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International Business Travel, Management of Global Business Travel

International business travel.

For many businesses across the United States, commerce is a global activity and with an international economy comes the challenge of doing businesses in other countries around the world.

Global travel is not without its risk and the coronavirus pandemic has shown that from a business perspective, organizing travel and ensuring the safety of your staff has raised a whole new set of challenges and issues, many of which not all businesses were prepared for.

As global business travel starts to increase again, both employees and businesses are looking at ways that they can still travel internationally for business, whilst maintaining safety and ensuring that any fast-moving changes and situations are managed effectively and easily without incurring the cost of having to rebook or cancel at short notice.

International Business Travel Risks

When it comes to traveling internationally for business, just like with leisure travel, it isn't without some potential risk. While the majority of business travel is carried out without a hitch it's always a good idea to be prepared for the worst.

Some of the travel risks that travelers need to watch out for include staying safe in unfamiliar locations, keeping travel documents secure and maintaining health, which has become paramount in recent times.

Other risks that affect international business travel are last minute changes to a person's schedule, such as cancellations and problems with bookings. Modern business travelers need to have a set of dynamic policies and tools they can rely on to ensure that they can quickly adapt to any challenges that arise.

The good news is, there are plenty of things a business can do to insulate itself from issues with international travel and to help maintain the health and safety of their employees when traveling on behalf of their organization.

One of the key improvements a business can make to their business travel program to help mitigate the majority of these potential travel problems is to use an effective travel policy .

How International Business Travelers Can Protect Themselves

When traveling abroad it's always a good idea to have a travel insurance policy to cover potential issues. As a business traveler, your personal travel insurance policy might cover you for business trips, but it's worth double-checking the policy with your provider prior to travel to avoid expensive mistakes. The company you work for might also cover you under a business travel insurance scheme, but you should again check with your employer to find out what is, and what isn't covered. For example, it's never advisable to travel without a health care policy in case of illness or accident.

It's also a good idea to familiarize yourself with the location of the nearest U.S. embassies so that if the worst happens and you lose important documents like your passport, you'll know where to go to resolve the issue.

Although employees may take a pragmatic approach to traveling safety, employers have a duty of care to their personnel, which means as a company you might be looking at ways to keep your employees safe when they're out traveling for your business. Ultimately, the best way this can be achieved is by implementing a comprehensive travel risk management program and by creating travel policies to maintain travel compliance and ensure traveler safety.

Coronavirus Pandemic's Impact on Global Corporate Travel

Over the last few years, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused huge problems traveling internationally. Even at a domestic level, the road warriors who travel around visiting customers and businesses across the U.S. have found that state to state, U.S. travel still has its own unique restrictions and challenges to deal with.

For business travelers looking to travel to a foreign country in many locations, travel restrictions have been put in place to stop unnecessary travel. As the coronavirus vaccine has been rolled out, some of these travel restrictions have started to lift and travel plans are starting to be made again.

When it comes to international business travel, it's always a good idea to check the status of the country that you're going to, so you can ensure that you can travel by meeting any restrictions that are in place. The Egencia ® Travel Advisor tool can quickly and easily identify issues in various locations around the world. In addition, you can find travel advisories for trips during COVID-19, including regulations for destinations, and safety and health guidelines.

Benefits of International Business Travel

Even though business travel has reduced over the last few years, and with the targets to reduce carbon emissions, many businesses are looking at ways to reduce expensive (and emission producing) business trips where possible. However, while some business meetings can be held via video conferencing services, it can be difficult or impossible to carry out some business functions virtually. Often, you just have to be there!

There are a number of benefits of face-to-face meetings with colleagues or clients, and these include:

Being able to read body language. It can be difficult to pick up on the non-verbal cues when speaking virtually. Humans have the ability to pick up on subtle micro expressions that people give off, and adapt accordingly. This can help with competitiveness and closing deals that might otherwise be lost if those micro expressions are not picked up on - which is hard to do virtually!

Building relationships. Many customers prefer face-to-face meetings as business often isn't just about what you can offer as an organization but also about relationships and finding people and corporate philosophies that are in synergy together. This is much easier to do in person, where small talk and more natural interactions can occur between people and teams.

Improve focus and concentration. When in a face-to-face meeting you tend to have the full attention of the people that you are speaking to. When on a video call, you might find that people in the meeting aren't paying as much attention. They could be looking at social media, answering emails and not being fully engaged. In a face-to-face meeting the likelihood of this happening is significantly reduced.

Easier to deal with different time zones. International business can take place across lots of different time zones. When trying to organize a call or video meeting, it can mean that someone somewhere, will have to accommodate an out-of-hours calendar invite that might come at a very inconvenient time. For global organizations this can mean that someone will have to have a call or meeting very early in the morning, or very late at night. This can reduce productivity and effectiveness if people are tired. This can also mean that people are keener to get the meeting over and done with faster, so meetings can be rushed.

A face-to-face meeting means time zones won't matter because everyone will be one the same schedule. Of course, an international flight can introduce the dreaded jet lag, but this can be compensated for by proper scheduling of the flight and adequate rest.

For the individual business traveler, there are also benefits to be had from traveling internationally. For instance, it can make a job more interesting and engaging as you get to explore and see new cultures and locations.

International travel can make a job more varied, as you'll often experience new things, activities and meeting new people. For many employees this is the sort of thing they look for in a role, and it can make for a happier employee. When the employee is restricted to a conference phone call or video meeting, often from their own homes or satellite office, the day-to-day can become boring. International travel is a way to keep employees engaged, happy and most importantly efficient and effective.

With the ability to use laptops and mobile computing devices when traveling and when using air travel, there's a lot less employee downtime, so in many cases an employee can still carry out work when on a long-haul flight.

International Business Travel Management

Some companies leave the booking of international travel to the employees to handle, but this is not always the best use of their time, nor is it the most cost-effective way to travel.

That's why many companies use a travel management company such as Egencia to simplify and streamline business travel. Egencia help businesses manage travel risk and help to ensure traveler wellbeing no matter where they travel to. Egencia's travel management solutions also help support your business and plan for the future.

You can set up travel policies for your employees and you can keep in contact with your team globally to keep them informed and ensure their safety when out on business using our travel risk management tools and services.

Future of International Business Travel

When it comes to international business trips, the future holds interesting challenges for travel managers. The coronavirus pandemic has shown that a dynamic approach to business travel is needed. This can be hard to maintain when managing your own business travel program. This is why many companies turn to Egencia to help support their business travel program.

In addition to the need for more dynamic business travel solutions , many organizations are looking for ways to reduce their carbon impact on the environment and areas such as business travel, and especially international business travel are under the spotlight as this is an area where savings can be made. This is where Egencia's travel policy solutions can help, from ensuring only direct flights are booked, but also by ensuring travel options that are environmentally friendly are used more often.

So, whether you're looking for dynamic business travel solutions, need help setting up travel policies for your employees, or want to reduce your carbon footprint, we can help you fine tune your International travel. Visit Egencia.com to find out how we can make your global travel run smoothly.

Looking for better business travel solutions? Get in touch with us.

Recommended for you.

Twenty-five years since TRIPS: Patent policy and international business

• Published: 12 October 2020
• Volume 3 , pages 315–328, ( 2020 )

Cite this article

• Suma Athreye 1 ,
• Lucia Piscitello 2 , 3 &
• Kenneth C. Shadlen 4  

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In this introduction to the special issue, we take stock of the impact of the TRIPS agreement on international business in the hyper-globalised world of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. We begin by providing a brief background on TRIPS, putting it in the historical context of international agreements on intellectual property (IP) and then looking at the logic of national patent policies, examining how policies may vary across countries, in theory, and reviewing literature that discusses the factors driving historical variation, in practice. We review the key issues in the domestic politics of implementation as the new rules migrate from the international to national levels. Lastly, we consider the implications of TRIPS for the governance of innovations in industries based on ICT and where ICT has enabled global value chains (GVCs), where the speed and distributed nature of innovation makes IPR simultaneously less effective and more necessary.

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Introduction

The Uruguay Round of trade negotiations, which began in 1986 and concluded in 1994 with the signing of the Marrakesh Agreement by all 123 negotiating countries, was notable for numerous reasons, including the formal integration of intellectual property rights into international trade rules. When the World Trade Organization (WTO) was launched in 1995, a product of the Uruguay Round, one of its main pillars would be the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

TRIPS is not the first international agreement on intellectual property (IP); the Paris Convention (patents), Madrid System (trademarks), and Berne Convention (copyright) have existed since the late 1800s.Yet TRIPS can be understood as marking a fundamental break in a variety of ways. TRIPS is much deeper and more granular, placing external constraints on many more dimensions of national IP policy than previous agreements had. Beyond establishing shared commitments to basic principles, as previous international accords had done, TRIPS, in a detailed set of articles, includes specific prescriptions and proscriptions for national policy. 1 Notwithstanding its title, TRIPS addresses national IP measures regardless of whether these are “trade-related.” TRIPS is also stronger and more binding than previous agreements, as the costs of non-compliance are substantial. Because the inclusion of TRIPS in the WTO means that it is subject to the WTO’s dispute settlement system, which authorizes trade sanctions as a penalty against countries judged to be in violation of its rules, failure to abide by the rules can have economically painful consequences. The establishment of extensive and binding rules on national IP policy marks a shift from “international” to “global” IP governance (Maskus, 2014 ; Drahos, 1997 ) and, importantly, a major step toward global harmonization of national policies and practices for establishing and protecting intellectual property rights.

This Special Issue presents papers examining 25 years since TRIPS came into effect, in January 1995. In these two and a half decades, much has changed in the global innovation landscape. Technology trade has flourished and more technology has been transferred to subsidiaries by MNEs (Branstetter et al., 2006 ). Although IB theories emphasize the role of innovation and technological change in originating and strengthening the competitive advantages of the MNE, IB scholarship has focused mostly on considering IPR regulations as a location advantage/disadvantage (e.g., Ivus, Park & Saggi, 2017 ), or an institutional factor (e.g., Peng, Ahlstrom, Carraher, & Shi, 2017 ; Peng, 2013 ) interacting with MNE strategies. Through this Special Issue, our aim is to champion research analysing the contribution of IP harmonization to processes of technology transfer, policy-making, capability building and challenges to governance. Assessing the TRIPS experience to highlight what has worked well and what has not can offer new insights and lessons.

In this Introduction, we take stock of the impact of TRIPS on international business in the hyper-globalised world of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. We begin by providing a brief background on TRIPS, putting it in the historical context of international agreements on IP. We then look at the logic of national patent policies, examining how policies may vary across countries, in theory, and reviewing literature that discusses the factors driving historical variation, in practice. The following section discusses the international campaign that produced the TRIPS Agreement and considers key issues in the domestic politics of implementation as the new rules migrate from the international to national levels. We then look more closely at the implications of TRIPS for industries based on ICTs and where governance of GVCs feature prominently. The final section introduces the papers in the Special Issue, placing each of them in the broader debates and themes discussed in this Introduction.

A Brief Primer on TRIPS

One of the remarkable aspects of TRIPS is how it expanded over time during the course of the Uruguay Round. 2 What was originally advanced as a global accord against counterfeiting after years of negotiation ended up being a comprehensive agreement covering a wide range of IP policies. As the content expanded, the axes of political conflict shifted as well. Although, at the time of the Uruguay Round’s launch, divisions over whether to include IP on the agenda were largely of a “North-South” nature, once this hurdle was cleared, subsequent negotiations on substantive issues revealed “North-North” divisions as well.

This dynamic was notable, for instance, in the area of IP for pharmaceuticals. Many developing countries tried to block the inclusion of IP on the Uruguay Round negotiating agenda, maintaining that IP and trade rules should be kept separate, and having failed to keep IP off the agenda they mobilized their efforts to resist the inclusion of the provision that would require countries to allow patents on pharmaceuticals products. After all, prior to the 1990s, few developing countries did so. Though developing countries lost this fight too, 3 the specifics of this requirement (for example, transition periods and whether this should be done retroactively), and more generally the rules about how countries should treat IP in pharmaceuticals, were produced by extensive negotiations and compromise, not only between North and South, the original antagonists, but also among countries in the North. Most European countries, for example, had only recently (since the late 1970s) begun to allow patents on pharmaceuticals, and they too were grappling with the consequences of this change and were resistant to some of the proposals made by countries where pharmaceutical patenting was longer established (Taubmann & Watal, 2015 ; Reichman, 2009 ; Matthews, 2002 ).

As much as the content of TRIPS expanded during the Uruguay Round, the world’s changes outpaced it. The establishment of the European Common Market in 1993 altered (or reflected on-going shifts in) the political and economic strategies of many European countries, and the balance of power within international organizations. The collapse of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union (as well as that of Yugoslavia), and thus the end of communism and state-planning in most of Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe, meant that a large group of additional countries would now seek to attract foreign investment, participate in international trade, and, more generally, integrate into the global economy. 4 At the same time, many developing countries abandoned industrial planning and policies of import-substituting industrialization, reduced barriers to imports and foreign investment, and also sought greater integration into the global economy. And, of course, China, the world’s most populous country, also underwent a major reorientation of economic strategy in this period; though not a participant in the Uruguay Round negotiations, by the time the WTO was launched in 1995, China, which eventually became a WTO member in 2001, was already emerging as an industrial powerhouse.

The worlds of business and technology were also markedly different by the end of the Uruguay Round than they had been at the start. The spread of new technologies of ICT began to gather steam and ultimately ushered in a new phase in the development of industry and global production largely dominated by increasing fragmentation of production and global value chains (GVCs). For the leading industrial countries strident in their demand for stricter IP protection, the TRIPS provisions had few safeguards for the new technology sectors that were emerging, such as software, AI, and telecommunications. Patent and copyright policies towards the new ICT industries, and their relation to competition policy, remain contentious areas where consensus has yet to evolve. In some sectors marked by globalization of production and the presence of GVCs, TRIPS has been almost redundant and supplanted by standards and cooperative agreements over essential patents as the mode of governance of innovation and appropriability. The emergence of digital commerce created new challenges and forms of conflict that TRIPS was unable to address (Azmeh, Foster, & Echavarri, 2020 ; Haggart, 2014 ). International labour mobility has also brought a slew of new issues to consider such as trade secrets and espionage activity. Thus TRIPS, though the most comprehensive international IP agreement, was in some ways born outdated, having to cope with new realities that were unforeseen at the start of – and even during most of – the Uruguay Round.

National Patent Policies in Theory and Practice

Standard economic theory as outlined in Scotchmer ( 2004 ) argues that optimal (patent) incentive polices will differ when we consider the national or international context. In a domestic context, the optimal patent policy tries to balance benefits that accrue to consumers and producers, mainly by addressing the question: how much monopoly profit should the innovator be allowed in order to maximise the social welfare that society as a whole may derive from a new invention? Phrasing the question in this way recognises that pricing under patenting will be higher due to the implicit monopoly granted by the patent and as such will produce a deadweight loss to society as a whole because of the restriction of output and the higher price borne by consumers (Nordhaus, 1969 ). As a consequence, economic thinking about patents is also dominated by market share arguments and the societal lack of welfare due to the monopoly granted by patents. Indeed, economic theory since Schumpeter has long recognized that patents (and IP protection, more generally) can have both dynamic effects, by creating incentives for innovation, and static and deadweight losses, by allowing patent-owners to charge monopoly prices. The optimal patent policy tries to balance these two effects, and thus the benefits that accrue to producers of innovations and users of innovations. 5

In establishing national patent systems, three levers are available to the government to strike this delicate balance between producer and social welfare interests. These are the scope of patentability, which defines the boundaries of what types of knowledge are eligible for private ownership; the exemptions to property rights, which define the relative rights of owners versus users; and the duration of patents, which establishes the time when privately owned knowledge enters the public domain. 6 In the paragraphs that follow we briefly discuss each of the three levers, though before doing so it is worth noting simply that the first lever, which affects the establishment of the IPR, is the most important of the three in a gatekeeper sense, as the abilities of owners to exercise such rights and how long they may do so are relevant only in the context of there being a property right.

