23 November 2021 ICC has today joined a global coalition of industry associations in urging members of the World Trade Organization to keep the Internet free of tariffs ahead of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12). Supported by 73 industry associations active across six continents, the Global Industry Statement on the WTO Moratorium on Customs Duties on Electronic Transmissions urges WTO Members to renew the Moratorium until the 13th Ministerial Conference. The statement reads: “Allowing the Moratorium to expire would be a historic setback for the WTO, representing

18 November 2021 ICC, in collaboration with Fung Business Intelligence and supported by McKinsey & Company, has today launched a report outlining a new vision for the global trade finance ecosystem. The report is based on a year-long effort by the ICC Advisory Group on Trade Finance to raise awareness and address the challenges facing micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSME), particularly in the emerging markets, in accessing the trade finance needed to support their growth and the global recovery. According to the Asian Development

17 December 2021 We’re concluding our year with a round-up of key achievements on behalf of 45 million businesses in over 100 countries. From helping businesses weather the COVID-19 crisis to preparing a resilient rebuild, we’ve had a busy year making business work for everyone, every day, everywhere. From leveraging our real economy expertise to drive an effective response to enabling greater inclusion in the global trading system, here are 6 ways we’ve worked to enable peace, prosperity and opportunity for all this year.    1. Shaping an effective response to COVID In January, ICC published ground-breaking research, showing that

14 December 2021 ICC has welcomed a statement made today by the Trade Ministers of Australia, Japan and Singapore announcing significant progress in the ongoing e-commerce negotiations within the World Trade Organization. The statement notes that ‘good convergence’ has been achieved on eight issues — specifically: online consumer protection; electronic signatures and authentication; unsolicited commercial electronic messages; open government data; electronic contracts; transparency; paperless trading; and open internet access. The Ministers have set out the objective to secure convergence on the majority of issues left

10 November 2021 ICC has published a major report setting out proposals to tackle the longstanding challenge of defining and setting common standards for sustainable trade and associated financing. The paper – developed in partnership with the Boston Consulting Group through a global consultation exercise involving over 200 banks and corporates – outlines the first-ever standardised framework and assessment methodology to qualify the sustainability profile of trade transactions. Unlike other asset classes, such as bonds, no standards currently exist to allow financial institutions to grade

9 December 2021 Diversity is a complex and intersectional issue, and while incremental progress has been made, much remains to be done. With next week’s ICC Miami Conference on International Arbitration just around the corner, Christian Albanesi, Mateo Noseda Zorrilla de San Martín, Charlene Warner and Somin Lee of Linklaters take the opportunity to reflect upon the progress achieved so far and the challenges still to come. The Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge (ERA Pledge) was launched in May 2016. Since its introduction, the ERA