History :

Throughout the centuries, perhaps as long as commerce has existed, traders have banded together. In the beginning it might have been for the purpose of seeking common protection against enemies and bands of robbers. Later, codes were established to govern the conduct of trade. Later still, efforts were begun to extert influence on legislative manners.

Those early associations of traders had little in common with Chambers of Commerce, as we know them now. The first known use of the term "Chamber of Commerce" occurred in Marseilles, France, where such an organization was established by the city council around the close of the 17th century.

It was the ambition of Kaiser William I of Germany that gave impetus to the Chamber of Commerce movement in that country. Recognizing the usefulness of such organizations in promoting trade and training young men for commercial career, William encouraged their establishment in principal cities. Other European countries followed Germany's example.

However, the European Chamber of Commerce has little in common with the modern American organization. Although they are associations of business people, they frequently operate as quasi-public agencies, vested with certain respects to trade. These powers often include establishment of codes governing commercial practice, arbitration of rules of navigation, and supervision over other commercial bodies. And under some highly centralized governments, the Chambers have been used as agencies for directing and controlling economic activity in behalf of the central planning authority. This was true in Nazi Germany where regional and local Chambers virtually exercised powers of life or death over individual concerns.