Regarding “scope,” patents are available for inventions and not available for products of nature, but countries may differ in their determinations of what knowledge fits within each of these categories. More concretely (and less philosophically), countries may declare that certain types of knowledge, even if “inventions,” are nevertheless ineligible for patent protection. As noted above, the area of pharmaceuticals provides an example: new molecules and compounds are “inventions,” but until the late 1970s only a handful of countries allowed pharmaceutical products to obtain patents (Liu & LaCroix, 2015 ; Shadlen, Sampat, & Kapczynski, 2020 ).

Related to the scope of patentability is the “breadth” of patents, which regards the number and type of claims that are allowed. Broad patents allow the producer to profit from subtle product differentiation and make it more difficult for potential competitors to “invent around the patent” and enter the market upon achieving such differentiation (Merges & Nelson, 1990 ). Until the late 1980s Japan stood out among advanced economies for having a patent system that imposed narrow breadth, restricting patents on a single claim (Ordover, 1991 ). For the most part, patent breadth is determined through office practices and jurisprudence, and not a matter of policy per se.

A second lever concerns exemptions to patent rights. With intellectual property, which is based on non-rivalrous material, consumers and other producers beyond the owners (i.e., “third parties”) typically are allowed more rights to use the privately-owned knowledge than is the case with ordinary property. Patent systems will always have provisions that set out and delimit such rights. Some of these will be established as automatic exemptions that do not depend on permission from the rights-holder or the State, such as research use, or preparing products for commercial launch upon expiration of the patent. Other exemptions, which are non-automatic, require the State to grant permission to private or public actors to use patented knowledge without the owner’s consent, as is the case with a compulsory license. Although pharmaceuticals is the area where we observe the most amount of action with regard to compulsory licensing, as discussed by Ramani and Urias in this SI, other sectors where such exemptions play an important part include semiconductors (chip manufacturers need to experiment with various chips to create their own) and seed producers (they need to experiment with seeds in order to create new hybrids). 7

The final lever of national policies, the duration of patents, is also the clearest: longer-lasting patents allow producers to charge monopoly prices (and thus earn greater profits) for a longer time, while consumers in the economy pay higher prices for longer periods of time. Note, however, that in sectors with rapid technological change, the length of the patent is less consequential than it might seem if inventions become obsolete well before their patents expire.

The discussion of the three levers allows us to conclude that countries’ IP systems afford “stronger” protection when they allow more types of knowledge to be patented, the exemptions to owners’ private rights of exclusion are fewer, and they last longer. Indeed, we could, at least theoretically (subject to data constraints), use these dimensions to compare the strength of all countries’ patent systems across time and space. 8

Having explained how patent policies may differ in theory, the next question is what factors account for variation in practice. Scholars have argued that IP institutions are endogenous to the growth process and acquire prominence with the growth of technological capacity, and strong IPR in earlier stages of development can prove to be barriers to the development of technological capability and innovation, rather than act as incentives. As countries acquire more innovative capabilities and their scientific and industrial sectors expand, and as their firms move closer to the technological frontier, the case for stronger IP protection often follows (Sweet & Eterovic, 2019 ; Sweet & Maggio, 2015 ; Kalaycı & Pamukçu, 2014 ; Acemoglu, Aghion, & Zilibotti, 2006 ).

Accordingly, a substantial body of research has shown that countries’ choices of how strong to set the level of protection in their IP systems have, historically, been a function of domestic conditions, such as levels of income, industrial structure, and scientific-technological capabilities. In general, countries seeking to catch-up with wealthier and more technologically advanced countries tended to offer weaker IP protection to facilitate the use of foreign knowledge and information, and subsequent strengthening of IP tended to reflect changes in these same characteristics. Indeed, the close relationship between national conditions and IP policies has long been demonstrated (Chen & Puttitanun, 2005 ; Lerner, 2000 ; LaCroix & Liu, 2009 ; Maskus, 2000 , 2012 ; May & Sell, 2006 ). The Netherlands and Switzerland had no patent systems in the 19 th and much of the 20 th centuries (Schiff, 1971 ); the German patent system was only established in 1870. And even as countries had patent systems, some areas of knowledge remained off limits, and the rights of exclusion were moderated. In the USA, although a patent system to protect inventions was mandated in the first article of the constitution, throughout much of the 19 th century, protection for inventions originating abroad remained weak (Peng et al., 2017 ; Mowery, 2010 ; Khan, 2005 ). 9 As noted, not until the late 1980s did Japan offer stronger patent protection, rather it was designed to maximize the diffusion of knowledge and maximize opportunities for local actors to develop technological capabilities (Ordover, 1991 ). For many late-developing countries, IP policies featuring weak patent protection were fundamental to their industrialization strategies (Kim et al., 2012 ; Odagiri, Goto, Sunami, & Nelson, 2010 ; Kumar, 2002 ).

This scenario of national variation in patent policies was a function of a permissive international environment. That is, prior to TRIPS, international rules were based on the principle that different approaches to IP made sense in different countries depending on national conditions. Indeed, international rules on patents, which established a framework for an international patent system (e.g., rules on priority dates) but imposed few substantive obligations on countries, explicitly accommodated cross-national diversity. In the next section, again focusing on patents, we explain the major shift in global governance, from the Paris Convention to TRIPS.

The International Political Economy of Harmonization: From Paris Convention to TRIPS

The most important provision of the Paris Convention regards “national treatment,” which requires countries to afford foreign inventors the same opportunities and rights as those available to national inventors. But this is extremely limited. National treatment equalizes treatment at whatever level the country chooses, but it does not address the level of treatment. That is, in the language of the three levers of policy discussed above, national treatment does not say that countries should allow patents over given types of knowledge, or limit exemptions in particular ways, or have longer-lasting patents, but rather that if they do grant patents in particular technological classes, with particular rights of exclusion attached for a given period of time, they must treat foreign inventors the same as they treat national inventors. If a country does not offer strong patent protection, national treatment simply means that no one receives strong patent protection in that country.

From the perspective of firms in information- and knowledge-intensive industries which sought stronger protection on a global scale, the Paris Convention was clearly inadequate. They wanted to raise the bar across the globe, establishing international arrangements that would encourage harmonization at a higher level of IP protection. Starting in the late 1970s and early 1980s, these firms, both on their own and through their sectoral associations, mobilized intensively in the US and Europe to create a new international arrangement, with the key step being to link IP rules to international trade (Sell, 2003 , 2010 ; Ryan, 1998 ; Drahos, 1995 ). In doing so, they made achieving stronger IP protection a key feature of American and European foreign economic policy in this period.

The USA first linked IP practices to trade in 1984, with a reform of the Trade Act that defined “unfair” trade to include IP practices that did not meet US standards. The punishments attached to transgressions could range from trade sanctions imposed under Section 301 to withdrawal of preferential market access provided by the General System of Preferences. Then, in 1988, just as the Uruguay Round discussions on IP were picking up pace, the US Trade Act underwent a further amendment, this time creating a new mechanism that was specifically about IP. Starting in 1989, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) began issuing an annual “Special 301” Report, essentially a global report card that evaluated all countries’ IP practices and placed those judged to be problematic on the “Watch List” or “Priority Watch List.” As countries were placed on the Watch List and then escalated to the Priority Watch List, the threat of penalties increased, and when a country was identified as a “Priority Foreign Country,” the USTR was obligated to initiate proceedings to apply sanctions. 10

Not surprisingly, many countries that were most resistant to IP negotiations in the Uruguay Round were targeted directly by the USTR. Unilateral pressures of this sort not only brought many hesitant countries to the negotiating table, but made agreement on a multilateral set of rules more attractive too (Odell, 2006 ; Drahos, 1995 ; Bayard & Elliott, 1994 ; Bhagwati & Patrick, 1990 ). When the WTO was launched in 1995, the agreement on IP, TRIPS, was included.

TRIPS took international IP rules to an entirely new level, by calling for harmonization at a level closer to what was available in wealthier countries. 11 Its aims extended far beyond reciprocal national treatment of foreign inventions to the harmonization and strengthening of IP systems in the world. In the quest for stronger protection, TRIPS addressed each of the levers of national policy. It called for wider scope, requiring patents to be granted in all fields of technology; it tried to restrict the range of allowable exemptions to patent rights; and it established longer terms for patents, requiring terms of 20 years from the date of application.

This new approach to IP did not respect where particular countries were in their national evolution, but sought to construct a uniform system of protection that could support a global market for trade in technology goods. Low and middle-income countries who were net buyers of technology, were fearful that stronger protection at home would increase profit flows to foreigners. International profit flows depended upon the relative size of domestic markets and the relative sizes of country innovative capacities. Thus, countries with smaller national markets and countries with stronger innovative capacities (most high-income countries) generally favoured stronger protection, but countries with larger markets and weak innovative capacities resisted. Middle and Low-income countries who opposed TRIPS were in the latter group.

It is important to underscore that the WTO was concluded as a “single undertaking,” meaning that all members were subject to all of its agreements. As a result, even countries that resisted TRIPS ended up as parties to – and bound by – it. Thus, once the Uruguay Round was concluded and the new WTO’s rules came into effect in 1995, countries began revising their national laws to come into conformity with TRIPS (and other WTO agreements). In other words, WTO member states moved from a period of TRIPS negotiation to TRIPS implementation (Shadlen, 2017 ; Deere, 2008 ). In this context, with participation in the international trading system conditioned on being in compliance with TRIPS, the question that countries faced was not if but how they would comply with the new international agreement.

Although TRIPS established harmonization, it did not create a world of uniform patent policies and levels of patent protection. That is, a set of countries could all be in compliance with TRIPS yet all demonstrate differences in the details of their national IP systems. The reasons for this are twofold. First, TRIPS is not a self-executing body of law, but rather an agreement that prescribes and proscribes different practices, leaving matters of implementation to countries. For example, TRIPS establishes a set of conditions that should be met in granting compulsory licenses, but how these conditions are operationalized in national patent systems (What sort of behaviour by patent owners constitute grounds for compulsory licenses? Can the Ministry of Health act on its own? Does there need to be a health emergency, and, if so, how is it determined and who declares it?) was left to be determined locally. This means that TRIPS left countries with policy options (Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, 2002 ; Correa, 2000 ), and countries could – and did – comply with TRIPS differently. Second, TRIPS for the most part addressed laws, not so much enforcement practices. That means that not only may countries differ de jure (e.g., the three policy levers, or the details of the compulsory licensing rules), but also de facto due to the enforcement of their new laws. And evidence suggests substantial gaps between de jure and de facto levels of IP protection (Maskus, 2000 ; Shadlen, Schrank, & Kurtz, 2005 ). One recent study (Papageorgiadis & McDonald, 2019 ) shows that de jure IP protection departs significantly from the de facto IP protection for several middle- and low-income countries. Figure  1 is from their paper and shows the two dimensions of de jure and de facto IPR on the two axes. 12

Country plot of 48 patent systems in the post-TRIPS year 2005 using the annual scores of two indices of patent law on the books and patent law in practice. Source: Papageorgiadis and McDonald ( 2019 ), Figure  2 .

Although attention on lax enforcement has often focussed on China, China is not alone. Figure  1 reveals similar gaps between laws on the books and laws in practice in many other emerging economies, such as Argentina, Mexico, the Philippines, and Turkey, as well as India, Russia and Brazil (many of these countries initially opposed the TRIPS agreement). Indeed, as pointed out in Athreye, Martelli and Piscitello ( 2020 ), one can discern two groups of countries – those for whom de jure and de facto IPR move in the same direction (a positive relation) and a smaller group of middle income countries for whom the two are compensatory (a negative relation). 13

As we examine the dynamics of TRIPS implementation at the national level, both introducing and enforcing new laws, it is worth underscoring how the new international agreement altered the nature of domestic politics by imbuing technology-intensive sectors with new authority and importance. This happened in much the same way as Baldwin ( 2016 ) argues the reciprocity principle in GATT helped shift political interests to create a juggernaut of tariff cutting behaviour across nations. Prior to TRIPS, national patent policies were shaped largely by strong consumer groups and import substituting industrial sectors. Innovators (actual, fledgling, and aspiring) rarely had large and direct say in the drawing up of national IP policies, which in many developing countries were not designed to encourage innovation so much as to assure that knowledge, information, and technologically-intensive goods were accessible to consumers and as inputs to local industry. By forcing shifts in national policies toward stronger IP protections, TRIPS served as an exogenous shock that changed the distribution of incomes between innovative and non-innovative business groups. 14 Once stronger IP protection was implemented, innovative businesses/sectors gained from the new arrangements while businesses that relied on the previous arrangements experienced shrinking margins and some even left non-innovative lines of business. This changed the balance of political power with the two groups in ways that became self-reinforcing, as in subsequent political conflicts over IP, it was now the more innovation-focused sets of actors in business (and also within the state) that hold the upper hand. And the preferences of actors changed too. Faced with a new status quo , some actors that opposed TRIPS adjusted to the new environment and began to see opportunities where they previously felt only threats. When this happened, they revised their political strategies and were likely to seek alliances with actors that had supported the introduction of new arrangements (Sinha, 2016 ; Shadlen, 2011 ).

New Technologies of ICT, GVC Governance and TRIPS

In the spectrum of goods to which the provision of TRIPS could apply, scholarly attention has focussed sharply on goods with externalities, such as access to medicines and climate change technologies where the stronger monopoly enabled by TRIPS was obviously to the detriment of many poorer nations and poor consumer in richer nations. The adoption of TRIPS, however, came before the full impact of the newly emerging ICTs was felt. Consequently, the ICT sectors themselves and the ICT-mediated global value chains faced challenging governance issues shaped by the uncertainty of IP rights and in some cases, these were sorted out through sectoral innovations in the governance of IP rights.

Improvements in ICTs and rapid globalisation created unprecedented opportunities for the fragmentation of global value chains by reducing the transaction costs of exchanging information and communication across different stages of production. The best example of the changing industrial organization of production is the car industry, which moved from being a monolithic Fordist assembly line to gradual vertical disintegration along component lines. Today the car we drive has engine and components sourced from different parts of the world and includes improvements due to R&D conducted in different countries. Ghemawat ( 2007 ) ascribes this development to the globalization of markets being accompanied by the globalization of production. Thus, in many sectors of industrial activity, firms today select the best location for every value chain activity, either at home or abroad, and whether inside or outside organizational boundaries (Alcacer, Cantwell, & Piscitello, 2016 ).

As ICTs allow higher-quality information to be more readily accessed through a greater diversity of potential channels (Rangan & Sengul, 2009 ); market-based transactions and outsourcing are favoured and the use of ICT tends to reduce the extent to which facilities are owned by the MNE (Zaheer & Manrakhan, 2001 ). Thanks to IT-enabled integration capabilities, the fragmentation of processes across units allows firms to exploit complementarities between dispersed fragments, to vary their information-protection approach according to the specific institutional context of each host country, and to (selectively) develop a differentiated use of internal controls over activities performed abroad (Gooris & Peeters, 2016 ). On the other hand, better quality of IPR institutions in host countries facilitates intra-firm knowledge transmission by MNEs to their affiliates (Branstetter et al., 2006 ), and shifts the organisational mode towards outsourcing by reducing the need for integration to hedge against knowledge dissipation and opportunistic behaviour by the supplier/local unit.

