News

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is an unprecedented health and economic crisis, affecting the lives and livelihoods of workers, as well as the continued operations of businesses globally. By its nature the disease knows no national borders, and in an era of globally integrated supply chains and capital markets, actions to combat COVID-19 by one national government affect many others.

To combat the economic repercussions of this pandemic, ICC believes that urgent and decisive action by all stakeholders is needed. We call on everyone, including governments, international organisations, multilateral development banks, business organisations, and multi-national corporations, to cooperate and coordinate their actions to “Save Our SMEs”. The immediate objective of all stimulus efforts should be to ensure that money flows rapidly into the real economy— and, in particular, to those most vulnerable to the economic disruptions caused by COVID-19 —as well as ensuring that developing countries receive adequate assistance.

The imperative to Save Our SMEs cannot be understated: this agenda is of paramount importance to safeguard the current and future functioning of the global economy and the livelihoods of billions of workers throughout the world.

Read the full Call to Action here.

We also want to use this occasion to thank our Federal Council for its fast and determined reaction. The package of measures in Switzerland goes exactly in the aspired direction and this Call of Action therefore has been implemented in our Country.

The global response to COVID-19 has, thankfully, begun to accelerate with the G20 holding its first ever “virtual summit” on last Thursday.

The G20 leaders’ commitment to ensure the free flow of medical equipment, in particular, was especially welcome – but actions now must follow words.

That is why ICC has written to G20 Trade Ministers ahead of their meeting today, with a roadmap for G20 countries to use trade policy to fight COVID-19 and rebuild the future.

In the letter, ICC outlines 10 concrete ideas for trade ministers with three core goals in mind – to speed the health response to COVID-19, to keep trade flowing to restore growth and safeguard jobs, and to maintain momentum on reform of the trading system.

ICC Switzerland has sent this letter to the Swiss authorities.

ICC has updated its Force Majeure and Hardship clauses to help businesses large and small draft contracts adaptable to unforeseen events such as the COVID-19 outbreak.

ICC Working Group has updated the existing Long Form FM clause and developed an innovative Short Form FM clause in response to calls from small and medium sized companies for something more streamlined. 

On the Hardship Clause side, the updated model features 3 options to cater for a range of situations in which parties seek amendment or termination of their contract.

We are pleased to announce that the Geneva Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services (CCIG) is the next co-organiser of the 13th World Chambers Congress (#13WCC), after the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

We give our warmest congratulations to Vincent Subilia and his team at CCIG and are looking forward to give our full support for this upcoming event.

ICC Switzerland informs you during these difficult times on ICC activities to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

ICC Headquarters

On Thursday, ICC Chair Paul Polman and John Denton wrote an open letter to the Saudi G20 Presidency to call for immediate and coordinated global action to ensure access to essential medical supplies, scale public health financing to tackle COVID-19 and restore confidence and stability in the global economy. A media release covering the call to action for G20 leaders has been published. 

In addition to this, ICC has reached an unprecedented agreement with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to mobilise our ICC private sector network to help fight the pandemic. 

The WHO anticipates a need of $675 million through April alone for preparedness and response efforts. To help meet this funding gap, the WHO has created a new COVID-10 Solidarity Response Fund, the first-of-its-kind fund for companies, foundations and individuals to donate to WHO’s global response to the ongoing pandemic. 

Contributions to this fund from the ICC network could go a long way to ensuring patients get the care they need and frontline workers get supplies and information – especially in the poorest countries.

ICC and the WHO have developed a statement that has been published today. Key elements will include:

• Disseminating the latest, expert advice to businesses;
• Forging collaboration between the private sector, UN and WHO country teams; and
• Providing business insights to help international COVID19  crisis management efforts.

ICC has also issued, in partnership with the New England Complexity Science Institute, a first set of considerations for businesses in how best to protect their employees, customers and stakeholders.  

ICC Court of Arbitration

The Secretariat of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and ICC International Centre for ADR have issued an urgent communication to users, arbitrators and other neutrals:

Over the past two months and as the COVID-19 outbreak continues to unfold worldwide, the safety of our staff and business continuity have been – and remain – our top priorities.

In this regard, we wish to advise you of the following:

A. Current status

1. All offices of the Secretariat of the ICC Court and the ICC ADR Centre are operational.

2. Staff members are healthy and working remotely via mobile posts. Special arrangements have been put in place and will likely remain in force for the immediate future.

B. General rule

1. We strongly advise that all your communications with the Secretariat of the ICC Court/ICC ADR Centre be conducted by email.

