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Copyright © International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). All rights reserved. ( Source of the document: ICC Digital Library )
by Guillermo C. Jimenez
Summary
International organisations are commonly divided into two categories:
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which may be associations or federations representing business, sectoral, professional, consumer, environmental or other interests.
> Notable examples : International Chamber of Commerce (IC C), International Maritime Committee (CMI), International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA).
Intergovernmental organisations (IGOs): these are the creation of groups of nation states and are staffed with international civil servants.
> Notable examples : United Nations ( UN), World Customs Organization (WCO), World Trade Organization (WTO ).
Several of the key international organisations (and their most widely-known publications and instruments) are discussed in this chapter.
Local, regional and national chambers of commerce often contain international departments for assisting importers and exporters. Many chambers organize seminars and provide information on trade and trade-related procedures. Commonly, large or well-funded chambers will also organize trade missions to assist exporters in finding customers, agents or distributors in foreign markets. The first “chambre de commerce” was established in 1599 in Marseille. The concept caught on and expanded in the 18th and 19th centuries, with chambers opening in New York (1768), Calcutta (1834) and Paris (1873). Today, virtually every major city in the world has an active chamber of commerce.
> The World Business Organization
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the world business organization based in Paris, is of fundamental importance in international trade. Although ICC’s activities are diverse, of primary interest to the exporter and importer is ICC’s role as a developer of international commercial, legal and banking standards.
Notably, ICC developed the rules that govern global documentary credit (letter of credit) practice — the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCP 600). On the legal side, ICC’s International Court of Arbitration is the world’s foremost private commercial dispute-resolution forum. ICC Incoterms, standard trade terms such as FOB and CIF, define the legal content of price quotes in international transactions.
ICC serves world business by promoting trade and investment and open markets for goods and services, as well as the free flow of capital. It defends the private enterprise system and encourages self-regulation by business. Founded in 1919, ICC is a non-[Page32:]governmental organisation whose network is composed of over six million member companies and business associations in more than 100 countries and across all economic sectors.
Approximately 90 ICC national committees throughout the world present ICC views to their governments and alert Paris international headquarters to national business concerns. ICC is financed partially through revenues received from dues paid by its member companies and business associations to ICC national committees. A further share of ICC’s revenues comes from administrative fees earned by the ICC Court of International Arbitration. Additional income is generated by the marketing of ICC rules and codes, as well as other books (ICC Publications) and seminars.
ICC has had general consultative status with the United Nations (U.N.) since 1946, where it puts forward the consensus views of business worldwide, including industrialized and developing countries. On 13 December 2016, ICC was granted Observer Status by the UN General Assembly, making ICC the only business organisation allowed to participate as an Observer in the sessions and work of the General Assembly It also maintains close working relations with the World Trade Organization (WTO ), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the European Commission and other intergovernmental and nongovernmental bodies. ICC’s permanent observer at the U.N. in New York monitors developments affecting business within the U.N. and its specialized agencies. ICC ensures that business concerns are brought to the attention of intergovernmental organisations, through policy statements issued from its international headquarters in Paris and via the representations of ICC national committees to their national governments throughout the world.
> Business Self–Regulation
ICC draws up voluntary codes of ethical conduct for international business. Its Business Charter for Sustainable Development contains 8 principles that articulate business contributions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goars (SDGs). ICC Marketing and Advertising Codes cover ethical conduct as regards direct marketing, advertising, sales promotion, marketing research, environmental advertising and sponsorship. ICC has also issued rules against corruption, bribery and unethical business practices in international trade (revised in 1999 and 2005).
> ICC Commissions and Working Parties (Task Forces)
Specialist ICC commissions meet regularly to review issues affecting world business. They cover a wide range of subjects, including banking, commercial law and practice, competition policy, corporate responsibility and anticorruption, customs and trade facilitation, the digital economy, environment and energy, intellectual property, marketing and advertising, taxation, and trade and investment policy. These policy commissions are, in effect, international committees of senior business experts, including traders, lawyers, carriers, bankers and other professionals. When a particular commission decides to undertake a project, it creates a sub-committee, known as a task force, to accomplish the given task.
Most of ICC’s key instruments are products of these commissions and task forces. For example, the revision of Incoterms® or UCP is first entrusted to a task force of experts, operating as a drafting group. Revised drafts are then circulated internationally through ICC national committees, with the resulting comments channeled back to the task force. Final drafts, once approved by the task force and commission, are submitted for adoption by the ICC governing bodies.
> ICC Commercial Crime Services
This is the umbrella organisation of three ICC units dealing with different aspects of crime affecting business. They are the:
> International Maritime Bureau, which deals with all types of maritime crime, including fraud, cargo theft and piracy;[Page33:]
> Financial Investigation Bureau, which provides commercial banks the financial services sector and investors with a range of services to combat financial fraud and money laundering; and
> Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau, which helps companies to prevent the faking of their products.
