International Chamber of Commerce
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The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is the largest, most representative business organization in the world. Its hundreds of thousands of member companies in over 130 countries have interests spanning every sector of private enterprise.
A world network of national committees keeps the ICC International Secretariat in Paris informed about national and regional business priorities. More than 2,000 experts drawn from ICC’s member companies feed their knowledge and experience into crafting the ICC stance on specific business issues.
The United Nations, the World Trade Organization, and many other intergovernmental bodies, both international and regional, are kept in touch with the views of international business through ICC.
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History
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The International Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1919 to serve world business by promoting trade and investment, open markets for goods and services, and the free flow of capital. The organization's international secretariat was established in Paris and the ICC's International Court of Arbitration was created in 1923.
ICC's first Chairman was Etienne Clémentel. In June 2008 the World Council elected Victor K. Fung as Chairman of ICC, Rajat Gupta as Vice-Chairman and Marcus Wallenberg as Honorary Chairman. In June 2009, Jean Rozwadowski was elected Secretary General by the World Council
Governing bodies
World Councils
ICC' s supreme governing body is the World Council, consisting of representatives of national committees. The World Council elects ICC’s highest officers, including the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman, each of whom serves a two-year term. The Chairman, Vice-Chairman and the Honorary Chairman (the immediate past Chairman) provide the organization with high-level world leadership.
Executive Board
Strategic direction for ICC is provided by its Executive Board, consisting of up to 30 business leaders and ex-officio members. It is elected by the World Council on the recommendation of the Chairmanship. Meeting three times a year, the Executive Board oversees the establishment of ICC’s strategic priorities and the implementation of its policies.
International Secretariat
The ICC International Secretariat, based in Paris, is the operational arm of ICC. It develops and carries out ICC’s work programme, feeding business views into intergovernmental organizations on issues that directly affect business operations. The International Secretariat is led by the Secretary General, who is appointed by the World Council.
National Committees
In 90 of the world’s nations, members have established formal ICC structures called national committees. In countries where there is no national committee, companies and organizations such as chambers of commerce and professional associations can become direct members.
Finance Committee
The Finance Committee advises the Executive Board on all financial matters. On behalf of the Executive Board, it prepares the budget and regularly reports to the board. It reviews the financial implications of ICC activities and supervises the flow of revenues and expenses of the organization.
Dispute Resolution Services
ICC International Court of Arbitration has received 14,000 cases since its inception in 1923.[citation needed] Over the past decade, the Court's workload has considerably expanded.
The Court's membership has also grown and now covers 86 countries. With representatives in North America, Latin and Central America, Africa and the Middle East and Asia, the ICC Court has significantly increased its training activities on all continents and in all major languages used in international trade.
ICC Dispute Resolution Services exist in many forms:
- Amicable dispute resolution offers a framework for the settlement of disputes with the assistance of a neutral. Parties choose the settlement technique, such as negotiation or a mini-trial.
- Dispute boards are independent bodies designed to help resolve disagreements arising during the course of a contract.
- Expertise is a way of finding the right person to make an independent assessment on any subject relevant to business operations.
- DOCDEX provides expert decisions to resolve disputes related to documentary credits, collections and demand guarantees, incorporating ICC banking rules.
Policy and business practices
ICC policies, rules and standards are prepared by specialized working bodies. Normal procedure requires policy statements first to be adopted by a commission, in consultation with national committees, and then approved by the Executive Board, before they can be regarded as official and public ICC positions.
Commissions examine major policy issues of interest to world business. Each national committee (NC) or group may appoint delegates to represent it at meetings. Officers are appointed by the Chairman and Secretary General in consultation with NCs. Meetings of commissions are normally held twice a year.
Task forces are constituted under the various commissions for a limited period to undertake specific projects and report back to their parent commission. Some task forces may include representatives of more than one commission.
World Chambers Federation
The World Chambers Federation represents ICC's chamber of commerce members worldwide. WCF was first established by ICC in 1951 as the International Bureau of Chambers of Commerce.
