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INTRODUCTION 

ACCOUNTING used to be restricted to financially measurable matters of profit and loss; expenditure and revenue; taxes and subsidies; investment and liabilities. But the mathematical and statistical skills underpinning a solid set of books and filed accounts are today increasingly being used to measure the environmental and social sustainability of a product, input, production process and supply chain.…

When France’s fast-food chain O’Tacos (www.o-tacos.fr) announced in 2020 that it would be selling in Italy its halal-certified French-style meat and vegetable wraps, Italian Muslims took this as a sign that halal was going mainstream in their country. O’Tacos’ first Italian outpost will open in January 2022 in Rome (delayed by Covid-19) and more openings in 2022 are planned in major Italian cities, including Milan and Bologna, said Yassin Baradai, founder of Milan-based Meem Communication (https://meemcommunication.com/…

A former DEA agent who laundered money undercover to attack the Medellín and Cali cartels has called for a root-and-branch reform of AML, so that its vast resources target the most suspicious transactions and the professional launderers who facilitate them. Speaking to MLB, Robert Mazur, who offered ML services to drug kingpins such as Pablo Escobar in the 1980s and 1990s to undermine their criminal networks, said that many laundering techniques used then are still in use today.…

BRITAIN’S halal food market maybe growing, but the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU) in January 2020 has been impeding the sale, production and export of such products, and the regulatory headaches may get worse in future.

Speaking to Salaam Gateway, Rizvan Khalid, managing director, of Euro Quality Lambs, a major England-based producer and exporter of halal sheepmeat, said trade red tape imposed since the UK quit the EU has imposed GBP500,000 of annual regulatory costs on his business.…

The increasing decriminalisation and legalisation of cannabis as a recreational and medicinal substance has encouraged the liberalisation of hemp as a fibre crop, whose use in some jurisdictions had been restricted because of laws against the plant’s chemically-active ingredients.

This is starting to change, most notably in the USA, which used to have severe anti-marijuana laws, but which now has 18 states that have legalised recreational cannabis use.…

While the Arab world certainly has a political culture of its own, there are many universal human truths that its politics shares with the rest of the globe, even if – perhaps – tensions can be more intense in this region than others.…

The Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, by the World Health Organization (WHO) after it spread from Wuhan, China, across the globe. As yet, the world does not know for sure how and why the virus was released.…

One of the world-changing impacts of the Second World War was an understanding that unfettered competition between nation states was not just undesirable, but – if taken to its logical conclusion – would lead to war. Amidst the ruins of Europe, as an exhausted continent stumbled out of conflict, new thinking emerged, that economic links between neighboring countries be deliberately forged to create interdependence that would encourage cooperation to achieve wealth.…

Many friends ask me why, as a businessman and investor controlling pioneering projects, why I am concerned with politics? I always answer that my experience has taught me that the key to progress lies in politics, and this is especially true in Arab countries, where, frankly, politics is everything. …

WHILE the imposition of age limits on the consumption of tobacco and other nicotine products remains very much a national, and in some cases sub-national jurisdiction decision, there is no doubt that the general trend worldwide is for tighter restrictions on younger consumers, even if they are often tough to enforce.…

The Moroccan garment manufacturing industry is targeting market diversification in the UK as one way of recovering from Covid-19.

Clothing makers in thus key European near-sourcing hub are still struggling with the impact of the pandemic, with general secretary of the Moroccan Textile and Garment Industry (AMITH) Fatima-Zora Alaoui highlighting to Just Style the postponement of its production showcase Maroc in Mode, which had been scheduled for October, until March 2022.…

THE RULING council of the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) is preparing to agree major reforms to the International Cocoa Agreement, which should see the agreement increase its commitment to boost sustainability in the chocolate sector.

Council members are considering final changes committing the ICCO to ensuring that cocoa production, processing and manufacture is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.…

Last November (2020), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that cannabidiol (CBD) liquids for e-cigarettes that were lawfully produced in a European Union (EU) member state are not narcotics and can be sold in any other EU country. The ruling was welcomed by the EU CBD sector, which has said it helps open-up the European market to products that often fall into a legal grey zone due to their origins in hemp, or cannabis with little or no intoxication effects.…

The racism hurled at black members of the England football team following its loss to Italy in the Euro finals is a clear reminder, if one was needed, that racism remains a divisive problem in the UK.