One important consequence of the new possibilities opened up by GVCs is that attention has shifted from market share arguments (based on the economic efficiency of IP policies) toward property-based arguments that highlight the role of IP in facilitating technology trade and the emergence of disintegrated, specialized technology markets (Spulber, 2021 ; Barnett, 2011 ; Arora, Fosfuri & Gambardella, 2001 ; Athreye, 1997 ). The greater is the use of specialized markets, the greater the need for IP to enable transactions across them. This is shown in Figure  2 , adapted from Barnett ( 2011 ), which illustrates the different IP requirements of the integrated and disintegrated industrial organization models. The first model in Figure  2 represents the classical case of R&D-based innovation to produce a technology product (as in the case of big pharma). But the next two models represent different realities of subcontracting and vertically disintegrated supply chain models, with the second and the third being representations of sectors like Semiconductors or the new Biopharma. What is interesting is the more IP-intensive nature of the second and third models shown by the shaded boxes, which involve IP-based technology transfer activities. The more points at which IP transactions occur as technology is handed over for further processing to create the final product, the more patent-intensive is the final product. Having patents protecting these stages reduces transactions costs. The higher the division of labour in R&D, the more the scope for such IP transactions. However, this IP is for the most part protecting very small market shares as each stage involves a number of different operators.

Use of IP in integrated and disintegrated supply chains. Source By authors, based on Figure 4 in Barnett ( 2011 : 821)

ICTs, due to the higher use of patents in more fragmented value chains, increased the scope for TRIPS-like provisions. This is the case even in those sectors like telecommunications where it is not immediately obvious that patents are always the most effective means for protection as technology is changing so rapidly. Widespread patent ownership created other issues – such as the difficulty of new innovations in the presence of fragmented patent ownership (patent thickets) and blockage to innovation that is cumulative. In these instances, sectors have come up with their own institutional innovations such as patent pooling to permit cross –licensing of fragmented patent ownership into a single contract in ICT and the use of Fair, Reasonable, and Non-discriminatory licensing of essential patents (FRAND) to allow scaled up manufacturing in telecommunications. The effect of these institutional innovations in the governance of IP on globalization of R&D and production is sadly an understudied but important subject.

Although Figure  2 does not distinguish between domestic and foreign operations, we can speculate that MNEs’ strategic choices also influenced the effects and trajectories of IP policies in different countries (Bessen & Meurer, 2008 ). The global fragmentation of value chains is associated with multidirectional flows of information and knowledge across the entities involved in the international network of MNEs (Markus, Sia, & Soh, 2012 ) and weak IPR protection increases the risk of information leakage and misappropriation (e.g., Martinez-Noya & Garcia-Canal, 2011 ). Successful GVC integration requires a dense circulation of information flows to communicate specifications, standards and technical know-how in addition to costs and other items (Gereffi, Humphrey, & Sturgeon, 2005 ). Within this context, lead firms need to weigh the advantages of disaggregating the production process and the cost reduction this can bring against the risk of losing control over some of their proprietary intangible assets. Thus, lead firms engaged in GVC trade are interested in stricter IPRs in trade agreements to contain the risk of IP appropriation resulting from the international fragmentation of production. However, in order to circumvent the difficulty of using formal IP protection channels and to find other ways to enforce IPRs without limiting the scope of GVC activity, other mechanisms for the management of IP are increasingly emerging, mainly based on the attempt to move beyond legal procedures. Strategies such as a finer slicing of the processes (Gooris & Peters, 2016 ), or a sort of holistic approach using Corporate Social Responsibility to enforce stricter IPR standards along the chains (Gillai, Rammohan, & Lee, 2014 ), or the actions aiming at fostering “a culture of IP protection and compliance” throughout the global supply chain are all becoming mainstream (WIPO, 2017 ).

On the flip side, many middle-income countries that aspired to move up the technological ladder and build their own domestic capabilities, could see a new path to growth through participation in GVCs if they were willing to embrace the tougher IP demands in TRIPS. For example, as MNEs became willing to locate their production in different countries, industrialists in these countries (hoping to become part of a global value chain) were also willing to conform to the IP standards required by the MNE – often with more stringent enforcement (Brandl et al., 2019 ). In fact, the tightening of IP regulations and the deeper integration between countries through regulatory standards convergence (Rodrik, 2018 ) goes in parallel with the expansion of GVC trade (Timmer et al., 2014 ). This has led authors like Chang ( 2002 ) to protest that the stronger and better institutions for development demanded of developing countries today was not fair but an attempt to “kick away the ladder” to prevent developing countries from joining the elite club of developed nations. However, China’s rise shows us that if the government/firms were prepared to make the R&D investments, then strong IP need not be a deterrent to technological growth in lower income countries. Indeed, China’s rapid growth today and the effect of its prosperity on the growth of other Middle and Low-income countries is testament to the success of such strategies, although as Gomory and Baumol ( 2001 ) predict, such a strategy can create conflicts when the incumbent countries feel that their market share is threatened.

The growing role of intangible assets (technology, design and branding) in production is increasingly reflected in the growing share of intangible assets in the value of final products in international trade (Durand & Milberg, 2020 ; WIPO, 2017 ; Timmer et al., 2016 ). Hsieh and Rossi-Hansberg ( 2020 ) attribute this to a second industrial revolution in services sectors due to which productivity in services has been raised by ICTs in a manner similar to what machines and mechanical engineering did during the first industrial revolution. Furthermore, lead firms in GVCs are increasingly focussing on the intangibles, while outsourcing the tangibles to their partners in Middle and Low-income countries. As a consequence, more protection of intangibles is being demanded under the ambit of TRIPS such as protection for data, trademarks and copyrights. Sectors that have greater intangible capital – whether because of technological knowledge or consumer goodwill (brands) – are also able to earn more by judiciously choosing their location strategies.

Twenty-Five Years of TRIPS: Scope of the Special Issue Papers

There is a growing recognition in the IB literature that institutions are not always exogenous and instead co-evolve with firms: as the behaviour of firms starts changing, institutions start adapting as well (Athreye, 2020 ; Cantwell, Dunning, & Lundan, 2010 ; Peng et al., 2017 ). However, the imposition of TRIPS and the acceptance of seemingly stringent agreements and the shift to stronger IP for Middle and Low-income countries was exogenously driven. Once the status quo changed and the new institutions were in place, actors did change their strategies and new political possibilities emerged (as was discussed earlier).

The papers in this special issue in one way or another describe the various strategies used to drive policy in the national implementation stage of the TRIPS agreement. One way in which a more nuanced use of harmonised IPR could emerge is through the drafting of more detailed IP chapters in Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) between countries. The paper by Christoph Mödlhamer argues that the innovative capacity of states that are members of a preferential agreement shapes demand for IPRs in the PTA. Innovative economies that rely on IP generation favour IPRs because IP-reliant industries press for IPR inclusion when governments negotiate PTAs with less innovative economies. By contrast, PTAs between non-innovators remain sparse in IPR provisions because few industries on either side demand IPR. Analyzing novel data on IPR provisions in 495 PTAs signed between 1988 and 2018, he shows that heterogeneity in PTA members’ innovativeness indeed increases the inclusion of IPR clauses in PTAs. His findings help to understand preferences towards IPRs in PTA negotiations and shed light on reasons for varying numbers of IPR inclusions, while offering a refinement of the conventional wisdom that adds to our understanding of PTA design.

In general, these findings on IP chapters of PTAs are consistent with Gamso and Grosse ( 2020 ). They find that deep PTAs with provisions such as investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms and property rights protections provide signals that are especially important to investors in countries where property rights are weak, as the extra protections provided by a deeper agreement can substitute for those that are missing at the domestic level. Empirically, they find that PTA depth is positively associated with FDI between member countries, but the association weakens as property rights laws in host countries increase in strength. Thus, they conclude that governments can attract higher levels of FDI through comprehensive trade agreements, as opposed to shallow PTAs, when domestic policies are not sufficient. However, shallow agreements suffice where domestic policy already protects property rights.

For many countries, another obvious way to prioritize national interest is to weaken the ‘national treatment’ principle in enforcement. A growing body of work has demonstrated anti-foreign bias in patent grants by offices around the world such as the JPO (Helfgott, 1990 ), EPO (Kotabe, 1992 ) and SIPO (Brander, Cui & Vertinsky, 2017 ). Though most of this evidence shows correlation rather than causation, if true it is a repudiation of the ‘national treatment’ principle, which as we noted earlier was a central pillar of the Paris Convention and TRIPS.

The paper by Rassenfosse and Hosseini, using data for the USPTO, shows that inventions of foreign origin are about ten percentage points less likely to be granted a patent than domestic inventions, which suggests discrimination against foreigners. Why does such discrimination exist? They distinguish between intentional and unintentional discrimination. Intentional discrimination relates to disparate treatment of a specific group of applicants, whereas unintentional discrimination arises when policies, practices, and rules have disparate impacts on a specific group of applicants. Their analysis shows that the bias against foreigners is largely the result of unintentional discrimination and can be explained by differences in patent agents used by foreigners and locals, the financial resources of the applicants, and the level of effort that applicants put into the prosecution process. Thus, the story they tell is about disparate impact (due to better financial resources) rather than disparate treatment.

The paper by Petit, van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie and Gimeno-Fabra disagrees with the results presented by Rassenfosse and Hosseini and argues that tests of the national treatment argument should be conducted not on grant rates (which may be influenced by more adverse market conditions facing the foreign applicant) but on the examination process. The examination process is defined as the work carried out by the patent examination office (to assess if an application fulfils the legal patentability conditions), which is assumed to be (mostly) independent from economic forces. Testing for national bias within the examination process relies on the fact that patent offices are legally required to justify each decision they publish through concrete and transparent evidence. As a result, discriminatory behaviours from patent offices should show up in the way applications are processed. Using this alternative empirical approach to test for national bias at the EPO, the JPO, and the USPTO, and through a unique database that quantifies the key patent examination processes and find no evidence of national bias throughout the work of three patent offices (WIPO, EPO and USPTO). 15

The paper by Ramani and Urias reviews the use of the much-publicized TRIPS flexibility – compulsory licensing for public health – in middle and low-income countries. Compulsory licensing is considered an important policy instrument to make medicines affordable in countries where a pharmaceutical industry does not exist or where stronger TRIPS provisions on product patents are likely to increase the prices of medicines placing then out of the reach of a large segment of the population in many low and middle income countries. Based on a systematic review of the existing evidence on the impact of compulsory licensing on drug prices, Ramani and Urias identify 24 instances of compulsory licensing in 8 countries – which is a very limited use of this much touted flexibility. They attribute this limited use to the very restrictive scope for the use of compulsory licensing in the TRIPS provisions.

Comparing pre- and post-compulsory licensing prices, their paper finds that a compulsory licensing event is likely to reduce the price of a patented drug, although public knowledge of the extent of price drop is poor. Further, they find compulsory licensing procurement from the international market is likely to be more effective in reducing drug prices than contracts to local companies. Interestingly, their findings are reconfirmed in the race to improve access to the antiviral medication Remdesivir for hospitalized COVID-19 patients, based on information that is publicly available. Clearly, the future incidence and impact of compulsory licensing will depend on further possible procedural refinements to ease its implementation, the development of technological and manufacturing capabilities in developing countries, and the importance of biologics among life-saving drugs. COVID-19 could prove a pivotal moment in redefining this flexibility and enabling its wider use.

Finally, Abinader’s in-depth analysis of pharmaceutical patenting in the Dominican Republic, a country that does not ordinarily receive much attention in the literature on IP, sheds light on what conformity with TRIPS looks like in practice. The paper allows us to observe patent prosecution in a developing country where substantive examination is new. The finding of low grant rates, not just for more questionable “secondary” patents but also for “primary” patents covering active ingredients suggests that, TRIPS-driven harmonization notwithstanding, domestic politics and state institutions continue to cast a substantial influence over de facto levels of patent protection.

Although the papers in this issue do not cover all aspects of international business since TRIPS, we hope some of the issues noted in this Introduction and in the included papers will create a rich menu of future options for research on TRIPS and patent policy by IB scholars.

TRIPS is also wider in that it covers more areas of IP. In addition to patents, trademarks, and copyright, TRIPS also addresses geographical indications, industrial designs, integrated circuits, and plant varieties.

Watal and Taubam ( 2015 ) provide a fascinating account of the process of negotiation and its twists and turns.

TRIPS Article 27, on “Patentable Subject Matter,” in its first paragraph states that “patents shall be available for any inventions, whether products or processes, in all fields of technology….”

Many of the post-communist countries eventually joined the European Union, contributing to its expansion from 15, at the time the WTO was founded, to 28 by the mid-2000s (and 27 after the United Kingdom’s departure in 2020).

It is also widely acknowledged that patents are not the only way to spur innovative R&D, and that complements include government funding and prizes. Governments have supplemented national patent policies with prizes in areas where solutions are needed e.g., the Longitude prize in 1714 by the UK government to solve the problem of determining the precise longitude of a ship, as this was causing deaths at sea. The Longitude prize has recently been re-established in 2012 around six challenge areas. See Scotchmer ( 2004 ) and David ( 1993 ) for more discussion of the array of incentives.

While conceptually these are three distinct policy levers, they are related to each other in their effects. For example, a patent system that, in terms of scope, allows multiple versions of similar inventions to be eligible for protection, may de facto offer longer periods of patent protection if the multiple patents are filed sequentially.

Cahoy ( 2011 ) provides detailed history and discussion of compulsory licensing in areas beyond pharmaceuticals.

Examples of indices along these lines include Park ( 2008 ) as a general measure, Campi and Nuvolari ( 2020 ) for agricultural technologies, Liu and La Croix ( 2015 ) for pharmaceuticals.

A prominent example of this was not recognising the Bessemer patent for steel production, granted in the UK.

Although Priority Foreign Country designation is meant to trigger the process leading to trade sanctions, countries can be sanctioned without ever being labelled as such.

The Paris Convention continues to be the reference for coordinating procedures on how patents are applied for and the respect of priority dates, for example.

The axes in Figure  1 are better thought of as “strength” of patent systems, following the earlier discussion in this paper, than “quality.” After all, for poorer countries with minimal innovative capabilities, a patent system that provides extensive rights of exclusion over a wide array of knowledge may not be of high “quality.”

While the assumption in the literature is that weak enforcement will lead to IP protection being weaker “in practice” than what’s promised “on the books,” the inverse can also be true. Some countries have patent provisions that, though designed to reduce the level of protection (within the constraints imposed by TRIPS), are under-enforced, yielding levels of “in practice” that are greater that what’s “on the books.” See Sampat and Shadlen ( 2015 , 2018 ).

Rodrik ( 2020 ) makes a similar point.

Applications made through International Bureau at the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), based in Geneva, Switzerland take place through the Patent Cooperation Treaty route. The PCT application is published by the WIPO in one of the ten “languages of publication”: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

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Essex Business School, Southend-on-Sea, UK

Suma Athreye

Henley Business School, Reading, UK

Lucia Piscitello

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Athreye, S., Piscitello, L. & Shadlen, K.C. Twenty-five years since TRIPS: Patent policy and international business. J Int Bus Policy 3 , 315–328 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s42214-020-00079-1

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7 Tips for Successful International Business Travel As you begin to hit the road for work once again, here's how to make sure it's a good experience.

By Anna Johansson • Dec 10, 2021

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

No matter how much experience you have with international travel, venturing to a foreign country can be stressful. If you're attending an important professional conference, you might be even more nervous about your upcoming journey.

Fortunately, whether you're intending to stay for only a couple of days or you're turning this into a bigger, more comprehensive trip, there are some strategies that can help you better manage your international travel.

Learn both the language and the culture

If you're traveling to a country that speaks a different language, it's a good idea to spend at least some time learning that language. You don't have to become bilingual in the months leading up to your trip, but if you know even a handful of common phrases, greetings and words, you'll be much more capable of managing your trip (and you'll make a better impression with the locals as well).

