International Chamber of Commerce

Background

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) describes itself as 'the voice of world business' They describe that as national economies are now so closely interwoven, government decisions have far stronger international repercussions than they have in the past. The ICC states that they respond to this by 'being more assertive in expressing business views'. They advertise how they have direct access to national governments all over the world and that they feed business views into intergovernmental organizations on issues that directly affect business operations.

The ICC plays an active role in forging internationally agreed rules and standards and act as advocates on behalf of business 'whenever governments make decisions that crucially affect corporate strategies and the bottom line'. They influence the United Nations, the World Trade Organization 'and many other intergovernmental bodies, both international and regional'.

The ICC advertise that they have thousands of member companies and associations in around 130 countries. Members of the ICC 'include many of the world's most influential companies and represent every major industrial and service sector'.

Biographical Information

History

The ICC was founded in 1919 with the aim of serving world business by promoting trade and investment, open markets for goods and services, and the free flow of capital. Its establishment was heavily influence by its first president Etienne Clémentel who was a former French minister of commerce. He set up the organization's international secretariat in Paris and facilitated the creation of the ICC International Court of Arbitration in 1923.

In 1924 ICC members were to be found influencing the Dawes Commission which established the international treaty on war reparations. They have also been a strong influence on the United Nations. As far back as 1945, only a year after the UN was established, the ICC gained the 'highest level consultative status' with the UN and its specialized agencies. Since this time, they have worked to ensure that the business agenda has been a strong influence in the UN, as well as through taking part and pushing their agenda with intergovernmental bodies and at other meetings such as those of the G8.

Current activities

As we reach in to the 21st Century, the ICC are reporting that they are working to build a stronger presence in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and the emerging economies of eastern and central Europe.

Views

The ICC are advocates and champions of the self-regulation model of business. They advocate that business operates most effectively with a minimum of government intervention and that codes of conduct and the likes should be purely voluntary agreements.

Subsidiaries

• International Court of Arbitration - The ICC International Court of Arbitration is the longest established institution of the ICC network. It was formed in 1923 and is described as 'the world's leading body for resolving international commercial disputes by arbitration'. It is reported that in 2004, 561 Requests for Arbitration were filed with the ICC Court concerning 1,682 parties from 116 different countries and independent territories.

• The World Chambers Federation - (formerly known as the International Bureau of Chambers of Commerce) was set up in 1951 to represent and strengthen links between chambers worldwide and in doing so promote the view of the Chamber of Commerce as an 'essential intermediary between business and government and between business and the general public'.

• Institute of World Business Law - this ICC institution acts as a think-tank which works closely with the ICC policy commissions and the ICC's International Court of Arbitration. This institute holds an Annual Meeting which brings together 'some of the world's leading legal experts' to network on a chosen topical issue with the aim of establishing a 'doctrine'.

Affiliations

UN Global Compact and the 'creeping corporate takeover of the UN'

The UN Global Compact was established in 2000 with the stated aims of encouraging companies to sign up to agreements of principles relating to human rights, labour standards, environmental protection and anti-corruption. This is a voluntary initiative which states one of its aims as to work towards the UN's Millennium Development Goals.

In 2002, Jupiter wrote in the Guardian of how the creation of the Compact reflected a 'creeping corporate takeover of the UN itself'. One of the key players instrumental in setting up the Compact was the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the world business organisation which describes itself as 'the voice of world business'. In the words of Jupiter:

'The ICC has been involved with blocking the agreement of several international environmental standards, including the Kyoto protocol on climate change, the Basel convention on toxic waste and the convention on biological diversity. Given this environmentally challenged track record, the fact that the ICC played an instrumental role in setting up the compact should set the alarm bells ringing. After the Seattle protests in 1999, the momentum for corporate globalisation was in danger of stalling. Campaigners pressing the case for international regulation on the environment, labour standards and human rights, staged highly effective protests against the way businesses had acted to craft an international economic order to promote their own ends. For defusing this pressure, what better remedy than to co-opt the UN through firms adopting aims apparently aligned to its peace, security and environment agenda?'

As Annan himself has acknowledged in addressing the UN's general assembly, "The global compact is not intended as, and does not have the capacity to be, a corporate code of conduct or global standard,". There is no systematic scrutiny of corporate performance against the Compact's principles and Juniper reports that the ICC had 'been at pains to prevent the compact from having compliance or monitoring mechanisms'.

Juniper describes the Compact as acting as a smokescreen for corporations to hide behind, an effective method of positive PR with little cost or effort. The article reports that the actions of companies reinforce the strong impression that the Compact is little more that a 'public relations vehicle for companies'. DaimlerChrysler is one example given when the 'automotive mammoth' published a booklet with a picture of one of its senior executives, Matthias Kleinert, shaking hands with Annan in front of the UN flag. The article continues by stating that, 'they are not alone in exploiting this opportunity for public relations purposes: Nike's Phil Knight pulled off a similar photographic coup, while chemicals giant Bayer has cited its membership of the compact as a means of dealing with public criticisms. It is thus difficult not to see the compact as providing a very effective (and cheap) public relations vehicle for international business, while requiring executives to do nothing more.'

Publications, Contact, Resources and Notes

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