2. The Secretariat of the ICC Court/ICC ADR Centre are equally observing the same rule for case management purposes and any other activity.

We also urge you to observe the following steps which we consider essential in maintaining operational stability:

C. New requests for arbitration/ADR

1. Requests for arbitration (including pertinent exhibits) should be filed with the Secretariat by email at this address. Further information and additional contact details are provided here.

2. Applications for emergency arbitrator (including pertinent exhibits) should be filed with the Secretariat by email at this address. Further information and additional contact details are provided here.

3. Requests in other ADR proceedings (including pertinent exhibits) should be filed with the ADR Centre by email at this address. Further information and additional contact details are provided here.

D. Pending proceedings

1. If you need to send any correspondence (including awards and ADR decisions) in pending proceedings by courier or post to us, it is important that you promptly inform your case management team ahead of dispatch.

2. We welcome your queries and comments with regard to the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on hearings and other meetings. You may contact your case management team at any time.

3. Hearings and other meetings scheduled to take place at the ICC Hearing Centre in Paris until 13 April 2020 have been postponed or cancelled. For information on future bookings, please contact the ICC Hearing Centre at this address.

Effects on re-exportation/return of ATA carnet goods from restricted zones

The ICC ATA Carnet Secretariat is watching with concern reports of the outbreak of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and its potential impact to ATA Carnet holders and National Guaranteeing Associations (NGA). ICC is now in close contact with the World Customs Organization (WCO) to address the matter and ICC is now preparing an appealing letter that will be given to WCO in order to get a recommendation. For Switzerland you can find the latest announcements here: http://www.ataswiss.org/.

Office ICC Switzerland

We work in home office now and can be reached by phone and email during ordinary business hours. Arbitration cases (proposals for arbitrators) will be handled by email. We remember, that cases have to be filed at the Court office in Paris, not with ICCSwitzerland. Orders for physical Publication orders will be processed once a week.

ICC Commissions Meetings

They are maintained in general and organized in the form of video conferences or conference calls.

We will keep you updated by mail, on our website and in our social media channels regularly.

We wish you and your families all the best during this challenging period. 

ZÜRICH, 10. März 2020 - Die Digitalisierung hat Eingang in die weltweit geltenden Standards für verantwortungsvolle Werbung der Internationalen Handelskammer (ICC) gefunden. Influencer, Blogger, Vlogger sind nun Teil des Kodex, ebenfalls neu ist die altersgemäße Definition von Kindern und Jugendlichen. Der Kodex wurde von Experten aus allen Bereichen der Wirtschaft 2018 einem umfassenden Relaunch unterzogen und ist die globale Grundlage für die Selbstregulierung der Werbewirtschaft, die mittlerweile in über 42 Ländern fest verankert ist. Nun liegt der Kodex auch auf Deutsch vor, ebenso wie in vielen anderen Sprachen wie Englisch, Französisch, Spanisch, Russisch und Chinesisch.

Der ICC-Kodex setzt weltweit geltende Mindeststandards für verantwortungsvolle Werbung und ist ein wichtiges Instrument, um das Vertrauen in Werbung zu stärken. „Für weltweit tätige Unternehmen ist ein globaler Konsens wichtig, da sie auf vielen Märkten gleichzeitig aktiv sind. Die ICC-Regeln geben einen Massstab für vertrauensvolle Kommunikation mit dem Verbraucher vor, der in China genauso gilt wie in Europa“, sagt Thomas Pletscher, Generalsekretär von ICC Switzerland.

„Darüber hinaus sorgen die nationalen Selbstregulierungsorganisationen für eine Einhaltung der Regeln unter Berücksichtigung  der nationalen Gegebenheiten“, so Pletscher. Die Verhaltensregeln für die Schweizerische Werbewirtschaft fussen wie alle nationalen Verhaltensregeln auf dem erstmals 1937 veröffentlichten ICC-Kodex, sind aber weitaus detaillierter und spezieller auf den schweizerischen Markt zugeschnitten. Die schweizerische Werbewirtschaft und ihre Schweizerische Lauterkeitskommission sind dem ICC Kodex verpflichtet. Die 10. Auflage berücksichtigt die weiter fortschreitende Digitalisierung und definiert Kinder als 12 Jahre oder jünger, sowie Jugendliche als unter 18-jährige. Dies entspricht den strengen schweizerischen Vorgaben und trägt der besonderen Schutzbedürftigkeit dieser Altersgruppe Rechnung“, sagt Marc Schwenninger, Juristischer Sekretär der Schweizerische Lauterkeitskommission.

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