In addition, it's important to learn how this culture works and how it's different than yours . In the United States, for example, it's common for professional colleagues to greet each other by shaking hands, smiling and maintaining eye contact — but that may not be the case in another country. Be sure you learn the common points of etiquette so you can make a good impression with your new colleagues and navigate the country without issue.

Related: Will Business Travel Ever Return to Normal?

Work with a local expert

If possible, try to talk and work with someone who either lives in the country you're visiting or is very familiar with the culture and common life there. Practice the language with them. Ask them any questions you have about etiquette. Try to see the country through their eyes. Their personal experience will probably teach you more than you can learn simply by reading articles online.

Research all travel requirements in advance

Next, spend some time researching all the travel requirements for getting to your international destination (and coming back home). No matter what, you'll probably need an up-to-date passport that isn't going to expire in the near future. To travel to the United States through the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), international travelers need to have an electronic travel authorization ( through ESTA ). Check to see if is there something similar if you're traveling from the United States to the country of your choice.

While you're at it, make sure you stay up to date. These requirements often change without much warning.

Prepare a thorough itinerary and be prepared

This should go without saying but work proactively to prepare a thorough itinerary. Make detailed plans for your travel and accommodations, and establish a few backup plans in case your primary strategies don't work out.

It's easy to take your telecommunication and internet connections for granted in the United States. Overseas, you may not be able to connect unless you purchase an international data plan or phone in the area. Do your research in advance and make sure you're prepared with things like electrical outlet converters, charging cables for your destination country and upgraded international phone plans. It also pays to have an emergency backup plan in case your primary means of communication is no longer available.

Related: How you can travel without a credit card

Be wary of travel advisories

Pay attention to travel advisories to and from your destination country. Countries may issue advisories based on a number of factors, such as natural disasters, military conflicts or the spread of infectious diseases. If travel advisories grow worse, or if you have significant concerns in the days leading up to your trip, you may need to cancel or change your plans.

Protect yourself

Finally, you'll need to take measures to protect yourself.

• Invest in travel insurance. Investing in travel insurance can instantly make you feel more secure. Depending on the package you get, your travel insurance will likely cover you for medical issues, theft and even weather-related disasters.
• Know the risks. Different countries and different areas within those countries have risks. Make sure you understand and account for these risks in advance. For example, is there a part of the city that has an exceptionally high crime rate? Is there an increased risk of a certain type of natural disaster?
• Minimize losses. You can also work to minimize your losses. Only carry the essentials with you when you're traveling — and keep an emergency stash of cash in case you lose your main wallet.

Freelance writer

Anna Johansson is a freelance writer who specializes in social media and business development.

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Small Business Trends

16 international business travel tips.

Finding the best international travel tips can be challenging, especially when it’s for international travel. But knowing what to prepare for before and while you’re on the trip is a huge part of business travel safety, especially for those newer to business travel. So we’ll go through some important international travel tips to keep in mind in this article to help your next international trip for work be much better and easier.

How to Use these International Travel Tips

If you’re planning to travel abroad, these business travel tips can help make trip planning much more manageable, regardless of the destination country. These tips can be helpful for newer business travelers and serve as a good reminder for seasoned business travelers to optimize their next trip. Of course, you can always share more travel tips in the comments to help others plan their trips as well!

Amazing Tips for International Travel

We’ve collected tips to improve your next business trip traveling abroad, keeping in mind a new traveler and an experienced world traveler and what would be most helpful. Whether you’ve just left your home country for the first time or have traveled a lot, we’ve developed this list to ensure your international travel checklist covers everything.

1. Plan ahead for your international trip

The first tip for any international travel is to always, always, always plan ahead. Every country is different, and there are lots of little nuances and details that may trip you up while you’re there – or even when on your way. For first-time travelers especially, it’s important to do your research before your international adventures around the foreign country itself, such as any customs forms you might need, important documents, and advice from other travelers.

2. Research local customs for the foreign country you’re going to

Building from the previous tip, one of the first things international travelers tend to research is local customs. That could include common gestures, phrases, anything that could be construed as offensive (even if it’s fine in your home country), traditions, and public transport options such as trains and bus rides. Plus, you’ll get some travel inspiration to help you plan your trip a bit more efficiently and understand the nuances of where you’re going

3. Watch out for jet lag

For first-time travelers, the effect of jet lag is often underestimated. When traveling abroad, it’s hard for your body to adjust to the time difference, and it can be challenging to be productive and get things done. So if you’re traveling on international flights, prepare yourself for the prospect of jet lag and take measures to avoid it. While there’s no one specific method to get over jet lag, you can reach out to fellow travelers who’ve gone to your destination before your long-haul flight to get specific advice on the time zone differences. Even if it means taking a nap early in the day if possible, or getting into a bed a few hours before can help alleviate jet lag to an extent.

4. Get travel insurance

Travel insurance is another major travel tip that makes your first time flying internationally less stressful. It can help you save money in the long run, especially if flights are delayed or canceled, or even with lost luggage. Ultimately, travel insurance gives you peace of mind, which is why it’s often quoted as one of the best international travel tips. You can purchase travel insurance before leaving for overseas travel to ensure you have coverage for the trip.

5. Avoid international fees

Another key way to save money during the trip is to avoid foreign transaction fees where possible. For example, many credit cards end up costing more during travel overseas because of international fees and exchange rates. Talk to your credit card company beforehand to figure out ways to avoid hidden fees.

Read More: business travel tips

6. Opt for mobile boarding passes

To ensure faster boarding, you can get mobile boarding passes for your flight by using the online check-in features offered by many airlines. Generally, you can access check-in 24-48 hours before your departure date on your airline’s website and enter passport details plus other relevant details to get your boarding pass.

7. Be careful of local food

Once you arrive at your final destination for the business trip, try to be mindful of what you eat. Experiencing local food and cuisine is great, but too much street food and other unknowns might end up leading to sudden illnesses or health issues. Before leaving for your trip make sure to research more about local cuisine and customer reviews to figure out where you can eat safely.

8. Identify the nearest currency conversion centers

Many countries don’t support certain types of credit cards or debit cards, making it challenging to pay for transactions unless you have local currency. If you have to carry local currency, currency conversion centers are available to facilitate that. Try to compare the exchange rate where possible to ensure you’re getting the most for your money. You might also be able to locate partner banks that work with your US bank that offer easy conversion options for travelers looking to get local currency.

9. Look for deals on international flights

There are many ways to find cheap international flights for your business trip. You can check travel aggregator websites such as Kayak and others to find the cheapest flights and compare prices before making an online booking. Flights are often discounted at certain times of the year, which isn’t always a widely known travel tip. If you’re able to be strategic with your business travel, you might find better deals during off-season versus peak times like summer.

10. Check before renting a car

If you have another international driver’s license or international driving permit, you can usually find deals for car rentals in many countries. Before your first international trip, you can check with your hotel to see if they offer any deals for car rentals and save while traveling. You might also be able to find deals online through travel aggregators and more, especially if you book in advance.

11. Keep your travel documents safe

It’s incredibly crucial to keep your travel documents safe during international travel. A stolen or missing passport will make your trip that much more stressful, which is why this is such a popular travel tip. Keep your important documents in your carry-on bag when undertaking international travel such as your passport, visa, work authorization, and more. When you arrive at your hotel room, make sure to keep your documents in the hotel safe for added protection, and to avoid losing them or having any mishaps.

12. Invest in a good carry on

A good carry-on bag makes international travel that much easier, especially if it’s your first international trip. Make sure to check what dimensions are allowed on the airline you’re flying with, as foreign countries and their airlines may differ. Depending on the size needed, you can purchase additional travel equipment such as packing cubes and travel locks as well.

13. Buy a money belt

Walking around with your money and other items might be a bit scary initially, which is why purchasing a money belt can prove useful. This is one of the top tips for traveling because it enables you to keep your money close to you discreetly, without worrying about theft or pickpockets. You can purchase a money belt before your trip and keep it in your carry-on so it’s ready to use as soon as you arrive.

14. Use the right credit card provider

Using a good credit card when traveling abroad can benefit you immensely. You can use it for purchases to get points and rewards, which are useful for both international travel and domestic travel to get free flights and deals on hotel rooms. You can also redeem points and rewards during the trip to make it more cost-effective, and get more out of your credit card. Before leaving for your trip, scout for credit cards with the best deals for international destinations and ones that are widely accepted in most countries.

Read More: Business Travel Safety Tips

15. Get Google Translate

Whether you’re trying to navigate business meetings or exploring the city through free walking tours. International travel tips often recommend apps like Google Translate because they can help you get around the city easier and speak with other people. It’s also useful if you’re exploring the city and wanting to make new friends. Use it to translate common phrases and sayings, and you can use the photo feature to translate restaurant menus and more.

16. Use a local cell phone provider

If you want to keep in touch with family members and colleagues more easily when traveling abroad, consider using a local cell phone provider. If you’re traveling abroad often or staying in one destination for a while, a local SIM is really useful to have. It’s one of the most popular international travel tips for many reasons. You can save money since you won’t incur roaming charges, and you’ll have access to the internet and data to keep in touch more easily.

When it comes to international business travel, being well-prepared is key to a successful and stress-free trip. Whether you’re a novice or a seasoned traveler, a comprehensive plan is crucial. To begin with, meticulous planning is essential. Research your destination thoroughly, including its unique customs, necessary forms, and essential documents. Seek advice from experienced travelers and fellow professionals who can provide valuable insights into the intricacies of your chosen international location. Planning ahead not only enhances your overall travel experience but also ensures you are well-prepared to navigate the destination’s specific requirements.

Understanding and respecting local customs is another vital aspect of international travel. Familiarizing yourself with gestures, traditions, and cultural norms will enable you to interact respectfully and meaningfully in foreign countries. This cultural awareness not only enhances your personal experience but also helps create positive impressions in professional settings. Additionally, jet lag can be a significant challenge for international travelers. To combat its effects, seek advice from those who have visited your destination before, learning strategies to minimize its impact, such as strategic napping or adjusting your schedule to the new time zone.

Travel insurance is a valuable investment that provides peace of mind during international trips. It offers protection against a range of potential issues, including flight disruptions, lost luggage, and unforeseen emergencies. Securing travel insurance before your journey ensures you are financially protected throughout your trip. Furthermore, avoiding international fees is a practical strategy to minimize expenses during international travel. Work with your credit card company to identify methods for circumventing foreign transaction fees and unfavorable exchange rates. This financial savvy can lead to substantial savings during your travels.

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Foreign Business Travel

It is worthwhile to visit overseas markets before you conclude an export deal. Many foreign markets differ greatly from the U.S. market. Learn about cultural nuances that may affect the design, packaging, or advertising of your product in another country.

Traveling abroad can also generate new customers. Your business partners or customers may prefer to conduct business in person first. 

Prepare by meeting travel requirements, planning an itinerary and learning about the Business Culture .  

All international travelers are required to have proper documentation before leaving the United States. You must have a current U.S. passport, visas from certain host countries, and in some instances vaccination records.  

Travel Requirements 

Start preparing early.  Businesses should allow at least 6 to 8 weeks to acquire all the necessary documents.  

Passports: 

• All travel outside the United States and its possessions requires a valid U.S. passport. Information is available from the nearest local passport office.
• You can also get information on passports, applications, and renewals from the  U.S. Department of State . If you are in a hurry, express service is available for a fee. 

Visas: 

• Many countries require visas, which cannot be obtained through the U.S. Passport Services Directorate.
• Visas are provided by a foreign country’s embassy or consulate in the United States for a small fee. You must have a current U.S. passport to obtain a visa, and in many cases, a recent photo is required.
• Allow several weeks to obtain visas, especially if you are traveling to developing nations.
• Some foreign countries require visas for business travel, but not for tourist travel. When you request visas from a consulate or an embassy, you should notify the authorities that you will be conducting business.
• Check visa requirements each time you travel to a country, since regulations change periodically. 

Vaccinations: 

• Requirements for vaccinations differ by country. Although there may not be any restrictions on direct travel to and from the United States, there may be restrictions if you travel indirectly and stop over in another country before reaching your final destination.
• Although not required, vaccinations against typhus, typhoid, and other diseases are advisable.
• Check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)  website for current conditions by country and region. 

Foreign Customs and Travel Advisories: 

• Because foreign customs regulations vary by country, find out which regulations apply to each country you plan to visit. 
• If you’re bringing a product for demonstration or sample purposes, an ATA carnet may be helpful. 
• Find out if there are travel advisories issued by the  U.S. Department of State for the countries you plan to visit. Advisories alert travelers to potentially dangerous in-country situations.  

Other Tips: 

• Prepare for different weather conditions. Seasonal weather conditions in the countries could be different from conditions at home. 
• Address health care issues. Plan appropriately with respect to prescription drugs, health insurance, vaccinations, and other matters, including dietary needs and preferences. 
• Think about money. U.S. banks can provide a list of automatic teller machines overseas, exchange rates, and traveler’s checks. 

Planning an Itinerary

A well-planned itinerary enables you to make the best use of your time abroad. Although traveling is expensive and your time is valuable, an overloaded schedule can be counterproductive.

Check if a travel agent service is right for you. They can arrange transportation and hotel reservations quickly and efficiently. They can also help plan your itinerary, obtain the best travel rates, explain which countries require visas, advise on hotel rates and locations, and provide other valuable services. Because hotels, airlines, and other carriers pay the fees charged by travel agents, this assistance and expertise may be available at no charge to you. 

As you plan your trip, remember to:  

• Obtain the names of possible contacts and arrange appointments. Confirm the most important meetings before you leave the United States. The U.S. Commercial Service business matchmaking services can help. 
• Determine whether an interpreter will be required and, if so, make all necessary arrangements before arriving. Business language is generally more technical than the conversational speech that many travelers can handle — and mistakes can be costly. The U.S. Commercial Service can assist in locating qualified translators.  
• Keep your schedule flexible enough to allow for both unexpected problems (such as transportation delays) and unexpected opportunities. However, be sure not to miss a scheduled meeting due to an unscheduled invitation.  
• Consider transportation. Be aware of public and private transportation available in each country you’ll be visiting and have a plan for getting around. Make arrangements (e.g., hiring a driver) before you arrive. 
• Find out about the electrical current in each of your destinations. A transformer, plug adapter, or both may be needed to demonstrate company products, as well as your own electronics—such as laptops or tablets for presentations. 
• Confirm the normal workdays and business hours in the countries you will visit. In many Middle Eastern countries, for instance, the workweek typically runs from Saturday to Thursday. Lunchtimes that last 2 to 4 hours are customary in many countries. 

The Country Commercial Guide   (CCG) is a great resource for understanding the business environment in another country. There are CCGs for more than 120 countries and each includes a chapter on Business Customs and Travel.

WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION

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Overview: the TRIPS Agreement

The TRIPS Agreement, which came into effect on 1 January 1995, is to date the most comprehensive multilateral agreement on intellectual property.

