TNP CoC - What is this?

[Lazy Wizard]

What are Chambers of Commerce? How is this applied here at The North Pacific? Here's some answers.

Chambers of commerce and Boards of Trade are a business network with local, regional, national, international and bi-lateral Chambers. They represent both a business network and an advocacy group which can be but are usually not associated with government. Their primary goal is to improve the business climate in a locality, typically through business networks and lobbying and also common projects and a selection of business services.

Here in TNP, the Chamber of Commerce (later also: CoC) was found 15th of June 2006 by local entrepreneurs. There was no example for such within the NationStates, so the founedrs studied real world counterparts instead. Improving business climate as a primary goal, the first project on CoC's agenda is to carry on with the TNP Economy Conference, first proposed by Tresville. After the conference CoC will act as a mentor group for entrepreneurs-to-be, lobby for businesses when needed, and provide legal aid for its members when business laws are concerned.

They are separate from the Better Business Bureau in-so-far as there is no national organization that binds them under a formal operations doctrine, though there is an international structure (ICC and Worldchambers) they can belong to, and in the majority of countries, the use of the chamber of commerce legal term and status is regulated by federal law. Chambers of commerce can also include economic development groups, as well as tourism and visitors bureaus. Currently, there are about 13,000 Chambers registered in the official Worldchambers Network registry, and the Chamber of Commerce network is the largest business network globally.

At this point, there is no other CoC's that we know of at other regions of NationStates. However if there was some, we would attempt to form a network with them. A natural consequence of that would be lobbying the governments of both regions to enable exports and imports and to determine currency exchange rates.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is the main business partner of the United Nations and its agencies. The ICC World Council is the equivalent of the general assembly of a major intergovernmental organization. The big difference is that the delegates are business executives and not government officials. There is a federal structure, based on the Council as ICC's governing body. National committees appoint delegates to the World Council. In terms of international chamber body responsibilities and relationships, the ICC is the home of the secretariats of the World Chambers (tm) Federation (WCF,) and the ICC-WCF World Chambers (tm) Network.

The WCF is geared primarily to admininistration of functions, progammes and events between different chambers, and the World Chambers (tm) Network is primarily responsible for online systems, official chamber registries and international trade/trust/verification activities.

The previous chapters sounds somewhat science fiction at this point, but to be part of NSICC World Council would be an ultimate goal for us in distant future.

There are basically two Chamber business membership models worldwide, 'compulsory / public law' or 'continental / private law'. The former relates to those which companies of a certain area are obliged to belong to. This happens in most countries of EU (France, Germany, Italy, Spain). Their main tasks are Foreign Trade Promotion, Training and General Services to companies. They also have a consultive function. This means that Administration must consult chambers whenever a new law related to industry or commerce is proposed. Non-compulsory models exist in English-speaking countries like USA, Canada or the UK. They nevertheless make it a point to consult chamber contacts on major business issues, given their organization and membership numbers.

Those issues are something we will decide as soon as our first Chamber Council meeting takes place. The business laws of the future will probably have their say about the compulsory membership matter.

The first Chambers of Commerce were founded in 1599 in continental Europe (Marseille, France and Brugge, Belgium). The worlds oldest English-speaking Chamber of Commerce is that of Glasgow Scotland set up in 1783.

Membership in an individual Chamber in an area can range from a few dozen to well over 300,000 (as is the case with the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry). Some Chamber organizations in China report even larger membership numbers. Businesses which belong to a chamber of commerce can range from a single-person shop to billion-dollar corporations.

We at The North Pacific Chamber of Commerce wish all the best to your businesses. We also wish to invite all businessowners to participate in enhancing our business community and our great region. For questions, please visit the office of our Chairman of CoC Council. Live long and prosper!