WCF is a non-political, non-governmental body representing the interests of local, national, regional, bilateral and transnational chambers of commerce and industry.
Chambers represent companies of all sizes, particularly small-to medium-sized enterprises. WCF promotes and protects the chamber of commerce as an essential intermediary between business and government and between business and the general public.
ICC Events
Staged all over the world, ICC events range from large topical conferences to training sessions for small groups. These smaller seminars and courses share ICC’s expertise on commercial arbitration, dispute resolution mechanisms like mediation, Incoterms, uniform customs and practice for documentary credits (UCP) and others.
ICC Publications
ICC Publications is the publishing arm of the International Chamber of Commerce providing business with essential resources in three broad categories: ICC rules and guidelines, practical commentaries, and reference works. The content of ICC’s publications is derived from the work of ICC commissions, institutions and individual international experts.
ICC publishes mainly for international lawyers, arbitrators, bankers, traders and students covering topics such as international banking, international trade reference and terms, law and arbitration, counterfeiting and fraud and model commercial contracts. The best known publications, Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits and Incoterms, have been translated into more than 30 languages.
ICC offers its publications not only in the traditional paper format, but also in electronic format, so called eBooks.
ICC Commercial Crime Services
ICC Commercial Crime Services (CCS) provides the world business community with a centralized crime-fighting body. It draws on the worldwide resources of its members in the fight against commercial crime.
From its base in London, and comprising three distinct crime-fighting divisions, CCS operates according to two basic precepts: to prevent commercial crime and to investigate and help prosecute commercial criminals.
The specialized divisions of CCS are:
- International Maritime Bureau
- Financial Investigation Bureau
- Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau
Special projects
BASCAP (Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy)
ICC established BASCAP to take a leading role in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy.
BASCAP unites the global business community to more effectively identify and address intellectual property rights issues and petition for greater commitments by local, national and international officials in the enforcement and protection of IPR.
The work of BASCAP aims to:
- Increase both awareness and understanding of counterfeiting and piracy activities and the associated economic and social harm
- Compel government action and the allocation of resources towards improved IPR enforcement
- Create a culture change to ensure intellectual property is respected and protected
BASCAP speaks out on the damage caused by counterfeiting and piracy, including:
- Harm to the economy, loss of employment prospects
- Danger to consumer health and safety
- Loss of innovation and poor quality products
- Financial links to organized crime
- Erosion of technology transfer
BASIS (Business Action to Support the Information Society)
ICC set up BASIS (Business Action to Support the Information Society) in mid-2006 to serve as the voice of businesses on Internet governance and information and communications technologies (ICTs) issues.
Governments and other actors are demanding a far greater voice in how these technologies are managed. Sharing experiences and pooling the expertise of governments, business and civil society is crucial to building understanding on these issues. Through the networks of ICC, BASIS ensures that business perspectives are taken into account.
BASIS speaks out on a wide range of critical issues, including:
- Internet governance matters such as data protection, privacy, security, and the technical management and coordination of the Internet
- liberalization of the telecoms market
- entrepreneurship
- innovation
- ICTs as tools for development
ICC Research Foundation
The ICC Research Foundation (ICCRF) was established in 2009 by ICC to commission independent research that contributes to public knowledge, education and debate on the benefits of global trade and investment. The research projects funded by the ICCRF and conducted by leading international researchers and organizations, contribute to the following aims:
- Demonstrate how employment and growth flow from an expansion of international trade and investment
- Establish that a multilateral approach is particularly beneficial to that end
- Document how protectionism works against the public interest by eroding employment, sustainable growth and the market economy
- Promote a deeper understanding by policymakers, the media and the public at large of the benefits of global trade and investment
External links
- ICC website
- ICC Policy and Rules
- ICC International Court of Arbitration
- Commercial Crime Services
- World Chambers Federation
- ICC Events
- ICC Books
- BASCAP
- BASIS
- ICC Research Foundation
- ICC site in Arabic
- ICC Indonesia site
- ICC India site
- ICC Italia
- ICC Singapore
- ICC Malaysia
- ICC Ukraine (Ukrainian NC)
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