> General provisions > Standards of protection > Copyright > Related rights > Trademarks > Geographical indications > Industrial designs > Patents > Integrated circuits > Undisclosed information > Anti-competitive licences > Enforcement > General obligations > Procedures and remedies > Provisional measures > Border measures > Criminal procedures > Other provisions > Acquiring and maintaining rights > Transitional arrangements > Protecting existing matter

The three main features of the Agreement are:

• Standards . In respect of each of the main areas of intellectual property covered by the TRIPS Agreement, the Agreement sets out the minimum standards of protection to be provided by each Member. Each of the main elements of protection is defined, namely the subject-matter to be protected, the rights to be conferred and permissible exceptions to those rights, and the minimum duration of protection. The Agreement sets these standards by requiring, first, that the substantive obligations of the main conventions of the WIPO, the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (Paris Convention) and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Berne Convention) in their most recent versions, must be complied with. With the exception of the provisions of the Berne Convention on moral rights, all the main substantive provisions of these conventions are incorporated by reference and thus become obligations under the TRIPS Agreement between TRIPS Member countries. The relevant provisions are to be found in Articles 2.1 and 9.1 of the TRIPS Agreement, which relate, respectively, to the Paris Convention and to the Berne Convention. Secondly, the TRIPS Agreement adds a substantial number of additional obligations on matters where the pre-existing conventions are silent or were seen as being inadequate. The TRIPS Agreement is thus sometimes referred to as a Berne and Paris-plus agreement.
• Enforcement . The second main set of provisions deals with domestic procedures and remedies for the enforcement of intellectual property rights. The Agreement lays down certain general principles applicable to all IPR enforcement procedures. In addition, it contains provisions on civil and administrative procedures and remedies, provisional measures, special requirements related to border measures and criminal procedures, which specify, in a certain amount of detail, the procedures and remedies that must be available so that right holders can effectively enforce their rights.
• Dispute settlement . The Agreement makes disputes between WTO Members about the respect of the TRIPS obligations subject to the WTO's dispute settlement procedures.

In addition the Agreement provides for certain basic principles, such as national and most-favoured-nation treatment, and some general rules to ensure that procedural difficulties in acquiring or maintaining IPRs do not nullify the substantive benefits that should flow from the Agreement. The obligations under the Agreement will apply equally to all Member countries, but developing countries will have a longer period to phase them in. Special transition arrangements operate in the situation where a developing country does not presently provide product patent protection in the area of pharmaceuticals.

The TRIPS Agreement is a minimum standards agreement, which allows Members to provide more extensive protection of intellectual property if they so wish. Members are left free to determine the appropriate method of implementing the provisions of the Agreement within their own legal system and practice.

Certain general provisions 

As in the main pre-existing intellectual property conventions, the basic obligation on each Member country is to accord the treatment in regard to the protection of intellectual property provided for under the Agreement to the persons of other Members. Article 1.3 defines who these persons are. These persons are referred to as “nationals” but include persons, natural or legal, who have a close attachment to other Members without necessarily being nationals. The criteria for determining which persons must thus benefit from the treatment provided for under the Agreement are those laid down for this purpose in the main pre-existing intellectual property conventions of WIPO, applied of course with respect to all WTO Members whether or not they are party to those conventions. These conventions are the Paris Convention, the Berne Convention, International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (Rome Convention), and the Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits (IPIC Treaty).

Articles 3, 4 and 5 include the fundamental rules on national and most-favoured-nation treatment of foreign nationals, which are common to all categories of intellectual property covered by the Agreement. These obligations cover not only the substantive standards of protection but also matters affecting the availability, acquisition, scope, maintenance and enforcement of intellectual property rights as well as those matters affecting the use of intellectual property rights specifically addressed in the Agreement. While the national treatment clause forbids discrimination between a Member's own nationals and the nationals of other Members, the most-favoured-nation treatment clause forbids discrimination between the nationals of other Members. In respect of the national treatment obligation, the exceptions allowed under the pre-existing intellectual property conventions of WIPO are also allowed under TRIPS. Where these exceptions allow material reciprocity, a consequential exception to MFN treatment is also permitted (e.g. comparison of terms for copyright protection in excess of the minimum term required by the TRIPS Agreement as provided under Article 7(8) of the Berne Convention as incorporated into the TRIPS Agreement). Certain other limited exceptions to the MFN obligation are also provided for.

The general goals of the TRIPS Agreement are contained in the Preamble of the Agreement, which reproduces the basic Uruguay Round negotiating objectives established in the TRIPS area by the 1986 Punta del Este Declaration and the 1988/89 Mid-Term Review. These objectives include the reduction of distortions and impediments to international trade, promotion of effective and adequate protection of intellectual property rights, and ensuring that measures and procedures to enforce intellectual property rights do not themselves become barriers to legitimate trade. These objectives should be read in conjunction with Article 7, entitled “Objectives”, according to which the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights should contribute to the promotion of technological innovation and to the transfer and dissemination of technology, to the mutual advantage of producers and users of technological knowledge and in a manner conducive to social and economic welfare, and to a balance of rights and obligations. Article 8, entitled “Principles”, recognizes the rights of Members to adopt measures for public health and other public interest reasons and to prevent the abuse of intellectual property rights, provided that such measures are consistent with the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement.

Substantive standards of protection 

Copyright Back to top

During the Uruguay Round negotiations, it was recognized that the Berne Convention already, for the most part, provided adequate basic standards of copyright protection. Thus it was agreed that the point of departure should be the existing level of protection under the latest Act, the Paris Act of 1971, of that Convention. The point of departure is expressed in Article 9.1 under which Members are obliged to comply with the substantive provisions of the Paris Act of 1971 of the Berne Convention, i.e. Articles 1 through 21 of the Berne Convention (1971) and the Appendix thereto. However, Members do not have rights or obligations under the TRIPS Agreement in respect of the rights conferred under Article 6 bis of that Convention, i.e. the moral rights (the right to claim authorship and to object to any derogatory action in relation to a work, which would be prejudicial to the author's honour or reputation), or of the rights derived therefrom. The provisions of the Berne Convention referred to deal with questions such as subject-matter to be protected, minimum term of protection, and rights to be conferred and permissible limitations to those rights. The Appendix allows developing countries, under certain conditions, to make some limitations to the right of translation and the right of reproduction.

In addition to requiring compliance with the basic standards of the Berne Convention, the TRIPS Agreement clarifies and adds certain specific points.

Article 9.2 confirms that copyright protection shall extend to expressions and not to ideas, procedures, methods of operation or mathematical concepts as such.

Article 10.1 provides that computer programs, whether in source or object code, shall be protected as literary works under the Berne Convention (1971). This provision confirms that computer programs must be protected under copyright and that those provisions of the Berne Convention that apply to literary works shall be applied also to them. It confirms further, that the form in which a program is, whether in source or object code, does not affect the protection. The obligation to protect computer programs as literary works means e.g. that only those limitations that are applicable to literary works may be applied to computer programs. It also confirms that the general term of protection of 50 years applies to computer programs. Possible shorter terms applicable to photographic works and works of applied art may not be applied.

Article 10.2 clarifies that databases and other compilations of data or other material shall be protected as such under copyright even where the databases include data that as such are not protected under copyright. Databases are eligible for copyright protection provided that they by reason of the selection or arrangement of their contents constitute intellectual creations. The provision also confirms that databases have to be protected regardless of which form they are in, whether machine readable or other form. Furthermore, the provision clarifies that such protection shall not extend to the data or material itself, and that it shall be without prejudice to any copyright subsisting in the data or material itself.

Article 11 provides that authors shall have in respect of at least computer programs and, in certain circumstances, of cinematographic works the right to authorize or to prohibit the commercial rental to the public of originals or copies of their copyright works. With respect to cinematographic works, the exclusive rental right is subject to the so-called impairment test: a Member is excepted from the obligation unless such rental has led to widespread copying of such works which is materially impairing the exclusive right of reproduction conferred in that Member on authors and their successors in title. In respect of computer programs, the obligation does not apply to rentals where the program itself is not the essential object of the rental.

According to the general rule contained in Article 7(1) of the Berne Convention as incorporated into the TRIPS Agreement, the term of protection shall be the life of the author and 50 years after his death. Paragraphs 2 through 4 of that Article specifically allow shorter terms in certain cases. These provisions are supplemented by Article 12 of the TRIPS Agreement, which provides that whenever the term of protection of a work, other than a photographic work or a work of applied art, is calculated on a basis other than the life of a natural person, such term shall be no less than 50 years from the end of the calendar year of authorized publication, or, failing such authorized publication within 50 years from the making of the work, 50 years from the end of the calendar year of making.

Article 13 requires Members to confine limitations or exceptions to exclusive rights to certain special cases which do not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the right holder. This is a horizontal provision that applies to all limitations and exceptions permitted under the provisions of the Berne Convention and the Appendix thereto as incorporated into the TRIPS Agreement. The application of these limitations is permitted also under the TRIPS Agreement, but the provision makes it clear that they must be applied in a manner that does not prejudice the legitimate interests of the right holder.

Related rights Back to top

The provisions on protection of performers, producers of phonograms and broadcasting organizations are included in Article 14. According to Article 14.1, performers shall have the possibility of preventing the unauthorized fixation of their performance on a phonogram (e.g. the recording of a live musical performance). The fixation right covers only aural, not audiovisual fixations. Performers must also be in position to prevent the reproduction of such fixations. They shall also have the possibility of preventing the unauthorized broadcasting by wireless means and the communication to the public of their live performance.

In accordance with Article 14.2, Members have to grant producers of phonograms an exclusive reproduction right. In addition to this, they have to grant, in accordance with Article 14.4, an exclusive rental right at least to producers of phonograms. The provisions on rental rights apply also to any other right holders in phonograms as determined in national law. This right has the same scope as the rental right in respect of computer programs. Therefore it is not subject to the impairment test as in respect of cinematographic works. However, it is limited by a so-called grand-fathering clause, according to which a Member, which on 15 April 1994, i.e. the date of the signature of the Marrakesh Agreement, had in force a system of equitable remuneration of right holders in respect of the rental of phonograms, may maintain such system provided that the commercial rental of phonograms is not giving rise to the material impairment of the exclusive rights of reproduction of right holders.

Broadcasting organizations shall have, in accordance with Article 14.3, the right to prohibit the unauthorized fixation, the reproduction of fixations, and the rebroadcasting by wireless means of broadcasts, as well as the communication to the public of their television broadcasts. However, it is not necessary to grant such rights to broadcasting organizations, if owners of copyright in the subject-matter of broadcasts are provided with the possibility of preventing these acts, subject to the provisions of the Berne Convention.

The term of protection is at least 50 years for performers and producers of phonograms, and 20 years for broadcasting organizations (Article 14.5).

Article 14.6 provides that any Member may, in relation to the protection of performers, producers of phonograms and broadcasting organizations, provide for conditions, limitations, exceptions and reservations to the extent permitted by the Rome Convention.

Trademarks Back to top

The basic rule contained in Article 15 is that any sign, or any combination of signs, capable of distinguishing the goods and services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings, must be eligible for registration as a trademark, provided that it is visually perceptible. Such signs, in particular words including personal names, letters, numerals, figurative elements and combinations of colours as well as any combination of such signs, must be eligible for registration as trademarks.

Where signs are not inherently capable of distinguishing the relevant goods or services, Member countries are allowed to require, as an additional condition for eligibility for registration as a trademark, that distinctiveness has been acquired through use. Members are free to determine whether to allow the registration of signs that are not visually perceptible (e.g. sound or smell marks).

Members may make registrability depend on use. However, actual use of a trademark shall not be permitted as a condition for filing an application for registration, and at least three years must have passed after that filing date before failure to realize an intent to use is allowed as the ground for refusing the application (Article 14.3).

The Agreement requires service marks to be protected in the same way as marks distinguishing goods (see e.g. Articles 15.1, 16.2 and 62.3).

The owner of a registered trademark must be granted the exclusive right to prevent all third parties not having the owner's consent from using in the course of trade identical or similar signs for goods or services which are identical or similar to those in respect of which the trademark is registered where such use would result in a likelihood of confusion. In case of the use of an identical sign for identical goods or services, a likelihood of confusion must be presumed (Article 16.1).

The TRIPS Agreement contains certain provisions on well-known marks, which supplement the protection required by Article 6 bis of the Paris Convention, as incorporated by reference into the TRIPS Agreement, which obliges Members to refuse or to cancel the registration, and to prohibit the use of a mark conflicting with a mark which is well known. First, the provisions of that Article must be applied also to services. Second, it is required that knowledge in the relevant sector of the public acquired not only as a result of the use of the mark but also by other means, including as a result of its promotion, be taken into account. Furthermore, the protection of registered well-known marks must extend to goods or services which are not similar to those in respect of which the trademark has been registered, provided that its use would indicate a connection between those goods or services and the owner of the registered trademark, and the interests of the owner are likely to be damaged by such use (Articles 16.2 and 3).

Members may provide limited exceptions to the rights conferred by a trademark, such as fair use of descriptive terms, provided that such exceptions take account of the legitimate interests of the owner of the trademark and of third parties (Article 17).

Initial registration, and each renewal of registration, of a trademark shall be for a term of no less than seven years. The registration of a trademark shall be renewable indefinitely (Article 18).

Cancellation of a mark on the grounds of non-use cannot take place before three years of uninterrupted non-use has elapsed unless valid reasons based on the existence of obstacles to such use are shown by the trademark owner. Circumstances arising independently of the will of the owner of the trademark, such as import restrictions or other government restrictions, shall be recognized as valid reasons of non-use. Use of a trademark by another person, when subject to the control of its owner, must be recognized as use of the trademark for the purpose of maintaining the registration (Article 19).

It is further required that use of the trademark in the course of trade shall not be unjustifiably encumbered by special requirements, such as use with another trademark, use in a special form, or use in a manner detrimental to its capability to distinguish the goods or services (Article 20).

Geographical indications Back to top

Geographical indications are defined, for the purposes of the Agreement, as indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a Member, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin (Article 22.1). Thus, this definition specifies that the quality, reputation or other characteristics of a good can each be a sufficient basis for eligibility as a geographical indication, where they are essentially attributable to the geographical origin of the good.

In respect of all geographical indications, interested parties must have legal means to prevent use of indications which mislead the public as to the geographical origin of the good, and use which constitutes an act of unfair competition within the meaning of Article 10 bis of the Paris Convention (Article 22.2).

The registration of a trademark which uses a geographical indication in a way that misleads the public as to the true place of origin must be refused or invalidated ex officio if the legislation so permits or at the request of an interested party (Article 22.3).

Article 23 provides that interested parties must have the legal means to prevent the use of a geographical indication identifying wines for wines not originating in the place indicated by the geographical indication. This applies even where the public is not being misled, there is no unfair competition and the true origin of the good is indicated or the geographical indication is accompanied be expressions such as “kind”, “type”, “style”, “imitation” or the like. Similar protection must be given to geographical indications identifying spirits when used on spirits. Protection against registration of a trademark must be provided accordingly.

Article 24 contains a number of exceptions to the protection of geographical indications. These exceptions are of particular relevance in respect of the additional protection for geographical indications for wines and spirits. For example, Members are not obliged to bring a geographical indication under protection, where it has become a generic term for describing the product in question (paragraph 6). Measures to implement these provisions shall not prejudice prior trademark rights that have been acquired in good faith (paragraph 5). Under certain circumstances, continued use of a geographical indication for wines or spirits may be allowed on a scale and nature as before (paragraph 4). Members availing themselves of the use of these exceptions must be willing to enter into negotiations about their continued application to individual geographical indications (paragraph 1). The exceptions cannot be used to diminish the protection of geographical indications that existed prior to the entry into force of the TRIPS Agreement (paragraph 3). The TRIPS Council shall keep under review the application of the provisions on the protection of geographical indications (paragraph 2).

Industrial designs Back to top

Article 25.1 of the TRIPS Agreement obliges Members to provide for the protection of independently created industrial designs that are new or original. Members may provide that designs are not new or original if they do not significantly differ from known designs or combinations of known design features. Members may provide that such protection shall not extend to designs dictated essentially by technical or functional considerations.

Article 25.2 contains a special provision aimed at taking into account the short life cycle and sheer number of new designs in the textile sector: requirements for securing protection of such designs, in particular in regard to any cost, examination or publication, must not unreasonably impair the opportunity to seek and obtain such protection. Members are free to meet this obligation through industrial design law or through copyright law.

Article 26.1 requires Members to grant the owner of a protected industrial design the right to prevent third parties not having the owner's consent from making, selling or importing articles bearing or embodying a design which is a copy, or substantially a copy, of the protected design, when such acts are undertaken for commercial purposes.