A new important book, ‘Among the Mosques: A Journey across Muslim Britain’, by Dr Ed Husain, a former senior advisor to Tony Blair, is indeed timely, as it warns some UK-based Muslims still do not regard Britain as their home country – and this could fuel further division within the UK.…

Scams involving fake delivery company texts are booming in the UK, according to the Consumer Association, Which? Its latest survey showed 61% of 2,000 people questioned had received one or more such fraudulent messages in the past year (May 2020, to May 2021).…

In five years, the Europol-hosted website ‘No More Ransom’ (NMR) (1) “prevented criminals from earning almost a billion euros through ransomware attacks,” the European Union (EU) police agency claims. Launching a new more user-friendly home for its ‘Crypto Sheriff’ app on Monday (July 26), Europol said that through 121 free tools, able to decrypt 151 ransomware families of this malware, the NMR repository has helped more than six million people recover locked files for free.…

The European anti-fraud office (OLAF) and European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) have struck a cooperation agreement to ensure their future work dovetails. They have agreed to exchange information; set guidelines on reporting and transferring potential cases; and deciding how to mutually support each other’s investigations.…

Turkey is struggling to recover its position as an important supplier of high-end and luxury fabrics, recouping sales lost on cost to Chinese rivals. The industry retains great potential strength, being the world’s fifth largest supplier of textiles selling USD12 billion exported annually, according to Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association (İTHİB – İstanbul Tekstil ve Hammaddeleri İhracatcilari Birlig).…

Mongolia wants to increase the sustainability of its cashmere industry through more vertical integration – processing cashmere into premium finished garments locally. And it also wants to reduce the national herd to sustainable levels from a current high of 30 million.…

EUROPEAN dairy experts say that the European Union (EU) climate law’s target to cut carbon emissions at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, compared to “between 50% and 55%” in the original proposal (1) and just 32.5% by 2030 in the 2018 law (2), will be a challenge, but one they can meet.…

The under-developed system of higher education of African archipelago country São Tomé & Príncipe is growing slowly amidst expanding demand, being assisted by international projects and funds.
One major potential initiative that may cause significant progress, however, involves this Lusophone country being chosen by the Pan African Institute for Development (PAID) to host a future International University of Development Sciences.…

Lie detection is an emerging science, with technology being developed to help companies and law enforcement seek to detect fraudsters and other criminals. Artificial intelligence is a potential key development in enabling machines to screen subjects physical and audible response to questions to detect lies.…

Over the past year, the European Union’s (EU) dairy industry has weathered two storms: the departure of Great Britain from the EU single market and customs union, during the unprecedented lockdown measures adopted to contain Covid-19, all while EU lawmakers haggle over a major shakeup of agricultural regulations.…

INTRODUCTION

The textile industry is one of the world’s oldest manufacturing sector, yet it is also one of the most dynamic, constantly reinventing itself. Today, the development of micro-factories might herald root-and-branch change in how the textile and clothing industry operates, a transformation driven by advances in digital textile printing.…

The test remains the same. French tech multinational Thales stressed in a paper that they “allow a person to be identified and authenticated based on recognisable and verifiable data, which are unique and specific…” compared to a person’s biometric template.…

Former French President Nicholas Sarkozy was sentenced to three years in prison on Monday, March 1, with two years suspended, for corruption and influence peddling. Sarkozy, President between May 2007 and May 2012, was convicted in the 32nd chamber Criminal Court of Paris alongside his former lawyer Thierry Herzog and magistrate Gilbert Azibert, for participating in what presiding judge Christine Mée said was a “corruption pact”.…

Oil companies decarbonising their portfolios are getting out their cheque books for floating offshore wind projects.

Bottom-fixed offshore wind farms familiar in some places worldwide are generally limited to water no more than about 60 metres deep. Beyond that, it becomes economically unfeasible to connect the increasingly large turbine assemblies to the seafloor by either monopile or jacket foundations.…

Malawi’s higher education may have suffered through Covid-19, but the pandemic has encouraged efforts to build online and distance learning (ODL) operating through special satellite centres run by universities and colleges.

Out of Malawi’s 19 tertiary institutions, five have made serious progress in such services, with Mzuzu University, in northern Malawi, leading the way, pioneering ODL in 2006, when the institution was just eight years old.…

EUROPEAN confectionery and sugar processing associations have appealed to the European Parliament not to reimpose market controls on the European Union’s (EU) sugar sector. MEPs have pressed for new restrictions during the ongoing negotiations about reforming the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).…

SERIOUS steps are being taken to forge international non-financial reporting standards, with the IFRS Foundation mulling a new board agreeing global guidance. But in parallel, the European Commission is planning a comprehensive non-financial reporting directive forcing larger European Union (EU) companies to report on their environmental and social impact and governance issues, including ethics, innovation and supplier/customer relations.…

Anti-money laundering specialists may be focusing on how crypto-currencies and online transactions pose an increasing ML/TF risk, especially with Covid-19 encouraging ecommerce, but the reality is that cash remains the money launderers’ best instrument for moving dirty money.

