EBC JOINT BOARD of GOVERNORS, EOB, COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN MEETING

Friday, February 08, 2008; EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation, 08:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

Attendees: P. van den Heuvel, R. Collasse, A. Murray. J. Edberg, C. Mayali, R. Kracklauer, R.Scherpenhuijsen Rom, Dr. M. Lachaussee, P. Thewliss, M. Hasegawa, C. Eklund, G. Zorn, C. Eilersen, M. Theoval, H. Suzuki, P. Komender, A. Montanari, J. Legewie, F. Tilot, S. Ginoux; M. Hoffmann; H. Tempel, F. Sanda, G. Keown, J-I Olsen, A. Carbajo
Regrets: R. P. van Oppen, A. Mankiewicz, V. Trelut, E. Ullner, D. Delgorge, D.Buckley, T. Strand, O. Benz, L.Zukauskaite, Y. Yamada, P. Avril, J. Lawdon, S. Kamijo, A. Frauenknecht, J-P Oulevey, L. Dubois, H-P Musahl, P. Suszycki-Tanaka, T. Varlid

1. REPORT FROM THE EC DELEGATION:

In the coming months, the European Delegation to Japan will be extremely busy preparing for the G8 Summit being held in July in Hokkaido. Numerous meetings, a total of 77 thus far, that will address economic and political issues with a special focus on the environment, employment, and technology, as well as visits from EU delegates, are planned. Many of these meetings may serve as an opportunity for the EBC to provide briefings on business issues, such as the meeting held this week with Director-General Zourek.

On February 4, the President of the European Parliament, Mr Hans-Gert P?ttering, arrived in Japan for a 5-day visit. Japan is the first stop on the President's visit of the Asian region. During the visit, a Reception was held in his honor and he presented a speech at Keio University. The EU Parliament President highlighted the close relations between Japan and the EU, especially in light of the common values for democracy and human rights that the countries share. The President's visit also sought to focus attention on specific issues of human rights and environment including the death penalty and climate change. On February 9 in Tokyo, the EU Commissioner for Economic Affairs, ECB President, and Eurogroup President, will be in Japan to take part in the G7 Finance Ministers meeting.

The EU Delegation has been closely following the discussions on investments in airports, specifically the new proposal by MLIT to limit the shares held by foreign investors in airports. The Delegation is also monitoring the progress or lack of progress in the discussion on merger rules, as it seems that the new revisions on triangular merger are not convincing, considering the fact that only one merger has happened thus far. Finally, in preparation for this year's EU-Japan Summit, the Director General of DG Relex will meet with MOFA Director to discuss the status of commercial relations between the two countries.

2. REPORT FROM THE CHAIRMAN:

1. Meeting with Director-General Zourek (D-G Enterprise): On January 28, the EBC Chairman, the Executive Director, and the Policy Director, met with Director General Zourek, DG Enterprise to take part in an informational session on the Japanese business and investment environment. The meeting was also attended by an EPFIA representative and an ACEA representative. During the meeting, the Director General Zourek provided his global vision of economic and business development.
2. Presentation to Japan Investment Council (JIC) Replacement - "Expert Committee on FDI": On January 30, Chairman Collasse was invited to take part in the Expert Committee on FDI under the renewed Japan Investment Council, an advisory body to the Prime Minister on foreign investment that is chaired by Minister Ota. EBC Chairman noted that this is an extremely significant pipeline for conveying the messages of the EBC, and he took the opportunity to present the 2007 EBC White Paper along with a presentation on renewing and boosting the Japanese economy.
3. Presentation on EIA to Joint Chamber - BLCCJ Breakfast on February 6: On February 6, EBC Chairman Collasse gave a speech to a joint chamber breakfast organized the Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in Japan (BLCCJ) on the "Vision for an Economic Integration Agreement". EBC Chairman thanked Fabrice Tilot, President of the BLCCJ, for the invitation, and further noted that it was a good opportunity to inform members of the Chambers on prominent policy issues.
4. On February 15th Chairman Collasse will make a presentation to the Working Group of the Council for Economic and Fiscal Policy on the EBC's vision and scope of an Economic Integration Agreement.