Article 26.2 allows Members to provide limited exceptions to the protection of industrial designs, provided that such exceptions do not unreasonably conflict with the normal exploitation of protected industrial designs and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the owner of the protected design, taking account of the legitimate interests of third parties.

The duration of protection available shall amount to at least 10 years (Article 26.3). The wording “amount to” allows the term to be divided into, for example, two periods of five years.

Patents Back to top

The TRIPS Agreement requires Member countries to make patents available for any inventions, whether products or processes, in all fields of technology without discrimination, subject to the normal tests of novelty, inventiveness and industrial applicability. It is also required that patents be available and patent rights enjoyable without discrimination as to the place of invention and whether products are imported or locally produced (Article 27.1).

There are three permissible exceptions to the basic rule on patentability. One is for inventions contrary to ordre public or morality; this explicitly includes inventions dangerous to human, animal or plant life or health or seriously prejudicial to the environment. The use of this exception is subject to the condition that the commercial exploitation of the invention must also be prevented and this prevention must be necessary for the protection of ordre public or morality (Article 27.2).

The second exception is that Members may exclude from patentability diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods for the treatment of humans or animals (Article 27.3(a)).

The third is that Members may exclude plants and animals other than micro-organisms and essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals other than non-biological and microbiological processes. However, any country excluding plant varieties from patent protection must provide an effective sui generis system of protection. Moreover, the whole provision is subject to review four years after entry into force of the Agreement (Article 27.3(b)).

The exclusive rights that must be conferred by a product patent are the ones of making, using, offering for sale, selling, and importing for these purposes. Process patent protection must give rights not only over use of the process but also over products obtained directly by the process. Patent owners shall also have the right to assign, or transfer by succession, the patent and to conclude licensing contracts (Article 28).

Members may provide limited exceptions to the exclusive rights conferred by a patent, provided that such exceptions do not unreasonably conflict with a normal exploitation of the patent and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the patent owner, taking account of the legitimate interests of third parties (Article 30).

The term of protection available shall not end before the expiration of a period of 20 years counted from the filing date (Article 33).

Members shall require that an applicant for a patent shall disclose the invention in a manner sufficiently clear and complete for the invention to be carried out by a person skilled in the art and may require the applicant to indicate the best mode for carrying out the invention known to the inventor at the filing date or, where priority is claimed, at the priority date of the application (Article 29.1).

If the subject-matter of a patent is a process for obtaining a product, the judicial authorities shall have the authority to order the defendant to prove that the process to obtain an identical product is different from the patented process, where certain conditions indicating a likelihood that the protected process was used are met (Article 34).

Compulsory licensing and government use without the authorization of the right holder are allowed, but are made subject to conditions aimed at protecting the legitimate interests of the right holder. The conditions are mainly contained in Article 31. These include the obligation, as a general rule, to grant such licences only if an unsuccessful attempt has been made to acquire a voluntary licence on reasonable terms and conditions within a reasonable period of time; the requirement to pay adequate remuneration in the circumstances of each case, taking into account the economic value of the licence; and a requirement that decisions be subject to judicial or other independent review by a distinct higher authority. Certain of these conditions are relaxed where compulsory licences are employed to remedy practices that have been established as anticompetitive by a legal process. These conditions should be read together with the related provisions of Article 27.1, which require that patent rights shall be enjoyable without discrimination as to the field of technology, and whether products are imported or locally produced.

Layout-designs of integrated circuits Back to top

Article 35 of the TRIPS Agreement requires Member countries to protect the layout-designs of integrated circuits in accordance with the provisions of the IPIC Treaty (the Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits), negotiated under the auspices of WIPO in 1989. These provisions deal with, inter alia , the definitions of “integrated circuit” and “layout-design (topography)”, requirements for protection, exclusive rights, and limitations, as well as exploitation, registration and disclosure. An “integrated circuit” means a product, in its final form or an intermediate form, in which the elements, at least one of which is an active element, and some or all of the interconnections are integrally formed in and/or on a piece of material and which is intended to perform an electronic function. A “layout-design (topography)” is defined as the three-dimensional disposition, however expressed, of the elements, at least one of which is an active element, and of some or all of the interconnections of an integrated circuit, or such a three-dimensional disposition prepared for an integrated circuit intended for manufacture. The obligation to protect layout-designs applies to such layout-designs that are original in the sense that they are the result of their creators' own intellectual effort and are not commonplace among creators of layout-designs and manufacturers of integrated circuits at the time of their creation. The exclusive rights include the right of reproduction and the right of importation, sale and other distribution for commercial purposes. Certain limitations to these rights are provided for.

In addition to requiring Member countries to protect the layout-designs of integrated circuits in accordance with the provisions of the IPIC Treaty, the TRIPS Agreement clarifies and/or builds on four points. These points relate to the term of protection (ten years instead of eight, Article 38), the applicability of the protection to articles containing infringing integrated circuits (last sub clause of Article 36) and the treatment of innocent infringers (Article 37.1). The conditions in Article 31 of the TRIPS Agreement apply mutatis mutandis to compulsory or non-voluntary licensing of a layout-design or to its use by or for the government without the authorization of the right holder, instead of the provisions of the IPIC Treaty on compulsory licensing (Article 37.2).

Protection of undisclosed information Back to top

The TRIPS Agreement requires undisclosed information -- trade secrets or know-how -- to benefit from protection. According to Article 39.2, the protection must apply to information that is secret, that has commercial value because it is secret and that has been subject to reasonable steps to keep it secret. The Agreement does not require undisclosed information to be treated as a form of property, but it does require that a person lawfully in control of such information must have the possibility of preventing it from being disclosed to, acquired by, or used by others without his or her consent in a manner contrary to honest commercial practices. “Manner contrary to honest commercial practices” includes breach of contract, breach of confidence and inducement to breach, as well as the acquisition of undisclosed information by third parties who knew, or were grossly negligent in failing to know, that such practices were involved in the acquisition.

The Agreement also contains provisions on undisclosed test data and other data whose submission is required by governments as a condition of approving the marketing of pharmaceutical or agricultural chemical products which use new chemical entities. In such a situation the Member government concerned must protect the data against unfair commercial use. In addition, Members must protect such data against disclosure, except where necessary to protect the public, or unless steps are taken to ensure that the data are protected against unfair commercial use.

Control of anti-competitive practices in contractual licences Back to top

Article 40 of the TRIPS Agreement recognizes that some licensing practices or conditions pertaining to intellectual property rights which restrain competition may have adverse effects on trade and may impede the transfer and dissemination of technology (paragraph 1). Member countries may adopt, consistently with the other provisions of the Agreement, appropriate measures to prevent or control practices in the licensing of intellectual property rights which are abusive and anti-competitive (paragraph 2). The Agreement provides for a mechanism whereby a country seeking to take action against such practices involving the companies of another Member country can enter into consultations with that other Member and exchange publicly available non-confidential information of relevance to the matter in question and of other information available to that Member, subject to domestic law and to the conclusion of mutually satisfactory agreements concerning the safeguarding of its confidentiality by the requesting Member (paragraph 3). Similarly, a country whose companies are subject to such action in another Member can enter into consultations with that Member (paragraph 4).

How to get ready for international business trips

Planning to travel internationally for business? Read these tips for managing visas and passports, vaccines, testing requirements, currency exchange and more.

1. Prioritize wellbeing

Travel fatigue from flying long distances and jumping time zones can affect traveler wellbeing and hinder productivity on a business trip. To help ease jet lag , travelers should book the best flight times and class of service allowed by their travel policy . Time flights to align with the usual wake and sleep patterns – and avoid layovers when possible. If a layover is unavoidable, take advantage of it. Ask airline or airport workers for the best places to eat, rest or catch up on work. Many airports are home to art installations, live music performances, and even mini flora gardens or amusement parks (we’re looking at you, Singapore Changi Airport). During the layover, watch the clock and leave ample time to reach the gate for the connecting flight.

2. Manage passports and visas early

Applying for a new or renewed passport can take weeks or months, especially in countries now resuming travel and tourism following the shutdown. Depending on the country, a passport must be valid for a specific length of time after the departure date, typically three or six months. The rules vary by destination country and traveler nationality.

Procure necessary visas and passports well in advance. Some countries offer visas upon arrival; some require advance applications. Most countries use an e-visa portal for online visa applications. A passport must have enough empty visa pages to meet destination country requirements. When in doubt, check travel information on the destination country’s official government website or contact the designated government agency in the traveler’s country of citizenship.

3. Heed travel advisories and warnings

Travelers should check official government sources for travel advisories and notices that might affect a trip. These could include risk, weather or health events.

BCD’s TripSource® provides clients and travelers information and alerts to help keep them safe before, during and after the trip. Travelers can receive alerts about security, weather and transportation events.

4. Schedule mandatory vaccinations and testing

Travelers should be aware of destination-specific entry requirements for testing, quarantine, medications and vaccinations. Travelers are responsible for contacting healthcare providers for information and to schedule necessary appointments. Allow plenty of time to get required vaccines or medications. Vaccines may require multiple doses over time. Some preventative medicines, like those used to treat malaria, must be started before travel. Share health concerns, itineraries and planned activities with the provider so they can better provide advice and recommendations for staying healthy on the trip. Make sure to get proper documentation for testing, vaccinations and medications.

5. Pack properly

Baggage rules for international flights may be stricter than for domestic trips. Usually one personal item (like a purse, briefcase or laptop bag) and one carry-on item are allowed on board. Quantity and weight allowances for checked luggage vary. Refer to the airline for specific fees, rules and restrictions.

Know before you go

With travel risks and requirements seemingly changing by the minute, real-time information is a must-have for confident decision-making. Our award-winning Information Hub helps travelers and travel managers make smart, confident decisions in a constantly changing business travel landscape

6. Exchange money

How much money will you need for an international business trip?That’s a good question. And one we can’t answer. It’s a good idea to keep cash handy, though. When deciding how much, consider how easily you can access funds at local banks and ATMs should there be a need. Keep safety in mind. It’s never a good idea to flash large amounts of cash anytime; get a good mix of currency denominations.

Decide whether you’ll exchange currency at home or at your destination. Currency exchange fees are usually less expensive at financial institutions compared to airports, train stations or hotels.

Will that be debit or credit?

Travelers may find themselves in a souk, café or other shop wondering which type of card to use for payment. Making the best choice between a credit card and debit (bank) card could mean less hassle, better record keeping, and savings – for travelers and their employers.

Before you go

• Inform credit card, cell phone and other relevant service providers about travel plans to avoid services disruptions or freezes for fraud investigations.
• Take advantage of official government traveler safety programs like the United States’ Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) , a free service allowing U.S. citizens and nationals traveling and living abroad to enroll their trip with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate.
• In case of emergency: Use the TripSource Document Vault to store digital copies of your important travel documents. These include passport, state- or government-issued identification, trip itinerary, vaccine documents, emergency contact details and local embassy information. If print copies are preferred, store them separately from original documents in a secure place.
• Help protect your internet-enabled devices against cyber attacks. Update antivirus software, back up important information, and only connect to networks you consider reasonable secure.

How-to guides

Get more done with our How-to series for people who work and manage travel.

Questions? Email: [email protected]

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What Are The Different Types Of International Business Trips?

Home » B2B » What Are The Different Types Of International Business Trips?

Corporates organize various kinds of international business trips to carry out their work and cross-border expansion. However, defining each business trip under an umbrella can be a tricky task. Different trips require specific planning and objectives. All the stakeholders should be aware of the various kinds of trips to achieve high efficiency. Let us explore the different kinds of international business travel in the blog.

Different types of international business trip

Corporations send their employees on different types of abroad business trip. Each trip has its objectives and essentials. Given below are some of the top types of overseas business trip.

1. Trade shows and conferences

Trades shows provide a great opportunity to explore new technologies and techniques in a specific industry. It provides businesses to showcase their products and services in front of large live crowds from the same industry making it easy to find potential clients. Trade shows help corporate understand the competition and remain updated in the industry.

2. Market research trips

Corporates who are keen to launch a new product or review the working of any old one in a definite location should perform market research. Employees take these overseas business travel to foreign lands to conduct consumer behavior research, competition research, analyze the local market, and other such factors.

3. Sales and client meetings

Making international sales is important for corporates to expand beyond their native boundaries. In-person client meetings are always preferred over virtual meetings. Hence, sales and tech teams are required to travel to various countries to provide the necessary boost to the revenue structure of the company. These trips often involve negotiation, contract discussions, and problem-solving to grow sales and expand market reach.

4. Supplier or factory visit

Organizations with numerous international offices and production facilities send their employees on office and training visits. These trips are essential to enhance the product and service quality, create standards for the services, form better relationships with international employees, and upskill fellow employees. The visits are also required to spread cultural awareness across borders within the organization.

5. Mergers and brand acquisitions

Businesses explore opportunities for mutual growth and partnerships. Partnerships, mergers, or brand acquisitions are always a big event for any organization. Therefore, high-profile employees must travel to various countries to negotiate better terms for their companies. Additionally, in-person negotiations and partnership signing are highly appreciated by both parties involved.

6. Government and Regulatory Affairs

Setting up production facilities requires numerous clearances from the local authorities and central governments. To get the legal papers signed in one’s favor, corporations seek advocates’ suggestions for specialization in local laws. Therefore, a representative from the company should be present in person to get the clearance done and get the stamp on the papers.

Suggested Read:  Basic Guidelines For International Business Travelers

7. Market entry and expansion

Entering the market with strong competition is always a daunting sight. However, to sell, businesses have to launch their products in various markets. Therefore, it is better to check the product offering samples in a closed environment with honest reviews. Gathering reviews from different audiences will help in expansion and product launches. Employees travel to different countries, interact with the audience, and gather suggestions before launching the final version.

8. Recruitment of human resource

Most of the time countries require a workforce that is skilled and works at a moderate salary. Hiring from developed countries can lead to depletion in wealth due to high salary criteria. Recruitment can be done in developing countries that require HRs to travel to various countries in the world. Also, high-post and c-suite employees should be hired in one-to-one meetups.

9. Sustainability and CSR Initiatives

These trips involve traveling for corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, such as philanthropic projects, environmental initiatives, or sustainable development partnerships. These trips demonstrate a company’s commitment to social and environmental responsibility on a global scale. The companies are required to perform social work to have high CSR and reputation around the globe.

10. Strategic Planning and Business Development

Involves trips aimed at developing long-term business strategies, assessing growth opportunities, and planning for the international expansion of a company. These trips help set the direction for a company’s international business activities. This kind of trip involves VIP travel and hence should be given priority.

International business trips are not just about visiting foreign lands; they are strategic endeavors designed to achieve specific goals. From market expansion to partnership building, and market research to corporate responsibility, these trips are integral to a company’s global success. Understanding the nuances of each type of trip is essential for effective planning and execution in the global marketplace.

Suggested Read: Best Ways To Enhance Corporate Travel Booking Process

International Business Trip FAQs

What are trade shows and conferences.

Trade shows and conferences are events where businesses can showcase their products and services to a large audience within their industry.

Why are in-person sales and client meetings crucial for corporations looking to expand their market reach internationally?

In-person meetings with clients and potential partners allow for negotiations, contract discussions, and problem-solving, ultimately driving sales and revenue growth.

What role do international government and regulatory affairs trips play in setting up production facilities in foreign countries?

Government and Regulatory Affairs trips are necessary when obtaining clearances and approvals from local authorities and governments. Having a company representative present in person ensures a smoother process and expedites the necessary legal paperwork.

What are some important considerations when planning an international business trip?

One should look out for travel documentation, health and safety, cultural awareness, itinerary planning, and financial planning.

Do I need a visa for my destination country?

Visa requirements depend upon the nationality and the destination country. Some countries to promote business can provide relaxation on the visa and some may not even provide visa due to political or regional tensions.

