EBC Newsletter – June 30, 2021

In this week’s Newsletter, I would like to remind European companies in Japan still facing negative impacts of the entry restrictions that our flash survey on the impact of the entry ban on European companies and their Japanese partners is online until 7 July. If you want your voice to be heard, you are more than welcome to participate!

As you may know, with the 2021 tax reform, Japan will implement tax policies in line with the 2050 carbon neutrality target and the digitalisation of the economy. Our next EBC Briefing on 8 July will offer you the opportunity to better understand how your company can take advantage of the tax incentives offered by the new tax policies. The two main topics will be carbon neutrality investment schemes and digital transformation. We are looking forward to receiving your registration!

Reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 requires investments in renewable energy and in energy storage. If you are interested in these topics, we remind you of the BLCCJ online event on 13 July: Road to Carbon Neutrality: Renewable Energies and Energy Storage.

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.

During this webinar, 3 BLCCJ member companies will give presentations: TotalEnergies, Umicore and Solvay.

The first speaker will be Philip Olivier, Country Chair at TotalEnergies International S.A. Japan Branch. He will present us the investments TotalEnergies has made in renewable energies and the challenges to increase the share of renewable energies in the electricity mix.

Umicore is already well-known as a precious metal recycler, but they are committing to battery recycling as well. Second speaker Fabrice Stassin, Director of Government Affairs Electromobility Projects at Umicore Belgium, will give the presentation “Innovating towards sustainable batteries made in Europe”.

Third speaker will be Kazumasa Imoto, President of Solvay Japan and BLCCJ Board Member. He will shed a light on the green hydrogen activity of Solvay.

Afterwards the 3 speakers will gladly take your questions.

Date: Tuesday 13 July | 17:00-18:00 Japan time
Presentations + Q&A in English
Free of charge for BLCCJ/BJA/EBC members

If you are interested, please send an email to [email protected] by 13 July noon JST and we will confirm your registration.

This webinar will be conducted via Zoom. If your registration is accepted, you will receive an email with a Zoom invitation link and passcode on the day itself.

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.