That is the conclusion of Gabriel Hidalgo, a managing director at risk specialists K2 Integrity, in New York: “Cash is king for ML; it continues to be king; and on the majority of levels, illicit actors will continue to use cash,” he said.…

THE 11TH-HOUR trade deal UK and European Union (EU) negotiators struck last Christmas Eve reassured many dairy traders, but British cheesemakers now face major challenges. New expensive and complicated bureaucracy for UK-EU trades is fouling-up overseas dairy sales, and even pricing smaller companies out of the EU market.…

THE ISRAEL government is pushing ahead with an ambitious plan to expand the country’s solar power output, awarding two sets of tenders involving 840MW of generating power in the past 12 months and requesting bids for a huge single solar power plant in the Negev Desert for 300MW.…

WHILE investment into nuclear energy continues, especially in emerging market countries such as China, in Europe, this sector continues to dwindle in size, with some key countries sticking to plans to phase out the technology.

Concerns about safety and the environmental cost of its waste have encouraged Belgium, for example, to stick to its goal, as laid down in a January 2003 law (1), of stopping any nuclear energy production within the country by 2025, experts have told Energy World.…

The medieval scholar Abd al-Rahman Ibn Khaldun, a famous Tunisian historian of the 14^th and 15^th centuries, created a model for the history of states, which he said had a natural life of birth, maturity and death.

His Muqaddimah, published in Arabic in 1377, written as a prelude to an ambitious survey of global history, said states went through three stages, always ending – as the adage about politics says – in failure.…

SRI Lanka is making a significant step towards increasing its share of locally-sourced raw materials for clothing made in the country by setting up a fabric processing park – construction beginning in the first week of February.

Funded by the government’s investment promotion agency, the Board of Investment (BOI), its location is Eravur, Batticaloa, in the country’s Eastern Province.…

BRITISH and European Union (EU) confectioners must take care to ensure their products meet new origin rules if they want them covered by the duty free goods provisions of the new EU/UK trade agreement struck on Christmas Eve.

The 1,256-page deal includes complex and comprehensive origin rules, such as for chocolate, which can be deemed made in the EU and Britain if all dairy, eggs and honey used are sourced locally, as well as at least 40% of grains, malt, starches and wheat, (which must also not exceed 30% of costs).…

LUXEMBOURG may be a small country, but it is big in dairy, especially milk – with its other main products cheese, butter, butteroil and cream. Growth in the dairy sector of this Grand Duchy, similar in size to the UK country of Dorset and slightly smaller than the US state of Rhode Island, is continuing – even during the market disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit.…

The international gold trade is worth over USD6 trillion a year, according to the World Gold Council (WGC), but oversight of the supply chain is considered weak by many critics, relying on self-regulation, making it vulnerable to money laundering.

Gold remains scarce and hence valuable: from antiquity until 2019, just 197,576 tonnes has been mined – equivalent to a 21.7 metre cube, according to the World Gold Council.…

CANADIAN auto sales experts have warned that aftermarket supply chains, including parts for repairs, must be guaranteed to boost consumer confidence about buying EVs in this vast unevenly populated country. With rural drivers maybe scores of miles from a repair shop, motorists fearing delays for EV parts to arrive, may be reluctant to switch from combustion engine vehicles, say marketing experts.…

Traditionally a society of meat lovers, Russians are now developing a taste for vegetable and cereal-based products that reflect the taste and texture of meat – food manufacturers are eager to cater to this trend.

International companies have been entering this segment in Russia, while ambitious local startups are rapidly expanding their production capacities.…

Hit heavily by Covid-19 and short of governmental help, Romania’s clothing manufacturers are pessimistic about their prospects. Romania’s textile and clothing brands fear it might take a long time to recover from the pandemic, after eight months of restricted business, and falling incomes.…

THE INTERNATIONAL trade in knitwear products and inputs contains significant variations in prices that can be leveraged buy smart traders within the industry who analyse import-export data and orientate their purchasing and sales practises accordingly.

That said, knitwear traders and manufacturers need to be aware that some bargains really are too good to be true and could be an indication that certain trade flows are being exploited by money launderers seeking to move criminal proceeds from one country to another through artificial pricing – deliberate over- and under- invoicing.…

EUROPE’S confectionery and sweet bakery association CAOBISCO has been pressuring the European Union (EU) to resolve a long-running trade dispute with the USA over aircraft manufacturing subsidies causing Washington to impose tariffs on European food exports. These include 25% duties on exports from the EU (including the UK) of raspberry, strawberry, apricot, peach and other jams; cherries and peaches; sweet biscuits from Germany; waffles and wafers from Britain and Germany; and an additional 25% on these jams when exported from Germany and France.…

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has released a white paper saying that the accounting profession needs to learn from the challenges of Covid-19, investing in boosting communication skills. This will enable accountants to be more effective pro-active trusted partners with their clients, able to adapt to flexible and remote working even after the pandemic subsides.…

Switzerland may be a small country of 8.5 million people, with an area of 41,285 km², 60% of which is mountainous, but its paint and varnish industry is substantial and growing, despite the Covid-19 pandemic. Of course, it helps that Switzerland is rich.…

Euromed University Fez, in Morocco, has been chosen as the regional academic partner to launch what is hoped to be a revolutionary agritech development hub aimed at transforming Moroccan small-scale subsistence farming into fully digitalised and innovative agri-food businesses.