What vaccinations do I need?

Common vaccinations for international travel include those for hepatitis, typhoid, and yellow fever. You may be required to produce other vaccination certificates depending upon the destination country.

How should I handle currency exchange and payments?

For payments, carry a mix of cash, credit cards, and travel cards accepted internationally.

What should I do in case of an emergency?

You should organize contact numbers, copies of important documents, travel insurance number, and other such documents.

Pratyush is a traveling enthusiast who always looks for innovations in business travel management. He has 5 years of experience writing content on corporate travel management and working closely with expert business travel facilitators.

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A Beginner's Guide to International Business Travel

By Amanda Wowk

May 09, 2019

Business Travel

Heading overseas for your first international business trip? You're probably feeling a mix of excitement with a slight pang of dreading the unknown. Not to worry! Whether this is your first business trip , first trip overseas, or a combination of the two, I’ve got you covered with what steps to take before you go.  

Consult Your Company’s Travel Policy

To get the most out of your international business trip—like, knowing exactly how much you can spend on meals, lodging and airfare—consult your company’s travel policy. There, you might also discover that you can get reimbursed for known traveler programs like Clear or TSA PreCheck, or entry fees to airport lounges. Plus, if your company uses SAP Concur, you might be one of the many travelers with a complimentary subscription to TripIt Pro (normally $49/year). You can visit the SAP Concur App Center to connect your accounts.  

Secure Your Passport and Visa

Packing your passport to travel internationally may seem obvious, but with just 42% of the US population possessing a passport, I’m not jumping to any conclusions. Plus, as a passport carrier, there are some important stipulations you should know. For starters, check your passport expiration date. Many countries require six months of validity upon arrival; a number of others require anywhere between one month and four months, with a remaining few allowing you to visit their country right up until the expiration date.    Next, do your visa research. Every country differs in its visa requirements , and a valid passport doesn’t always equate to guaranteed entry. Americans can travel to many countries without needing a visa for their trip, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes travelers may need to purchase a short-term visa at the point of entry; other times, you must apply for one well ahead of time. Variables such as the nationality of your passport, trip length, whether you will leave the airport, the nature of your trip (i.e., business vs. leisure), your point of entry, the areas you will be visiting and possessing a return ticket can all impact your ability to enter a country or need for a visa. To determine whether you do need a visa for your business trip, visit your destination country’s visas and immigration website. For instance, the U.K. offers a quick online survey to help you determine whether your business trip would require a visa. The visa requirement for a short trip related to a work event—such as a conference or speaking engagement—would vary from a visa needed for a work assignment lasting longer than six months. Still not sure whether you need a visa? Consult your Human Resources department for guidance with your company’s travel policy.  

Check Your International Travel Tools

Ahead of a business trip to a foreign country, you’ll likely need to sort out details like: What’s the local currency? Where is the US Embassy located? Will I need an adapter for sockets and plugs? What is the appropriate amount to tip a server or taxi driver? Fortunately, TripIt Pro makes this part easy on you—presenting all of this pertinent information in the International Travel Tools feature. There, you’ll find all of the answers to these questions (and more!), helping you to know ahead of your trip what plug you’ll need in order to use your coveted hairdryer and how much local currency you’ll need to tip the driver picking you up from the airport.  

Order Foreign Currency

Speaking of tipping, obtaining some local currency ahead of your trip should also be on your to-do list. Not sure where to change your currency? There are a number of options here. To start, many banks allow you to order foreign currency at a banking center if you’re a customer. You can also visit a foreign currency exchange—ideally before you head to the airport, or you can visit a kiosk in the airport, as well. Some restricted currencies, such as the Moroccan dirham and Cuban peso, are not available outside of their respective countries. In this instance, you don’t have a choice but to exchange your currency when you arrive at your destination or withdraw cash from a local ATM. Bear in mind that each of these options charge a fee per transaction. Try to take out exactly what you anticipate you’ll need to avoid multiple withdrawal fees and/or losing money on conversion once your trip is done.  

Sign Up for Global Entry

You’ve probably heard of Global Entry by now—either from your globetrotting friends or veteran road warrior colleagues. And if you’re not yet a member yourself, here are a few reasons to sign up: (1) TSA PreCheck membership is included; (2) some travel rewards credit cards issue statement credits if you charge the $100 application fee to your card; and (3) that feeling of breezing through customs after a long-haul international flight. Global Entry membership is good for five years. To sign up, travelers submit an online application, attend an in-person interview, provide fingerprints, and complete a background check. A complete step-by-step overview of the application process can be found on the US Customs and Border Protection site . As a member of this Trusted Traveler Program , you won’t have to fill out any customs paperwork upon landing back in the US and can head straight to Global Entry kiosks. There, you’ll scan your fingerprints and complete a customs declaration. Transaction receipt in-hand, you can then head to baggage claim or the exit—no waiting in line needed.  

Brace Yourself for Jet Lag

Whether it’s a domestic flight to the West Coast, or a long-haul journey to the Middle East, crossing time zones gets us all. And while there’s no sure-fire way to defeat jet lag , there are a number of ways to prepare for and bear it. For starters, get a good night’s sleep before you leave. This may seem impossible if you’ve booked an early morning departure, but the last thing you should do is pull an all-nighter right before you leave. This will only set your sleep schedule back. Get as many restful hours of sleep as possible, and you’ll be better prepared for the impending battle against jet lag. Second, skip the wine on your flight. I know, it pains me to say it—especially when it’s free! However, the reduced air pressure in the cabin already places pressure on your body, and alcohol will only stress your body even more. It’ll cause dehydration, too—leading to disrupted sleep patterns, and a drowsy start to your trip. Pass on the wine and ask your flight attendant for water. Your body will thank you for it later. Lastly, when you land, push yourself to take advantage of your destination’s daylight for as long as you can. While you might be exhausted after your flight, try to forego a nap and, instead, keep your body moving . This will help you get adjusted to your new time zone and sleep more soundly your first night—setting you up for success when your big meeting or speaking engagement rolls around.  

• 10 Safety Tips for the Solo Traveler
• What to Know About Visas Before Traveling Internationally

About the Author

Amanda Wowk

Amanda Wowk is a freelance writer, founder of Amanda Wowk Creative — a content writing services company — and avid traveler. Her experience spans the travel industry, supporting clients in travel tech, luxury travel, and consumer brands. When she's not helping clients tell their stories, Amanda writes about her own experiences to inspire others to travel as far, wide, and frequently as possible.

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International Business Travel

International business travel with worldtravelservice®.

Even if you’re a whiz at domestic travel, international business travel is a whole new ballgame. You have to take into account everything from the voltage in the hotel outlets to the etiquette and manners of an entirely different culture.

Don’t let overseas business trips be stressful—let  WorldTravelService®  handle your next international business trip.

Based in the Washington DC metro area, WorldTravelService® is here to take the stress away from international business travel, no matter what your final destination is.

What Are the Challenges of International Business Travel?

Call worldtravelservice® for streamlined corporate travel planning.

WorldTravelService® is equipped to help you every step of the way when you’re traveling for business internationally. Throughout your trip, our  international travel agency  will help with:

• Passports, visas, and other documentation : We know what’s required to travel to various countries, even when those requirements rapidly change. Our experienced travel agents will make sure you are prepared for passport, visa, and other documentation requirements during your trip. We’ll also ensure you get to the airport early enough and plan your flight so that you have plenty of time to make international connections.
• Airport transportation : Once you’ve arrived, we’ll arrange for transport from the airport, ensuring you don’t have to wander through an unfamiliar airport looking for the taxi stand or public transportation. And  checking in  will be a breeze thanks to our established relationships with many international hotel chains.
• Mobile technology : Book air, car, and hotel reservations, view and share travel plans, check the status of flights in real-time, and more with our mobile app services.
• Reporting : With over 100 custom-designed travel reports, you can choose the one you need to track expenses, trip details, and more before and after your business trip.
• Navigation:  Traveling around an unfamiliar city is even more difficult when you don’t know the language. But we can give you directions to your  hotel , a conference center or meeting location, and anywhere else you need to go—all in English! And when you’re ready to relax, we can point you to places where you can grab a bite to eat or check out some culture, no matter where you are in the world.
• Travel emergency services :  As a full-service travel agency, we maintain a call center that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so we’re ready to handle any travel emergency at any hour of the day—no matter the time zone.
• Safety services : Some of the most unstable parts of the world are also the most economically fertile. We can keep you informed of travel advisories, including those provided by the U.S. State Department. We can even coordinate security when necessary.

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80% of all travel agencies worldwide use this global distribution system. Other users include World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and all U.S. Embassies worldwide.

This system enables us to collect and organize disparate services like  air travel ,  car rental , and  hotel reservations  into a consolidated plan. It provides a real-time link to the databases of airlines, hotels, and more, enabling us to work quickly and efficiently to plan your travel and handle any problems that crop up.

As a WorldTravelService®  corporate travel  client, you will be escorted to your destination and back again by a network of highly experienced  travel agents  and technological systems that track and manage every detail of your itinerary. You will never be lost, stuck, overcharged, or unable to get immediate assistance while you are in our care.

Our partnership gives us access to a nearly unlimited range of route options, discounts, amenities, and other perks that consumers and unaffiliated agencies are not afforded.

All of this, along with the dedication and thoroughness of our experienced agents, means that when you book your corporate travel with WorldTravelService®, you are assured an unparalleled experience accompanied by the utmost peace of mind.

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How to Prepare for an International Business Trip

Preparing for an international business trip can be both exciting and daunting. Whether it’s your first time traveling abroad for business or you’re a seasoned traveler , there are a few key steps you can take to ensure that your trip runs smoothly and you are well-prepared for the cultural and professional differences you may encounter.

International travel is a necessity for fostering international business. Even as remote collaboration and communication technologies continue to improve dramatically, they are a little substitution for face-to-face meetings with potential clients and partners – making business trips a steady part of business , and a vital part of the job description for many. If you are new to international travel, you might be worried about your planning for such a trip; what can you do to prepare well?

In this article, we’ll provide some tips on how to prepare for an international business trip, from planning your itinerary to packing your bags .

Prepare for Meetings

In planning for the logistics of the trip itself, it can be easy to lose sight of the trip’s purpose: meetings with international clients, partners, or leaders. A separate planning phase should be set aside for the management of your business needs.

For one, you will likely need business cards to connect properly with new contacts. These will need to be designed and printed with enough lead time so that you can pack them . You will also need to take business equipment and information with you and research well before you arrive.

Planning is instrumental in ensuring a smooth trip and requires you to engage with all aspects of the trip well ahead of your departure time. This should start with legal essentials: i.e., your passport and visa.

Since the UK’s departure from the EU, travel to mainland Europe is now more difficult – to say nothing of the legal hoops required for business travel to other international destinations. Visa applications should be made at your earliest convenience.

This is also a good time to arrange flights and accommodation. Rather than leaving yourself susceptible to sold-out flights and premium-priced hotels, save both money and stress by figuring out your travel details and accommodation needs early.

Budget Wisely

There are budget implications for any international trip , even those undertaken on behalf of larger multinational corporations. Many of these implications will impact you personally, without measures taken to mitigate them.

You should ensure you have a company expenses card or budget for your trip, to cover meals and out and transport between your accommodation and professional commitments.

If you need to withdraw money, you may have to contend with exchange fees added by your bank or credit provider; this is particularly important to bear in mind about personal purchases.

Lastly, packing should not be undertaken in a rush the evening before you leave. Haste introduces risk, whether leaving important legal or business information behind or simply forgetting to bring a smart pair of shoes.

Write down a comprehensive list of everything you need to bring and tick those items off one by one as you pack them. For instance, select a couple of shirts/blouses of different colors, and a few accessories to fill the business attire needs.

Use the same plan for casual clothes. The same applies to shoes keep them to a minimum as they can take up a lot of space.

Protect yourself

You should take measures to protect yourself. Be aware of the risks involved. Being in a different country and area will have risks. Make sure you understand and account for these risks in advance.

Risks to consider might be the crime rate of the area, or if the area experiences consistent weather-related issues.

Make sure you invest in travel insurance . There are different types of packages available and dependent on this your travel insurance will likely cover you for medical issues, theft, and weather-related disasters.

Also, take care to reduce the risk of losing items. For instance, only carry around essentials with you. Keep an emergency pile of cash just in case.

If you ensure proper planning, then international travel is more fun than stressful.

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The ultimate guide to traveling for work: 35 best tips for business travelers

Before you travel…, 1. check your company’s business travel policy, 2. stick to carry-on bags only, 3. keep your essentials packed and ready to go in your suitcase, 4. keep your essentials handy when on the road, 5. pack both business attire and casual clothes, 6. keep security checks in mind when you pack, 7. make comfort a priority, 8. sign up for rewards programs, 9. make sure you charge your electronic devices, 10. fly non-stop, 11. make use of airport lounges, 12. use a suit bag, 13. bring a power bank, 14. bring your (travel size) toiletries, 15. pack healthy snacks, 16. choose your plane seat wisely, 17. do your research on foreign business etiquette, 18. download helpful apps, 19. bring a power adapter, 20. check in beforehand, during your business trip…, 21. choose water, skip alcohol, 22. if you have a meeting shortly after landing and need to be fresh, try drinking coffee two hours before the meeting, 23. layover tip: take the time to connect, 24. stretch, 25. adapt to meal times as soon as possible, 26. beat jet lag with exercise, 27. don’t be tempted to sleep as soon as you arrive, 28. try to stick to your most important daily routines, 29. take pictures of all your receipts, 30. store your receipts properly, 31. use a firewall when using public internet, 32. there are alternatives to working in your hotel room, after your business trip…, 33. don’t forget to report your expenses, 34. send thank you emails, 35. leave reviews, did you find this article useful.

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The Ins & Outs of International Business Travel

Visas for International Business Travel

Visa and passport delays are being experienced around the world. The U.S. State Department reports that “U.S. embassies and consulates are working to resume routine visa services … However, the pandemic continues to severely impact the number of visas our embassies and consulates abroad are able to process.”

They go on to explain that constraints vary based on local conditions and restrictions, but include local and national lockdowns, travel restrictions, host country quarantine regulations, and measures taken by embassies and consulates to contain the spread of COVID-19. This page on their website offers a backlog report.

Similar delays are being seen in other countries. In the United Kingdom , visa applications, which usually take 12 weeks to process, are currently taking up to 24 weeks.

Lean on CIBTvisas

As you seek to get visas for your international business travelers, you might consider using CIBTvisas . They are the leading global travel visa service, focusing on obtaining business and other travel visas for corporations and individuals worldwide in a fast, convenient and secure manner.

Passports for International Business Travel

Travelers needing to renew their passport should start the process sooner rather than later . While the wait time is shorter than last year (Processing times for passport applications were an average of 18 weeks in 2021 .), the U.S. State Department is reporting wait times of up to 10 weeks.

International Travel Rules & Requirements

Keeping up with the rules and requirements for entry and exit around the world is like playing a carnival game–it’s a constantly moving target. But rest assured, there are tools available.

In addition to visa assistance, CIBTvisas provides entry and health guidance with accurate, up-to-the-minute regulations for your destination, including COVID-19 and rules for vaccinated travelers. They also have an itinerary review service to provide guidance on how to travel safely and securely.

Christopherson + Sherpa

Use our destination database , created in partnership with Sherpa, to know what documentation or travel requirements exist for your trip. Simply type in your departure and arrival cities to access travel guidelines, entry restrictions, risk levels, quarantine measures, and more for both domestic and international destinations.

