Following in the footsteps of many AeA Chairmen, I traveled to Brussels on December 6-7 along with Bill Archey (bio), AeA CEO and President, for meetings with a range of government officials that included C. Boyden Gray, US Ambassador to the EU, Andris Kesteris, Head of Cabinet for European Commissioner for Energy Piebalgs, Matthew Baldwin, Head of Unit at DG Trade, and Frank Wetzel, Counsellor for the German Permanent Representation to the EU.

Arriving in Brussels for the first time, I knew that the various EU government institutions pursue active legislative and regulatory agendas, but this visit really drove home to me the extent to which EU regulations impact business in Europe.  While the EU strategy for becoming more competitive, called the Lisbon Agenda, remains a priority for EU officials, their focus on regulatory approaches to many issues often seems to undercut their potential for reaching these competitiveness goals.  Even Ambassador Gray seemed concerned about the regulatory trends given the agreement reached the week before in the European Parliament on the complex chemical registration regulation known as REACH.

The meetings provided an opportunity for AeA to discuss its priority issues related to European regulatory activity, trade, and competitiveness.  AeA Europe has been leading US high-tech industry advocacy on a range of environmental issues (e.g., RoHS, WEEE, REACH) with energy efficiency emerging as an area of growing interest to member companies.  Senior business executives from HP and Honeywell, who also joined us for these meetings, discussed with Ambassador Gray and Mr. Kesteris, the role that high-tech products can play in improving energy efficiency.  They also stressed the importance of including US companies in the EU consultations on the policies the European Commission intends to pursue to implement their energy action plan.  AeA hopes to avoid burdensome energy efficiency regulations that could stifle technological innovation.

In our meeting with Matthew Baldwin at DG Trade we explored the potential for progress on the World Trade Organization Doha negotiations with Mr. Baldwin arguing that more active support from the business community is needed to push political leaders to take the risks necessary to move the negotiations forward.  Bill Archey noted that many in the new Congress are not positive on trade and that there is a level of distrust of the EU in the US that has to be overcome.  We also raised with Mr. Baldwin the concern of many AeA members that EU actions to impose customs duties on certain IT products is inconsistent with their commitments under the Information Technology Agreement.

As I mentioned, competitiveness continues to be an important focus for European officials, including the German representatives who will be taking over the EU Presidency for six months starting January 1, 2007.  I used this opportunity to talk about the factors that contribute to the success of the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley.  These included close cooperation with local universities to take advantage of research, the availability of venture capital for new and innovative companies, skilled workers willing to work very long hours for the prospect of substantial financial rewards and the chance to develop path-breaking technologies and a culture that rewards risk.

The Brussels meetings raised awareness of the work that AeA Europe has been doing to represent member company views on EU regulations and reinforced the role that our office can play in providing expertise on technology matters.  They also laid the groundwork for several follow up meetings on energy efficiency, environment, and trade issues.  For a more detailed report on the meetings and issues covered, see the Report on the AeA Chairman Meetings on the AeA website.

Sincerely,
Tim Guertin (bio)
President and CEO, Varian Medical Systems
Chairman, AeA