3. REPORT FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:

1. Change in status of JIEA to Ireland-Japan Chamber of Commerce
   Executive Director Murray expressed congratulations on behalf of the EBC to the JIEA for their new status as the Ireland Chamber of Commerce. Gerard Keown, JIEA explained that after a lengthy process of discussion and negotiations with various government entities involved, a new constitution was produced, and the Ireland-Japan of Commerce was officially established as Irish and approved by the METI on 11 January 2008.
2. EBC EIA Paper: After a year of research, analysis and internal discussion among many Committee members, the EBC will release the finalized version of the Draft EIA Paper to internal and external stakeholders for review and feedback. Stakeholders, BOG, and EOB will be given until February 25 to provide comments and feedback on the paper. EBC Executive Director encouraged the attendees to participate in the review and comment process as much as possible. She further emphasized that an early draft of the paper was presented to the EIA European Task Force in December. EBC Chairman further mentioned that it is critically important to maintain a unified position on an ambitious integrative trade agreement that is comprehensive enough to implement true mutual recognition and flow of goods, services, capital and people between the two countries.
   EU Delegation. Mr. Peter Van Heuvel, confirmed that the position of the EU Commission is to give priority to the WTO DDA. At this point in time, the EU government continues to observe the EIA discussion process with interest, however, any discussion on a trade agreement must be put into the context of not only the WTO, but also the European Japan Joint Action Plan signed in 2001. He indicated that the Commission is keen to look at options for a post-10-Yr-Action- Plan relationship and is awaiting the industry recommendations with interest.
   Questions and subsequent discussion on the rationale, scope, and objectives of the economic integration agreement followed. It was agreed that a Special Meeting BOG Meeting on EIA would be organized tentatively for March 24 pending the date of the Joint EU-Japan EIA Taskforce, which is not yet known. (Please note this date is no longer convenient and April 4 has been set instead)
3. Visit of Japan Director of Enterprise Ireland: On January 30, EBC Executive Director attended a social event for the Japan Manager of Enterprise Ireland to discuss current trade issues
4. On February 4, the Executive Director, Policy Director and EBC Stakeholder Chamber Presidents met with the President of the EU Parliament at a social event at Ambassador Richardson's residence. The meeting was an opportunity to brief the President informally on the economic and market access concerns of the European businesses as well as the general state of the economy in Japan.
5. Executive Training Programme (ETP): On February 21 and 22, the EBC Executive Director will participate in the kick-off meeting in Valencia prior to the start of the 2008/9 ETP recruitment cycle. She will make a presentation on "Why Japan?" to the other recruiters. The new recruitment cycle will begin in March. The EBC continues to work as the recruitment arm for Eurochambres in Japan.
6. Ukraine EBO programme: EBC Secretariat will host a 2-day programme for the Ukrainian European Business Association, whose trip is being funded by the European Commission. The Programme of activities includes informative sessions on membership, committee management, lobbying and advocacy, and funding sources.
7. On March 13, Executive Director Murray will participate in an EPA Seminar organized by MOFA.

4. FUNDING & FUND-RAISING:

1. Statement of Cash balances and of cash receipts and disbursements - 2007
   The Executive Director distributed the Statement of 2007 cash balances, cash receipts and disbursements. The Statement illustrates that Committee membership fees now account for around one-third of funding, and miscellaneous sources of funding such as White Paper Sponsorships also account for around one-third of funding. Stakeholder payments also account for roughly one-third.

   Additional funding sources for 2007 include:
   Confirmed:

   1. European Wood:
   2. Ultracall donations
   3. Golf (DaimlerChrysler cup) registration fees
   4. Eurochambres for ETP promotion

   To be Confirmed

   5. Eucomed for visit organisation and liaison services
   6. Eurochambres for Gateway liaison

5. REPORT FROM THE POLICY DIRECTOR:

1. EBC Policy Director noted that as of January, committee activity level has been rather low in January.
2. Medical Equipment Committee: The Committee has been deeply involved in discussions over reimbursement issues and at certification at several working groups of the Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare.
3. Immigration Regulations: The Regulatory Reform Council is continuing discussions on reform of foreign registration procedures including the possibility of introducing an IC Card. The council is looking into the possibilities of also scrapping the re-entry permit system as a part of the major revision of the immigration control law scheduled for next year.
4. Construction Committee: The Committee has started to look into the lack of regulations for CO2 emissions in the construction sector.
5. MIPRO Presentation: The interest in rules for foreign investments have increased anew in recent weeks. The Policy Director reported on an FDI presentation to MIPRO on January 16, which was attended by many local government officials.
6. Defense Committee, Chairman Ginoux: The Committee's annual reception was a success attended by 400 guests including Parliament members. The Committee will soon host the second meeting of the Benkyokai with politicians.
7. Telecommunications Committee, Chairman Hasegawa: The Committee is working on the submission of public comments to the MIC on next generation network. The Committee is further considering providing a brief on comparison of the network environment in the UK and Japan.
8. Automotive Committee: The market situation for the automotive sector remains unchanged. The Committee has begun publicizing the prominent need for tax breaks and is concerned with the possibility of an extension of the acquisition tax.

6. ORGANISATIONAL ITEMS:

1. New EBC Chairman Representative Required: As Jean Francois Minier recently stepped down as the Banking Committee Chairman, we need another chairman to take a Representative position in the BOG with a voting right. The Executive Director will follow-up in due course.