8 Tips for International Business Travelers

• Prepare Early – Start the process of obtaining or renewing your passport as far in advance as possible. Remember, your passport should not be set to expire within six months of visiting. Know what the visa requirements are and plan in advance.
• Do Your Homework – Research your destination’s entry rules, vaccine requirements, etc. in advance. Do this again a couple days before departure to be sure nothing has changed.
• Know the Culture – Check with your company’s travel program to see if they offer cultural information about your destinations. Have an understanding of the customs, cuisine, and culture of the place you’re traveling to.
• Have a Communication Plan – Make sure you know what your company wants you to do about an international phone plan.
• Understand Emergency Protocol – Obtain training on your organization’s duty of care policies and risk management plan. Know who to call in an emergency and how to get out of the country quickly if needed.
• Plan Your Baggage, Food, & Water for Travel Days – Know the luggage requirements of your airline. Pack a change of clothes in your carry-on in case your checked bag get delayed. Know when and where you’re going to find meals or snacks.
• Make Copies of Passport – Make copies of your passport and keep separate from the real version. This will be helpful in proving your citizenship if your passport is lost or stolen.
• Register with Your Embassy – It’s always a good idea to register your international travel plans with your home country’s embassy. This is especially true if you’re headed to a country with high crime or political and social unrest.

Connect with our team of experienced travel experts to learn how Christopherson can help your business travel with ease.

There's more to learn.

We’ve curated some articles to keep you updated on all things Christopherson Business Travel.

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Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)

The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement is in the news now because of the recent US decision to support the temporary waiver of patent rules for the coronavirus vaccines. This is an important topic from multiple perspectives for the UPSC exam including economy, international relations, current affairs, etc. 

TRIPS Agreement

Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Right (TRIPS) is an agreement on international IP rights.

• TRIPS came into force in 1995, as part of the agreement that established the World Trade Organisation (WTO) .
• TRIPS establishes minimum standards for the availability, scope, and use of seven forms of intellectual property namely, trademarks, copyrights, geographical indications, patents, industrial designs, layout designs for integrated circuits, and undisclosed information or trade secrets. 
• It applies basic international trade principles regarding intellectual property to member states.
• It is applicable to all WTO members.
• TRIPS Agreement lays down the permissible exceptions and limitations for balancing the interests of intellectual property with the interests of public health and economic development.
• TRIPS is the most comprehensive international agreement on IP and it has a major role in enabling trade in creativity and knowledge, in resolving trade disputes over intellectual property, and in assuring WTO members the latitude to achieve their domestic policy objectives. 
• It frames the IP system in terms of innovation, technology transfer and public welfare. 
• The TRIPS Council is responsible for administering and monitoring the operation of the TRIPS Agreement.
• TRIPS was negotiated during the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1986–1994.
• The TRIPS Agreement is also described as a “Berne and Paris-plus” Agreement.

Read about other WTO Agreements in the link.

What are Intellectual Property Rights?

Intellectual property rights are the rights given to persons over the creations of their minds. Intellectual property rights (IPRs) are legal rights that protect these creations. In contrast to rights over tangible property, IP rights give their owners rights to exclude others from making use of their creations only for a limited period. IP rights entitle the owners to receive a royalty or any sort of financial compensation or payment when another person uses their creations.

What is Intellectual Property?

“Intellectual property” refers to creations of the mind. These creations can take many different forms, such as artistic expressions, signs, symbols and names used in commerce, designs and inventions. 

IP rights are generally classified into two categories:

• Copyright and rights related to copyright: This rights relates to rights protecting art works, literary works, computer programmes, films, musical compositions, sculptures, paintings, etc. Related rights also include rights of performers, broadcasting organisations, and producers of phonograms (sound recordings). The main purpose of protection of copyright and related rights is to encourage and reward creative work.
• The protection of distinctive signs, especially trademarks (which differentiate the goods or services of one organisation/establishment from those of other undertakings) and geographical indications. These rights are aimed at protecting and ensuring fair competition consumer protection.
• The second type of industrial property rights are protected primarily to stimulate innovation, design and the creation of technology. These rights protect innovations by patents, trade secrets and industrial designs.

Read more on intellectual property rights in the linked article.

TRIPS Significance

The TRIPS Agreement makes protection of intellectual property rights an integral part of the multilateral trading system, as embodied in the WTO. The agreement is often termed one of the three “pillars” of the WTO, the other two being trade in goods (the traditional domain of the GATT) and trade in services.

Before TRIPS, the extent of protection and enforcement of IP rights varied widely across nations and as intellectual property became more important in trade, these differences became a source of tension in international economic relations. Therefore, it was considered prudent to have new trade rules for IP rights in order to have more order and predictability, and also to settle disputes in an orderly manner.

TRIPS Agreement Latest News

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, India and South Africa had proposed to the WTO in October 2020 that the TRIPS Agreement (that included patent protection to pharmaceutical products including COVID vaccines) be waived off for COVID vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for the time period of the pandemic in order to make vaccines and drugs for COVID available to a maximum number of people worldwide.

If the vaccines are patent protected, only a few pharmaceutical companies from developed western countries would be able to manufacture it, making such drugs unavailable or inaccessible due to the high costs to people of other countries, especially, developing and least developed countries.

The US, which was opposed to any TRIPS waiver, has backed this proposal, along with the EU. This move has been welcomed by many since it might lead to the manufacture of more volumes of COVID vaccines enabling the whole world to get rid of the coronavirus at the earliest. However, pharmaceutical companies have protested the move saying this would not necessarily ensure vaccine availability since developing countries did not have the capability to produce the vaccines.

Arguments in favour of relaxing TRIPS rules 

• This would make the vaccines more available to people of developing countries and also LDCs.
• Life-saving drugs and vaccines should be made available to everyone and pharmaceutical companies should not be looking to make profits out of these. There is an ethical and moral issue here.
• With particular reference to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is said that no one is safe unless everyone is safe. In this respect, it is imperative that vaccines are made available to everyone in countries affected since it can easily spread to all countries as seen in the first wave.
• Rules granting monopolies that place the right to access basic healthcare in a position of constant peril must end.

Arguments made by opponents of TRIPS waiver

• Unless corporations are rewarded for their inventions, they would be unable to recoup amounts invested by them in research and development.
• Without the right to monopolise production there will be no incentive to innovate. 
• They also claim that companies in the developing world do not have the capacity to manufacture vaccines or drugs on a large scale.

Just a waiver of the IP rights rules without further assistance such as technology transfer to generic pharmaceutical companies in developing countries would render the move useless. This is because there would also necessitate tech transfer for the pharmaceutical companies to start the production since vaccines like the mRNA vaccines require highly sophisticated manufacturing equipment. Not only technology and equipment, raw materials and probably personnel would also need to be transferred for developing countries to be able to produce vaccines on a large scale.

It could also take several years before the generic pharmaceutical companies’ plants become operational at optimal capacity and produce vaccines, which is a problem because it is doubted whether vaccines produced today would be effective against any new strain of the virus.

TRIPS Agreement:- Download PDF Here

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Marriott boosts full-year profit view after mixed Q1 results

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A retired Microsoft exec and his wife fell in love with RVing during the pandemic. Now he's using AI to help you plan your next road trip.

• Scott Lengel, a former Microsoft CTO, launched an AI-powered RV road trip planner, AdventureGenie.
• He said when he got into RVing during the pandemic, he couldn't find a great planning tool.
•  AdventureGenie recommends custom routes, campsites, and activities based on user preferences.

Scott Lengel and his wife, Lisa, were Marriott people.

After spending 23 years as a CTO at Microsoft , Lengel retired in 2017, at which point he and his wife knew they wanted to travel the world. They visited places like Cambodia, Vietnam, and India, typically traveling by plane and staying in hotels — often Marriotts.

Then the pandemic hit.

Suddenly, they were stuck at home in South Carolina. That's when the couple realized, "We really haven't seen the good old US of A."

Up until that point, they'd never even been camping .

"We figured if ever there was a time to go RVing, to go camping, this would be it," Lengel told Business Insider.

So they rented an RV and set off for Nashville with a couple of good friends. "We just had a blast," Lengel said. "Hanging around the campsite and the campfire and eating and beverages, and just the camaraderie. We just fell in love with the lifestyle of camping in one week."

Within six months, they purchased an RV of their own and started taking it all over. But when the couple tried to plan a six-week, multi-stop road trip to the national parks of the Southwest, they realized it was actually pretty challenging and that the existing resources were not great.

"There has to be a better way," they thought.

A couple of years later, in May 2023, Lengel launched AdventureGenie — an AI-powered RV trip planner. Lengel, who serves as chairman and CEO, said that in less than a year, AdventureGenie has attracted more than 10,000 users, and not just RVers, but also people traveling in cars on all kinds of road trips.

AI can customize trip planning

AdventureGenie is one of many AI-powered trip-planning tools that have popped up over the past couple of years. It's been featured on lists of the best RV- and road-trip planning AI tools.

Related stories

AdventureGenie is set up to help people plan their trips in three phases, which Lengel said was based on talking to thousands of people about how they plan their trips.

First, you can shape your trip. You can tell AdventureGenie things like where you want to start, where you want to end, how many miles you want to drive in a day, and any places you know you want to stop along the way. AdventureGenie will create a custom route based on your preferences and what the program knows about you, either from what you've told it or from past trips you've planned.

Second, you can select your campsites. AdventureGenie uses AI to compile information about campsites and make recommendations based on your preferences. In addition to generating an overall score on a campsite, AdventureGenie also generates a score that is unique to you, indicating how likely a specific campground is to meet your personal needs.

Third, is finding things to do. For instance, if it knows you like eating at local restaurants, hiking, and biking, as Lengel and his wife do, it can point out those attractions.

The biggest thing AI brings to AdventureGenie's trip planning is the customization, Lengel said. Instead of looking up a generic road trip planner that is the first hit served to everyone on Google, AdventureGenie can create itineraries that are unique to you.

"It feels as if you have a copilot or a travel planner sitting by your side and knows what you're looking for and customizes it for you," Lengel said.

He said that when RVers first use AdventureGenie the "jaw-dropping" moment for them is when it fills in the blanks on a trip with stops along the way.

In the past, if you wanted to road trip from South Carolina to Yellowstone, you'd have to look at a map and try to plot out stops based on how many miles a day you want to drive. But you'd also have to manually figure out whether those stops have campsites that suit your needs, or if they have any other attractions that make them worth passing through, or how far off the highway they are.

Lengel said new AdventureGenie users often say it saves them so much time planning their trip just by filling in their route.

"That's pretty darn rewarding for us," he said.

From Microsoft to tech startup

Lengel, who came out of retirement to launch AdventureGenie, said working on this startup has been a major change of pace from his days at Microsoft, which he also loved.

"We're a startup at our core, and it's a lot different than when I was working for an organization that had 150,000 employees and an incredible budget," he said. "We all wear lots of hats, which has been exciting, thrilling, and even challenging from time to time."

These days, he and his wife are on the road three out of four weeks a month, though now it's usually for work, visiting trade shows and meeting with RV user groups.

However, they do still make a point to do some fun things, too.

When Lengel spoke to BI, he was sitting in his RV in the Florida Keys, with a view of the ocean right out his window .

Watch: Marriott International's Tina Edmundson tells Insider that the travel mindset has changed since the pandemic

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Boeing is on the verge of launching astronauts aboard new capsule, the latest entry to space travel

Boeing’s Starliner capsule atop an Atlas V rocket is rolled out to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41, Saturday, May 4, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will launch aboard to the International Space Station, scheduled for liftoff on May 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore exit the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a mission dress rehearsal on Friday, April 26, 2024. The first flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule with a crew on board is scheduled for Monday, May 6, 2024. (Frank Micheaux/NASA via AP)

Boeing Crew Flight Test crew members Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore work in the Boeing Starliner simulator at the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Nov. 3, 2022. The first flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule with a crew on board is scheduled for Monday, May 6, 2024. (NASA/Robert Markowitz)

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — After years of delays and stumbles, Boeing is finally poised to launch astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA.

It’s the first flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule with a crew on board, a pair of NASA pilots who will check out the spacecraft during the test drive and a weeklong stay at the space station.

NASA turned to U.S. companies for astronaut rides after the space shuttles were retired. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has made nine taxi trips for NASA since 2020, while Boeing has managed only a pair of unoccupied test flights.

Boeing program manager Mark Nappi wishes Starliner was further along. “There’s no doubt about that, but we’re here now.”

The company’s long-awaited astronaut demo is slated for liftoff Monday night.

Provided this tryout goes well, NASA will alternate between Boeing and SpaceX to get astronauts to and from the space station.

A look at the newest ride and its shakedown cruise:

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore exit the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a mission dress rehearsal on Friday, April 26, 2024. (Frank Micheaux/NASA via AP)

THE CAPSULE

White with black and blue trim, Boeing’s Starliner capsule is about 10 feet (3 meters) tall and 15 feet (4.5 meters) in diameter. It can fit up to seven people, though NASA crews typically will number four. The company settled on the name Starliner nearly a decade ago, a twist on the name of Boeing’s early Stratoliner and the current Dreamliner.

No one was aboard Boeing’s two previous Starliner test flights. The first, in 2019, was hit with software trouble so severe that its empty capsule couldn’t reach the station until the second try in 2022. Then last summer, weak parachutes and flammable tape cropped up that needed to be fixed or removed.

Veteran NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are retired Navy captains who spent months aboard the space station years ago. They joined the test flight after the original crew bowed out as the delays piled up. Wilmore, 61, is a former combat pilot from Mount Juliet, Tennessee, and Williams, 58, is a helicopter pilot from Needham, Massachusetts. The duo have been involved in the capsule’s development and insist Starliner is ready for prime time, otherwise they would not strap in for the launch.

“We’re not putting our heads in the sand,” Williams told The Associated Press. “Sure, Boeing has had its problems. But we are the QA (quality assurance). Our eyes are on the spacecraft.”

THE TEST FLIGHT

Starliner will blast off on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It will be the first time astronauts ride an Atlas since NASA’s Project Mercury, starting with John Glenn when he became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. Sixty-two years later, this will be the 100th launch of the Atlas V, which is used to hoist satellites as well as spacecraft.

“We’re super careful with every mission. We’re super, duper, duper careful” with human missions, said Tory Bruno, CEO of ULA, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Starliner should reach the space station in roughly 26 hours. The seven station residents will have their eyes peeled on the approaching capsule. The arrival of a new vehicle is “a really big deal. You leave nothing to chance,” NASA astronaut Michael Barratt told the AP from orbit. Starliner will remain docked for eight days, undergoing checkouts before landing in New Mexico or elsewhere in the American West.

STARLINER VS. DRAGON

Both companies’ capsules are designed to be autonomous and reusable. This Starliner is the same one that made the first test flight in 2019. Unlike the SpaceX Dragons, Starliner has traditional hand controls and switches alongside touchscreens and, according to the astronauts, is more like NASA’s Orion capsules for moon missions. Wilmore and Williams briefly will take manual control to wring out the systems on their way to the space station.

NASA gave Boeing, a longtime space contractor, more than $4 billion to develop the capsule, while SpaceX got $2.6 billion. SpaceX already was in the station delivery business and merely refashioned its cargo capsule for crew. While SpaceX uses the boss’ Teslas to get astronauts to the launch pad, Boeing will use a more traditional “astrovan” equipped with a video screen that Wilmore said will be playing “Top Gun: Maverick.”

One big difference at flight’s end: Starliner lands on the ground with cushioning airbags, while Dragon splashes into the sea.

Boeing is committed to six Starliner trips for NASA after this one, which will take the company to the station’s planned end in 2030. Boeing’s Nappi is reluctant to discuss other potential customers until this inaugural crew flight is over. But the company has said a fifth seat will be available to private clients. SpaceX periodically sells seats to tycoons and even countries eager to get their citizens to the station for a couple weeks.

Coming soon: Sierra Space’s mini shuttle, Dream Chaser, which will deliver cargo to the station later this year or next, before accepting passengers.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.