> World Chambers Federation
World Chambers Federation (WCF) is ICC’s platform for serving the global chamber of commerce community. Over 12,000 local, regional, national, bilateral and transnational chambers from all over the world work with WCF on a variety of projects and activities.
WCF’s World Chambers Congress is the only international forum where chamber leaders and executives worldwide meet to share best practice experience, develop networks and learn about new areas of innovation from other chambers as they face the challenge of remaining relevant to companies in their region. The Congress is held every two years in different regions of the world. A key feature of the Congress is the World Chambers Competition, rewarding chamber best practice.
WCF also manages the ATA Carnet System and its guarantee chain for temporary duty-free imports. Approximately 85 countries use the ATA Carnet for the temporary admission of commercial samples, professional equipment and goods destined for international trade fairs and similar events. WCF is also actively supporting chambers in their issuance of certificates of origin, by establishing international guidelines as well as working with agencies such as the WCO and regional trade bodies to reinforce the important role chambers play in supporting international trade.
> ICC Publications
ICC publications is the publishing arm of the International Chamber of Commerce. This service provides precious resources for international business; invaluable for bankers, lawyers, arbitrators and anyone involved in cross-border trade. The content of ICC’s publications is derived from the work of ICC commission, institutions and individual international experts.
Our list of products covers three broad categories — ICC standards and rules, practical guidelines, and reference works.
Local language translations are available from the National Committees (NC).
For more information please visit:https://iccwbo.org/about-us/global-network/regional-offices/
ICC publications may be ordered directly on www.storeiccwbo.org.
This website offers a complete overview of all currently available publications and e-books.
> International Air Transport Association (IATA) (Montreal and Geneva)
The trade organisation for the world’s airlines, IATA has had an important role in simplifying and standardizing air transport documents, such as air waybills.
More information is available at www.iata.org.
> International Federation of Freight Forwarder’s Associations (FIATA) (Zurich)
This world organisation promotes standards and quality in international freight forwarding. Certain FIATA standard documents, such as the FIATA Bill of Lading, have become indispensable in international trade. FIATA’s customs clearance manual is another important professional reference tool in transport circles.
More information is available at www.fiata.com.[Page34:]
> International Maritime Committee (CMI — for Comité Maritime International)
An organisation founded in Brussels, Belgium in 1897 to promote the unification of maritime and commercial law, maritime customs, usages and practices. Between 1910 and 1971, the CMI’s work gave birth to 18 “Brussels” conventions and protocols on maritime law, including those key pieces of international regulation of bills of lading generally referred to as the Hague Rules and Hague–Visby Rules.
More information is available at www.comitemaritime.org.
> International Road Transport Union (IRU)
An international federation based in Geneva, Switzerland, representing commercial operators of road vehicles. The IRU notably administers the TIR customs system, which allows lorries or trucks sealed by customs officials to cross intervening national borders without having to undergo full customs formalities.
More information is available at www.iru.org.
The United Nations’ international private law body is UNCITRAL, based in Vienna. UNCITRAL works primarily on instruments intended to become a part of international or national law, such as treaties, conventions and model and uniform laws. Among other instruments, UNCITRAL has approved an international convention for independent bank guarantees and a model law for electronic data interchange. Perhaps UNCITRAL’s key contribution to international trade has been the Vienna Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, the drafting of which was concluded in 1980 and which entered into force in 1988. UNCITRAL Rules for International Commercial Arbitration provide an alternative to other arbitral and litigation systems.
UNCITRAL’s website is at www.uncitral.org.
The International Institute for the Unification of Private Trade Law (UNIDROIT) was established in Rome as an international organisation under the League of Nations; it continued an independent existence after the founding of the United Nations. In recent years, UNIDROIT has been active in studying the international private law relating to leasing, agency, franchising and inspection contracts, with a view to proposing international legal conventions where necessary.
More information is available at www.unidroit.org.
Based in Brussels and formerly known as the Customs Cooperation Council, the WCO is the competent global intergovernmental organisation on customs matters. Its membership is composed of national customs administrations, which work together to advance the efficiency of the customs process.
More information is available at www.wcoomd.org.
The International Trade Centre (ITC), based in Geneva, is a cooperative venture between the UN Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO ). UNCTAD is the principal agency of the United Nations’ system for export assistance for developing nations and the ITC provides specific educational and informational tools.[Page35:]
ITC conducts a wide range of training programmes for exporters and importers, as well as local chamber of commerce trainers. The ITC also publishes a full range of export guides focusing on specific areas of trade, such as packaging, marketing or promotion.
The ITC website is at www.intracen.org.
Test Your Knowledge: International Organisations
True/False
Answers: 1. F 2. T 3. T 4. T 5. F