|
Achievements in 2005
In 2005, ICC continued to work purposefully and energetically to increase rules-based global trade and investment and help business meet the challenges and opportunities of globalization.
Rules-writing for business
Technology and privacy
ICC issued international principles on how companies can responsibly deploy a new technology called Electronic Product Codes (EPC) for logistical management which uses electronic chips in products and packaging.
Banking on ICC
Solid progress was made in promoting the use of ICC rules for bank demand guarantees.
Moving on
Intense work continued on the revision of UCP 500 (Uniform Customs and Practices for Documentary Credits), the most widely used set of rules in international trade finance, last revised in 1993, with the aim of completing the revision towards the end of 2006.
Ready reference
A new volume in the celebrated ICC Banking Commission “Opinions” series provides bankers with 120 new Opinions never previously published in book form.
Saving time
A model confidentiality agreement and a handbook on global sourcing contracts, designed to shorten the time spent on negotiations, were added to ICC’s impressive range of trade tools.
Final say
ICC was the main business voice in the finalizing of a new Hague Convention on “choice of court” agreements, guidance likely to assist the drafting of international business contracts.
Trade, investment and globalization
The big push
ICC provided strong support to member governments of the World Trade Organization in the Doha Round of trade talks, especially in the run-up to the meeting of ministers inHong Kong in December. ICC deployed its network and considerable efforts to support moves to reduce trade barriers and subsidies, with a special focus on helping developing countries gain greater market access for their products, especially in agriculture. ICCobtained the support of more than 60 chairmen and CEOs of leading companies from around the world who signed a letter to the Financial Times published on 8 November 2005 calling on governments to redouble their efforts to ensure the success of the Doha Round.
Safeguarding the future
At the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis, ICC’s achievements included: recognition of the critical role of business in the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the Internet as tools for economic growth and social development; acknowledgment in the final texts signed by government leaders of the need for an enabling environment that attracts investment in ICTs, promotes innovation and fosters entrepreneurship; and protection of the free flow of information and the continued development of the Internet, without intergovernmental interference in its technical coordination.
Trade and security
ICC led business input on the World Customs Organization’s new security standards, ensuring that they would not hinder the movement of goods worldwide.
Taxing problem
ICC worked with the OECD on the vexing problem of rationalizing different VAT systems throughout the world.
Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy
With the launch of the acclaimed BASCAP initiative, 2005 was the year ICC energized the fight against the growing menace of counterfeiting and intellectual property theft. BASCAP stakeholders from businesses of all sizes and all sectors came together to educate the public and to make the case for respecting and enforcing intellectual property rights to policymakers.
Just one year into the programme, BASCAP is already yielding positive results – through events held by national committees, media appearances, messages to government officials, and partnering with organizations such as the World Intellectual Property Organization, the World Customs Organization and Interpol.
The group’s initial programme includes:
- Creating a set of counterfeiting and piracy indices to showcase governments that have devoted resources to fighting this activity.
- Collecting and sharing case studies and data on the economic, social and developmental impacts of counterfeiting and piracy.
- Building a clearing house to connect ongoing activities worldwide and share information on strategies across sectors.
- Launching a public education campaign to build awareness among policymakers and consumers.
Business in society issues
Environment
ICC is a partner of the United Nations in its work on the global impact of climate change, and voiced the interests of business at the Montreal meeting of the UN Framework Convention on the subject at the end of 2005.
Corporate governance
ICC’s series of roundtables on corporate governance, launched in Beijing in 2004, had further successes in 2005 in Istanbul and London, reaching out to more than 300 business leaders from 45 countries.
Fighting corruption
ICC issued a tougher version of its rules to combat extortion and bribery, calling on companies to reject facilitation payments and to extend their “no-bribe” policy to all their agents and intermediaries.
Our ‘Oscars’
Building on the success of the 2004 World Business Awards, ICC launched the 2006 contest, focusing on the role business can play in meeting the UN targets for reducing global poverty by 2015.
Waste not
ICC launched Business Action for Energy jointly with the World Energy Council and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. The initiative is designed to be a temporary platform for business input into the 14th and 15th sessions of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD 14 and 15).
| 
