The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has announced forthcoming changes to the management of its Digital Standards Initiative (DSI).

Oswald Kuyler, who has served as the managing director of the ICC’s flagship trade digitalisation initiative since September 2020, will step down from his current position effective as of 1 March.

Kuyler will return to an executive role in the private sector and, in parallel, will take up the newly created role of advisor to the ICC DSI Governance Board.

In this role, he will provide guidance on the execution of the initiative’s five-year strategic plan.

John W.H. Denton AO, secretary general of the ICC, said the initiative had benefited immensely from Kuyler’s leadership. 

“Oswald hit the ground running from day one in his tenure as managing director of the ICC DSI, and leaves his executive role later this month having built the foundations needed to achieve digitalisation across the full value chain,” he said. 

“I thank Oswald for his tremendous contribution to our work on this vital agenda, and look forward to working with him in his new advisory capacity.”

In addition, the ICC has announced that the process to recruit a new managing director to run the day-to-day operations of the DSI will be opened in the coming days.

The ICC added that it has put in place a succession plan together with Kuyler to ensure a seamless leadership transition and prime the initiative’s operating structure for the execution of its five-year plan.

Kuyler added: “I am extremely proud of what we have built through the first phase of the DSI’s work – establishing a structure and public-private coalition capable of finally getting analogue processes out of the trading system. 

“I am excited to support the DSI’s future growth and success as an adviser to its board, as the project enters execution phase.”

The ICC DSI is a global initiative dedicated to working with private and public sectors to create and drive adoption of the open standards that will underpin the digitalisation of global trade and supply chains. 

By digitalising trade, this unique global initiative, created in partnership with the government of Singapore and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), aims to make supply chains more robust, secure, and transparent, enabling more inclusion and sustainability in the global trading system.