EU-Japan Business Dialogue Round Table
Berlin Meeting, 3-4 June 2007

“Joining forces for competitiveness and sustainability”
Recommendations
1. Introduction
The EU-Japan Business Dialogue Round Table (BDRT) held its annual meeting inBerlin on 3 and 4 June 2007, in advance of the Japan-EU summit, bringing together
business leaders from top corporations. The meeting was co-chaired by Baron Georges
Jacobs, chairman of the board of UCB, and Mr. Tadashi Okamura, chairman of theboard of Toshiba Corporation.
The meeting took place in the presence of Mr. Günter Verheugen, Vice-President of theEuropean Commission in charge of Enterprise and Industry, Mr. Kozo Yamamoto,
Deputy Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry and Ms. Midori Matsushima, ViceMinister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Hideo Shimizu, Vice-Minister for Policy
Coordination, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications from Japan; and Mr.
Georg Boomgaarden, State Secretary of the Federal Foreign Office from the German
Government. In addition to economic issues facing Japan and the EU, business leadersconsidered some of the many problems faced by the world today, and saw vigorous
discussion and exchanges of opinion.
The EU continues to grow in size and depth. The January 2007 accession of Bulgaria
and Romania created a single market of 27 countries, with a population of some 500
million people and a GDP of approximately 13 trillion euros. Japan is emerging from a
prolonged period of economic sluggishness and moving towards recovery, and now isready to play a more active role in contributing to international economic growth andstability. The EU and Japan are strategic partners and are ready to devising new ways
to strengthen their bilateral cooperation.
This year’s BDRT meeting, in addition to discussions with representatives of theJapanese and EU authorities, maximized the time available for open and pragmaticexchanges on key issues for Japanese and European business, such as the competitive
challenges from emerging countries, EU-Japan economic cooperation, and the WTO
DDA negotiations.
The BDRT meeting also discussed how to stay competitive through innovation
focusing on technology and infrastructure and the new challenges on energy, climatechange, and environment.
Throughout the meeting, there was a shared recognition of the need to strengthen
Japan-EU cooperation, and the BDRT agreed on the following recommendations forthe attention of the governments of Japan and the EU.
2. Overall Priorities
As strong supporter of the WTO Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations, theBDRT continues to urge the European Commission and the Government of Japan toexert their utmost efforts in concluding ambitious negotiations by the end of this year.
In particular, the EU and Japan need to focus their efforts leading to new commercial
opportunities for industrial goods and services and a binding trade facilitationagreement.
In addition, importance of maintaining the product coverage of the Information
Technology Agreement by the WTO ITA members was pointed out, reflecting theconcern that inconsistent understandings among WTO ITA members regarding recent
products based on the ten year old definitions are jeopardizing the original intent of theITA.
The BDRT is committed to creating the necessary conditions to deepen the fullpotential of EU-Japan economic relations, which are far from being fully exploited.
With that in view and in line with its commitment to the WTO, the BDRT proposes
Japan and the EU authorities to establish a task force with business support to explore
the feasibility of a Japan-EU Economic Integration Agreement, which should be anenriched economic agreement that includes priority issues for business such as
strengthened regulatory cooperation, intellectual property, trade enhancement, andimproving the investment environment. EU and Japan business expects the results of
the outcome of the task force by the 2008 BDRT meeting.
The BDRT members drew serious attention to the joint challenge to ensure availabilityof environmentally sound energy at a reasonable price. The BDRT support promotionof the practical advantages of energy efficiency, and reducing reliance on fossil fuelswith dissemination of current technology and the development of innovativetechnologies. A global approach is necessary for combating climate change, to meetthe environmental objectives and to reduce any negative competitiveness implications
avoiding unilateral climate strategies.
For a post-Kyoto Protocol framework, the participation of major carbon-emitting
countries, such as the United States, China and India is essential. To realise that,instead of establishing absolute-value targets by country, a sectoral approach based onenergy-efficiency targets could be alternative.
The members of BDRT have built highly developed socio-economic systems on ademocratic base, and share the same values in many spheres. Japan and the EU should
recognise and confirm their ability to build a powerful partnership to promotesustainable development of the world economy.
More concretely, climate change, sharp energy price rises and stable energy supply, thegrowing wealth gap between the rich and the poor are all urgent matters that require
resolution, and where Japan and the EU should take positions from a long-term
perspective.

3. Immediate Action Items Requests for Japan and the EU
The review of the proposals contained in the action plan for Japan-EU cooperation thatwas submitted to the authorities last year has been completed. However, only limited
progress was made.

The BDRT calls on the Japanese and EU authorities immediately provide all necessary
leadership for close cooperation with representatives of government and other experts,
in order to achieve steady implementation of the proposals.
The BDRT strongly considers that it is necessary take concrete actions that will createbusiness opportunities in the following areas.
(1) Follow up on the agreement on a framework for direct foreign investment withspecific, focused initiatives
・ Support for Corporate Development
1) Eliminate double contributions of social insurance premiums
2) Simplify procedures for granting approval of work and residence permits;promote speedy processing3) Harmonize regulations on the level of protection of personal information
・ Strengthen enforcement of intellectual property rights.
・ Promote a harmonized system for regulating low energy consumption andlabeling products
・ Taxation System
1) Ensure transparency and a common international understanding on transfer
price taxation
2) Reduce the corporate tax rate(2) Intellectual property rights and the issue of counterfeit goods
・ Promote a harmonized international patent system
・ Establish international rules for the comprehensive and effective protection of
intellectual property rights that place central importance on preventing thespread of counterfeit and pirated goods
・ Cooperate in achieving a system in Asia and elsewhere that assures increased
protection from infringement, and that extends the term of copyrightprotection, while achieving a balance between respecting the right to fair use
and convenience at the same time as assuring content protection.
(3) Promote harmonization of accounting standards
・ ASBJ, FASB and IASB are cooperating in seeking convergence that will
establish accounting standards for Japan, Europe and the US; moreover, Japan

and the EU are cooperating in seeking heightened international
competitiveness for their capital markets, with the proactive participation of
the Japanese and EU authorities responsible for regulating the securities
industry.
・ With consideration for the needs of market participants, reconsider eliminationof standards on net income(4) Towards realization of an advanced ICT society, cultivate the telecommunicationsindustry and promote the diffusion of IT products・ Support early deployment of next generation networks by promoting wide
ranging collaboration in R&D (standardization; remote medicinal care;promote benefits of practical telework; promote cross-industry collaboration inenvironmental matters, etc.).
・ Measures taken to realize the social benefits resulting from practicalapplication of ICT solutions (security, content protection, IPR protection, etc.)
・ Appropriate measures for market access for high grade, multifunctional ITproducts(5) Life Sciences and High Technology
・ Establish “National LS&BT Understanding Promotion Plans” and implement
concrete measures for them・ Promote EU Japan cooperation in technology fields of bio-mass based andbio-fuel products(6) Sustainable Development
・ Promote the practical advantages of energy efficiency
・ Reduce reliance on fossil fuels (dissemination of current technology and thedevelopment of innovative technologies)
・ Introduce environmental and energy conservation technologies to developing
countries