUSINESSEUROPE (BE). The meeting was an opportunity to discuss the joint roles and functions of Business Europe and the EBC in the EIA proposal process.

    3. In both EU taskforce meetings, in the intervening period, and also prior to the EU-Japan Joint taskforce meeting in Brussels, the EBC has requested BE to ensure that the EU EIA Taskforce paper should better represent the issues of the numerous and divergent sectors of the European industry, in both scope and depth. The EBC has further advocated that the EIA be represented as an opportunity to establish a high standard economic agreement based on mutual recognition of regulations and product standards that compliments and strengthens other multilateral trade agreements. The EBC position has so far not been reflected in the paper prepared by BusinessEurope

    4. On April 4, the EBC will hold an extraordinary BOG meeting to serve as the Post Joint Taskforce meeting on the EIA.

  3. In response to an invitation from the Embassy of the Netherlands, on March 18, the EBC Chairman, Executive Director and Policy Director were present to provide a briefing on current business trends in Japan impacting European industry and investments and on the EBC's vision of an EIA to the Netherlands MOFA Director General for Economic Affairs.

  4. On March 28, EBC Chairman will present the EBC recommendations for improving conditions for M&As in Japan to the Japan Investment Council.

  5. On April 11, the EBC will host an Investment Group Lunch to discuss current trends in markets and business environments that impact European industry and investment in Japan and to discuss the EIA.

  6. On April 8, EBC will host a seminar for Areva. The visit of Areva executives to Japan will include visits with government officials and briefing sessions on current trends in M&As, regulatory reforms, and market access.

2. EU-JAPAN BUSINESS DIALOGUE ROUNDTABLE (BDRT):

  1. The dates for the Business Dialogue Roundtable (BDRT) have been set for July 3-4.

  2. A Pre-meeting for the BDRT will be held on May 23 in Brussels and will be attended by the EBC Chairman and Executive Director.

  3. The Draft programme from the BDRT was received March 8. The 2008 agenda is similar to last year in terms of the content and organization of items.

  4. In 2007, BDRT Director, Baron Jacobs, requested that the EBC prepare a draft of new "Terms of Reference" for the BDRT. A shortened version of these Draft Terms of Reference was presented last year, and is expected to be adopted by the Roundtable this year.

3. REPORT FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:

  1. On February 22 and 23, EBC Executive Director attended the ETP 2008 -2009 kick-off meeting in Valencia. The EBC secretariat has now received a revised and acceptable version of the contract (in terms of remuneration) to continue applicant recruitment in Japan. Applications are now being accepted for the 2008-2009 programme and an announcement, brochure, and press release will be issued in the coming weeks. Assistance from the chambers in distributing relevant information was requested.

  2. The EBC will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Eurochambers within the context of strengthening ties and activities. The MOU may entail building a closer relationship through common position papers, enhancing the visibility of the EBC and Eurochambers.

  3. The EBC secretariat hosted a delegation from the Ukraine European Business Association as part of the activities of the European Business Organization (EBO), an EC-managed worldwide network of European businesses in non-European countries. The visit was an opportunity to discuss and compare success factors in committee management, lobbying and advocacy, membership structure and funding sources.

  4. On March 12, EBC Executive Director gave a presentation to the Medical Equipment Committee Management meeting/dinner. The Committee was given an update on current EBC activities in response to challenges in the business environment. The meeting was well attended and the committee is functioning well.

  5. On March 13, upon an invitation from the MOFA, the EBC Executive Director gave a presentation on avenues for enhancing the Japanese and European trade relationship through closer economic integration at a Seminar on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) organized by MOFA.

  6. On March 31, the CCIFJ will host a lunch conference. The speaker will be H.E. Ambassador Mr. Hugh Richardson, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Japan who will discuss the current economic relationship between the EU and Japan.

  7. In May, the EBC secretariat will welcome an intern, who will initially work for one day a week. Executive Policy Officer, Clemence Mayali will be leaving her position at the EBC in May.

4. FUNDING & FUND-RAISING:

  1. Date for audit of the EBC 2006 cash balances, cash receipts and disbursements is April 2

  2. Update on additional funding lines (other than stakeholder and committee member fees):

    1. European Wood - OK for the time being.

    2. Eurochambres for ETP promotion

    3. Eucomed for visit organisation and information services - currently suspended due to the departure of the Eucomed Secretary General. The EBC Secretariat will meet with an Eucomed board member in April to discuss further collaboration

    4. This year the EBC will not receive additional funding from the Gateway program, as the relevant contract has not been awarded to Eurochambres (which was planning to subcontract the EBC for some tasks), but instead to the private consulting firm of Deloitte and Touche.

    5. Further, the UK IT accreditation organization (ISEB) has decided not to establish an office in Japan, instead it will focus on China and India.

    6. The EBC may derive additional sources of funding from administering private consultation services. A couple of cases are currently under consideration.

5. REPORT FROM THE POLICY DIRECTOR:

  1. Food Committee: The committee is concerned with the possibility that the government may introduce new regulations requiring that the country of origin for each ingredient and production date of the product be provided on all product labels.

  2. Banking Committee: On March 5th, Mr. Ohkubo, Member of the House of Representatives gave a presentation on DPJ Financial Policies to the EBC Committee.

  3. Airline Committee: Liberalisation of pricing is moving forward at a fast speed. Only business class fares remain regulated, but lowest acceptable fares are lower than market price.

  4. Immigration regulation: As a part of the major revision of the immigration control law scheduled for next year, the council is considering an overhaul of the re-entry permit system. Separately, the EBC Policy Director recently met with Deputy Director-General of the Economic Affairs Bureau of MOFA to discuss proposed language requirements for visa applicants. MOFA maintains that the new measures discussed should not be applied to businessmen or family related visas but rather be seen as a way to facilitate the entry of otherwise disqualified workers by demonstrating Japanese language skills to get working permits.

  5. The EBC has received many visits of the government affairs representatives from the headquarters office of major European companies, who wish to deepen their knowledge of regulatory obstacles in Japan and establish closer relations with their Japan offices.

  6. A new Organic Committee, to be chaired by Duco Delgorge, has been formed and the first meeting will be held on April 11 at the EBC office.

7. OTHER BUSINESS: ………

  1. Mr. Ullner reported that preparations are underway for the next North America Europe Golf Challenge in Japan to be held in September 2008.