International Chamber of Commerce

Local chambers of commerce have been known since the sixteenth century, chambers of the country level from ΧΙΧ century, but in all cases they represented the local interests of entrepreneurs of a city or country. The first attempt to create an international body with the function of a chamber of commerce dates back to 1905, when several European chambers established the International Congress of Chambers of Commerce in Liege . At the last meeting in Paris in June 1914, the congress developed the charter of the future permanent body, which included the functions of commercial arbitration, the development of trade rules, the imposition of sanctions, but the organization could not be created because of the outbreak of the First World War ^[1] .

On October 20-24, 1919, at the initiative of the US Chamber of Commerce in Atlantic City, an international trade conference was held with representatives of the chambers of commerce and business circles of Belgium , France , Italy and England , dedicated to the restoration of international trade in the post-war conditions. The activity of the US Chamber of Commerce, which represented mainly large private capital, in the direction of liberalization of international trade contrasted with the state policy of isolationism pursued by the Wilson cabinet in the postwar period. In the conference program, the last, tenth item on the agenda was the creation of a permanent international chamber of commerce, a decision on which was adopted unanimously on the last day of the conference - October 24, 1919, which is considered the founding date of the ICC ^[2] .

The ICC Constituent Congress was held in June 1920 in Paris , and French Prime Minister Millerand chaired one of the meetings. The charter of the organization was adopted at the congress, as well as a number of resolutions, one of which raised the issue of restoring the destroyed territories of Europe and reparations of Germany for damage during the war (bypassed at the previous meeting of the League of Nations in Brussels) ^[3] . The first chairman of the ICC was elected French Minister of Finance Etienne Clementel ( fr. Étienne Clémentel ). Representatives of Germany were not invited to the constituent congress, in connection with which German industrialists held a conference in Frankfurt am Main in May 1920, at which they created an alternative organization - the International Economic Union.

At the ΙΙ Congress, held in Rome in 1923, the Chamber established the International Arbitration Court , which became the body for the resolution of international commercial disputes, which constantly operates under the ICC as a separate organization. Clementel was elected the first President of the International Court of Arbitration. Another important decision of the Second Congress was a resolution on the principles of reparations by Germany, which soon formed the basis of the Dawes Plan (which, in turn, included a clause on the resolution of contract disputes in the International Arbitration Court) ^[4] . At the ΙΙΙ Congress, held in Brussels in 1925, German representatives were admitted to the ICC, and in 1931, the German industrialist Franz von Mendelssohn was elected President of the ICC, which testified to the settlement of the main post-war economic contradictions at the level of a large private capital ^[5] .

In 1933, the organization published the first edition of the Unified Rules and Customs for Documentary Letters of Credit , subsequently the document was reviewed every 10-15 years and new versions were issued. In 1936, the first version of Incoterms was published - a unified dictionary of commercial terms that allows you to unambiguously interpret the terms of foreign trade contracts (in 1953, 1967, 1976, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 new versions of the dictionary were released).

The 9th congress of the organization was held in 1937 in Berlin in the presence of Hitler , one of the significant events was the speech of the Reich Minister of Economics Schacht at it, who openly announced the intentions of the Third Reich to secure, regardless of the means, access to raw materials and food without any restrictions ^{[6 ]} . During the Second World War , the ICC headquarters continued to work in occupied Paris, while it is noted that the organization has become an important source of economic information about Germany and the occupied territories for the Western Allies ^[7] .

The first post-war 19 Congress of 1947, held in Montreux , highlighted the contradictions between the interests of business and international economic policies expressed by the UN and the International Monetary Fund , in particular, one of the resolutions of the Congress gave a critical analysis of the decisions of the UN Geneva Economic Conference. It also expressed an active position in supporting the Marshall Plan and the phenomena of economic integration in Europe on the example of the customs union of the Benelux countries ^[8] .

The main body of the chamber is the World Council (an analogue of the General Assembly at the UN), it elects a chairman and vice chairman, general secretary and a board of 15-30 members every three years.

Membership in the chamber is ensured through national committees formed in 91 countries (for 2017), direct ICC members are 20 chambers of commerce at the level of countries where there are no national committees; In addition, there is the possibility of direct membership of other business associations and commercial organizations from countries where there are no national committees. Work with national committees is led by the Secretary General.

The main activities of member organizations are carried out through specialized commissions and special groups; as of 2017, the following commissions operate:

• on arbitration and alternative dispute resolution ,
• in banking ,
• on commercial law and international trade practice,
• by competition
• on corporate responsibility and anti- corruption ,
• on customs regulation and trade facilitation,
• in the digital economy ,
• on environmental protection and energy ,
• intellectual property
• marketing and advertising ,
• on taxation
• on international trade and investment policy .

About 200 employees in 11 departments (politicians and best practices, dispute resolution services, training and conferences, publications, the federation of chambers of commerce, national committees and memberships, external communications, editorial and internal communications, finance and management are constantly working at Paris headquarters staff, information technology, general services). Several specialized units are constantly operating at the headquarters, the main dispute resolution body is the International Arbitration Court , the units providing investigation services to members are the International Maritime Bureau , the Bureau of Financial Investigations , the Bureau of Counterfeit Investigations , and FraudNet .

• Lebedev E.A. International Chamber of Commerce. - M .: International Relations, 1976. - 173 p.

• iccwbo.org - official site of the International Chamber of Commerce