EBC Newsletter – July 7, 2021

In this week’s Newsletter, two important reminders:

• You can still participate (until tomorrow 7 July) in our flash survey on the impact of the entry restrictions on European companies and their Japanese partners. The more companies that take part in the survey, the more representative the results become, hence more useful. We therefore hope for your cooperation and support!
• You can still register to our EBC Online Briefing (in Japanese) on the 2021 Tax reform – Digitalisation and greening of the economy taking place on Thursday 8 July at 4:00pm.

Finally, if you are a company active in the Internet of Things (IoT), Software/hardware, Fintech, IT, Telecommunications, E-commerce, Digital Consultancy, Social Media, Advertising, or in more traditional sectors with a strong digital component (e.g., E-Health), you could be interested in completing a survey relating to Trade in Digital Goods and Services between the EU and Japan. This survey is a unique opportunity for businesses to provide feedback to the EU on hurdles currently faced by EU operators in the field of Digital Goods and Services.

We hope you stay positive and healthy during this difficult time.

Valerie Moschetti
EBC Chief Operating Officer

The EBC has been actively advocating this issue through various meetings with the Japanese authorities and by publishing on May 28 a joint statement with the ACCJ, the ANZCCJ and the CCCJ.

To better evaluate the real impact of the entry restrictions on European businesses and use the results for advocacy purposes, the EBC is launching a flash survey targeting European businesses in Japan. The more companies that take part in the survey, the more representative the results become, hence more useful. We therefore hope for your cooperation and support!

The survey is accessible through this link: https://fr.surveymonkey.com/r/CXQM8SK

From June 15 to July 7.
Thank you in advance for filling it!

The EBC is fortunate to be able to organise a tax event with METI as presenters. The seminar will hopefully offer plenty of opportunities for you to better understand how your company can take advantage of the tax incentives offered by the new tax policies. As mentioned above, the two main topics of the day will be:

1. Carbon neutrality investment schemes
2. Digital transformation

The event will be held virtually on 8 July from 16:00, in Japanese. The presentation material will however be both in English and Japanese.

Deputy Director Shohei Hiroyama from the Industry Creation Policy Division will give the presentation (tbc).

Please register by sending an email to: [email protected] with “EBC tax event” in the subject line. Links to access the event will be sent out a day or two before the event to those that have registered.

If you already have questions, do let us know in advance and we will make certain that these are addressed.

Your contribution to this survey is highly valued and will prove to be instrumental towards improving the business climate for EU businesses. The survey can be found at the following link:

Survey link:  https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/DigitalSurvey_Final
Deadline: August 20, 2021

For any questions/clarifications regarding the survey, please do not hesitate to contact: [email protected]

This year’s White Paper is called “Strengthening partnerships – in crisis and opportunity alike” . The opportunity is of course referring to the EU-Japan EPA that entered into force on February 1, 2019. Unfortunately, at the same time the COVID -19 crisis struck the world.

We are, however, confident that with our recommendations, the European and Japanese economies and companies will continue to prosper.