General Information
History
The initiative for founding the UECC was taken by Dr. K.P. van der Mandele, president of the Rotterdam Chamber of Commerce. It was founded on 9 September 1949 in Rotterdam under the name of "UNION of Chambers of Commerce of the Rhine Area". Its main issues were the re-opening of the Rhine as an inland-waterway and the re-establishment of economic links after the war in that area. In the following decades the UECC enlarged its area of interest to the valleys of the Rhone and the Danube, their tributaries and the waterways that connect the three systems. In 1982, 1998 and 2006, the UECC adjusted its name to reflect changes in its areas of influence and principle objectives. It is now called the "Union of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry for Transport".
Goals
The UECC promotes economic development in its area of interest in the broadest sense. It concentrates its activities on European Transport Policy of the waterways, land and air as well as other related issues, such as the rules of the market, regulations, environment and telecommunications.
The UECC advocates free access to all ways of transport, the principle of free choice of the means of transportation and a market-oriented regulation of demand and supply of transport services.
It mainly deals with questions related to the whole of its area of interest or to strategically important parts of the European network. In doing so it uses its advantages of direct access to the expertise of regional and local chambers of commerce and its links on the European level. The UECC cooperates with other associations that are active on an European level.
Its positions and demands are communicated to decision-makers on the national or European level.
Structure
The Chambers which are full members of the UECC are organised in national groups, where decisions are prepared.
The highest level of decision-making in the UECC is the General Assembly which takes all decisions that have strategic implications. Every member is represented with one vote in the General Assembly.
The Executive Committee has 14 members which have been elected by the national groups according to their size. It decides on every question that does not have to be submitted to the General Assembly. It elects the president of the UECC and the chairmen of the working groups and the groups of experts.
The operational work is done by the Chambers of Commerce in Basel and Luxembourg.
UECC Meetings: Requirements for the hosts
The UECC meets twice a year for a physical meeting. The spring meeting usually takes place in March/April, the fall meeting in September/October, both on Thursday and the following Friday. Usually, a member chamber of the UECC acts as the host of a meeting. Hosting a UECC meeting is a good opportunity for the host chamber to present itself and central transport policy issues of European transport corridors or the chamber's own district.
The UECC maintains an informative and interactive exchange of experiences on European, national and regional transport issues of the member chambers. This important goal is pursued in the working group, which also meets digitally between the two physical meetings.
The host chamber is responsible for organizing the meeting on site. It usually also covers costs incurred in connection with the on-site meeting (e.g. for meeting rooms, technology, supporting program). The host chamber is supported by the General Secretariat, which takes care of the back-end organization of the meeting (e.g. invitation management).
A detailed division of tasks between the host chamber and the General Secretariat can be found in the appendix (in German):