EBC Meeting Minutes

EOB Meeting Notes

Tuesday, July 4, 2006; EBC Office, 08.30 a.m. - 0930 a.m..

      

Attendees: R. Collasse, A. Murray, J. Edberg, K. Harris, P. Gibb, M. Hoffman, M. Lachaussee,
P. van Oppen, A. Zimmerman
Regrets: H. Tempel, F. Cazzoli, C. Eilersen, H. Porat, M. Schaedlich, E. Ullner, T. Strand, G. Keown

1. NEW EOB MEMBER:
Alison Murray confirmed that Mr Thorstein Strand is joining the Executive Operating Board (EOB) on behalf of the Norwegian Chamber of Commerce in Japan. An updated list of EOB Members was distributed to participants.

2. REPORT FROM THE CHAIRMAN:

  1. Gave breakfast presentation on the aims and work of the EBC to the ICCJ on May 30.

  2. On behalf of EBC, hosted farewell lunch for Ambassador Zepter on June 29. A small group of members close to the Ambassador were invited.

  3. Lunch has been scheduled on July 13, ahead of the formal start of the EU-Japan Business Dialogue Round Table (EJBDRT) with G?nter Verheugen, Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry.

  4. Contributed EBC view to an article in the "B?rsen Zeitung" of June 7 on the potential extent of the Japanese economic recovery.

3. EJBDRT:
The Chairman confirmed that the EJBDRT will take place on July 13 and 14 at the Palace Hotel in Tokyo (see latest program attached), culminating in a joint press conference and closing dinner on July 14. He advised that:

  • Six CEOs will participate from the EU-side, seventeen from the Japanese side.

  • The EBC Executive Director is acting as the sherpa in Japan for the EU Co-Chair, Baron Georges Jacobs. She will arrange a dinner on July 12, to give an opportunity for Baron Jacobs to meet European participants and EBC Members.

  • The lack of clear terms of reference for the Round Table is a source of problems in organizing the event and ensuring it is properly resourced (for example, there is still no official sherpa for the EU Co-Chair in Europe and no specific EBC budgetary provision for the event, although industry is expected to absorb the costs). The Executive Director proposes to raise this at the dinner on July 12 and suggest that terms of reference should be developed for future Round Tables.

  • The EBC has succeeded in getting agreement to establish a Working Party on Financial Services. The EU Co-Chair for this Working Party will be from AXA, with Rabo Bank also involved.

  • The Japanese Government has expressed concern regarding some EU-side inputs (for example, on telecoms) and sought changes to their content. The EBC response will be to explain that these inputs represent the independent view of EU industry and are offered as well-intended contributions to an open dialogue on how the Japanese market could be improved.

Draft documentation for the Round Table was distributed, comprising:

  • Progress Report Assessment on 2005 Recommendation Items & New Recommendation Items for 2006

  • BDRT 2006 Recommendations

  • Working Party 1 - Europe Side Recommendations - Prepared by EBC

  • Outline Speech - Market Access: Mergers & Acquisitions and Regulatory Environment

4. REPORT FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:

a) ETP Promotion: The EBC generated eight applications for the program, of whom seven have been selected for interview. Two of these candidates have apparently cited other organizations as their main source of information on the program: the EBC will challenge one of these (as the candidate in question participated in the EBC-organised ETP information lunch), since bonuses are payable to organizations whose candidates are ultimately selected. A new round of applications will start in November for the next recruitment period.

b) ETPA staff replacement: ChristianMarquant left in June. ETPA has identified a replacement, who has been interviewed by the EBC Executive Director and will start work in August. The new employee will work 2 days/week for ETPA and 2 days/week for the EBC.

c) Secretariat visits and meetings:

  • Tokyo Chamber of Commerce: The EBC was invited to participate in an event organized by the International Committee of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce on how Japan should best handle its foreign workforce. The EBC Executive Director raised in particular the issue of re-entry permits.

  • Japan Market Expansion Competition: The EBC has been invited to sponsor this Competition and the Executive Director attended its most recent awards ceremony.

  • ACCJ: The EBC was invited to a farewell lunch with Don Westmore, retiring Executive Director of the ACCJ, and his replacement Samuel Kidder. During the lunch, the possibility of a joint ACCJ-EBC press conference was raised, as a way to publicise shared messages in the respective White Papers being published this Autumn. However, the ACCJ is planning to use a press conference as the main launch event for its White Paper and does not feel it would be appropriate to involve the EBC, while not ruling out the possibility of a joint event later on.

    The ACCJ confirmed that it will be publishing a report on CSR during 2006 and invited the EBC Chairman to make a short presentation (5 minutes) at the launch event, which EBC Members will be invited to attend.

  • ETP: A lunch meeting was held on June 22 with Professor Ota, during which he gave an overview of the new ETP course and sought participation from EBC Members.

  • Fukuoka Prefecture: Mr Watanabe from Fukuoka Prefecture visited the EBC (date??) to explain the efforts being made to encourage FDI in his region.

5. REPORT FROM THE POLICY DIRECTOR
Committee activities and cross-cutting items

  • Parallel Imports: A meeting on 6 June, bringing together members of the Retail, Automotive ad Cosmetics Committees, confirmed interest in developing a common statement. The Policy Director will work on a first draft.

  • New Media & Communications Committee: Following strong initial interest, around 35 companies were represented at a meeting on June 9, where it was decided that a new Media & Communication Committee should be established under the chairmanship of the CNC PR agency. However, many of those attending the meeting were either journalists or Heads of company PR departments, rather than Communications specialists, and they have so far shown little interest in actually signing up to join the Committee, such that to-date the numbers are disappointingly low.

  • The Tax Committee held a well-attended lunch on June 6, to discuss the UK-Japan Tax Treaty, with British tax experts participating.

  • The Airlines Committee has drafted a position paper, which members are now using as the basis for discussions with governments, without having it formally published as an EBC position. Equally, the Liquor Committee has developed a good position paper, which it has chosen, for the time-being, not to use as the basis for discussions with government.

  • The Telecommunications Carriers Committee has a new Chair: Ian Pulford from BT Japan. The Committee is planning to hold a seminar on July 20, open to EBC Members and others (the Secretariat will distribute further details in due course).

  • The French Embassy has raised concerns with the EU Delegation that not enough is being done between the meetings of the EU-Japan Regulatory Reform Dialogue to work on the issues raised and foster change. The EU Delegation argues that its energies are taken up with simply keeping the process on track and that it is up to the Member State Embassies to manage the issues between meetings. Against this background, it has been decided to launch Task Forces to bring together representatives from the Embassies and the EBC to discuss specific concerns relating to Agriculture, BSE, Financial Services, Procurement, Airlines and Re-entry Permits. While the EBC will actively participate in the Task Forces, particularly to provide technical content, it is hoped the Task Forces will promote better coordination between the Embassies of the work they are each doing on trade-related issues affecting EU companies in Japan.

6. EOB LIAISON RESPONSIBILITIES

Discussion of a draft list of EBC Vice-Chairman Committee Liaison Responsibilities was held over until the next meeting.

7. ANY OTHER BUSINESS:

The EU Delegation has for some time been promoting the idea of a new EBC committee on "Innovation", to draw together issues such as the R&D environment in Japan (funding, coordination, business-academic links, etc.,) and promoting greater cooperation between EU and Japanese companies on research projects. The EBC Chairman explained that, while the idea has merit, at the moment there is no demand from companies for such a Committee within the EBC, and without such demand, the EBC cannot work on the issue. Moreover, the EBC tends to deal with matters relating to regulatory reform and would normally consider R&D strategy and practices to be the domain of Member State Embassies.