The American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union

The American Chamber of Commerce is known as AMCHAM for short. Its EU lobbying organisation is known as the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union or AmCham EU.

People

• Susan Danger – Managing Director of AmCham EU
• Stephanie Schretlen – Policy Officer for AmCham EU
• Giovanni Mastrobuono – Communications Officer for AmCham EU ¹

Provides the Industry with the ‘Opportunity to Engage’ with the Commission

One Philip Morris document in the tobacco archive from the late 1990s shows that the company used AmCham as a front to engage with the Commission. The document noted that AmCham “provides us the opportunity to engage various EU Directorates – DG XXIV and DG XI”. ²

Against Plain Packaging

AmCham EU is against proposals by the European Commission to include plain packaging in the EU Tobacco Products Directive Revision.
In May 2010 it said in a press release that ‘The American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (AmCham EU) has consistently and strongly opposed any unjustified restrictions to intellectual property rights (IPR) within any sector, as it represents a potential precedent for other sectors, types of consumer goods or services. Protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights is key to the future of the innovation-based economy’. AmCham EU emphasises that its comments are ‘strictly limited to the potential implications for IPR issues … and not the public health-related issues’. ³

AmCham elsewhere

Lithuania

One of the Board Members of AMCHAM in Lithuania is Mr Gintautas Dirgela⁴, Corporate Affairs Director of Philip Morris Baltic which is based in Lithuania.
Mr Digela features in a leaked Philip Morris International (PMI) document listing PMI employees involved in undermining the EU Tobacco Products Directive Revision. ⁵