The university – also called Université Euromed de Fès (UEMF) and based in the country’s second largest city – will help farmers to create an industry exporting quality products overseas, alleviating rural poverty and using farming techniques that counter ecological challenges.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) continues to struggle to clamp down on fraud within its revenue collection and spending programmes – making progress, but with major scams still emerging within the EU’s complex international decision-making systems.

In its latest annual ‘fight against fraud’ report (1) (2), covering 2019, the European Commission reports that 939 discovered irregularities were reported as fraudulent (8% of the number), involving EUR461.4 million in lost money (28% of that affected by irregularities).…

TRADE-based money laundering (TBML) is often hard to spot – that is why criminal networks use this typology. But a careful analysis of detailed trade data can reveal anomalous pricing flagging the possible presence of TBML. This is the key goal of a trade database created by a business professor at the USA’s Florida International University.…

With China turning from capital inflow to outflow amid Chinese companies’ global expansion programs, Chinese financial institutions are facing closer anti-money laundering scrutiny, as they, too, expand globally. Indeed, China’s top five banks had 1, 270 overseas branches at the end of 2017 (according to FATF (the Financial Action Task Force).…

Automakers in the European Union (EU) are concerned the technologies used by their vehicles may have to comply with onerous personal data handling rules imposed by the EU. These fears have been sparked by draft guidelines released by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) on how the EU’s general data protection regulation (GDPR – 2016/679) should apply to the industry.…

THE NEED to actively recharge electric vehicles makes them less attractive to consumers, especially when batteries can take eight hours to charge. So, the development of ambient technologies that enable EVs to charge themselves as they operate has been a key focus of automotive R&D.…

A new directory detailing different national anti-corruption authorities (ACAs) worldwide has emerged from a project led by the French Anti-Corruption Agency (AFA – Agence française anticorruption). Alongside the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) and the Network of Corruption Prevention Authorities (NCPA), the AFA has now published the results based on data provided by 171 national authorities from 114 countries and territories in response to an online survey. …

Supermarkets and convenience stores in Taiwan are making room for an expanding and dizzying array of fresh milk products and with some of the highest consumer milk prices in the world and local dairy farmers struggling to meet demand, especially in the peak summer months, this is good news for exporting overseas producers.…

Comprised of a dry shampoo, deodorant, face moisturiser, lip balm, and more recently, body lotion, the line is sold only in North America and available in gym or travel sizes.  “For over 20 years, lululemon has been focused on solving athletes’ needs.…

THE HIGHER education system in the Francophone west African country of Benin is getting back to work, after the government said a ban on classes being held to fight the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic would end on May 11.

However, while the public higher education segment has quickly returned to teaching, partly leveraging a new remote learning system, the country’s private universities have struggled to return to normal, with one major obstacle being cross-border movement controls imposed on overseas students from Nigeria, who have been a key component of their classes.…

THE HIGHER education system in the Francophone west African country of Benin is getting back to work, after the government said a ban on classes being held to fight the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic would end on May 11.

However, while the public higher education segment has quickly returned to teaching, partly leveraging a new remote learning system, the country’s private universities have struggled to return to normal, with one major obstacle being cross-border movement controls imposed on overseas students from Nigeria, who have been a key component of their classes.…

CANADA’S automotive industry associations are pressing the Canadian federal government to launch a scrappage scheme to help the country’s automotive market out of its Covid-19 related slump. The Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA), the Global Automakers of Canada (GAC) and the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association (CVMA) have made a formal proposal that the government subsidises automotive consumers by between CAD1,500 and CAD3,000 when they trade in an old vehicle and replace it with a new model.…

While it is too early to assess the full impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the UK personal care product sector, industry experts expect strategic changes to its supply chain, a growth towards innovative digital strategies and changes in consumer behaviour that will shape the industry in the long run.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) and its member states are loosening their subsidy rules and reviewing environmental controls as they consider how to help Europe’s automobile sector recover from the beating delivered by the Covid-19 pandemic. With EU passenger car sales tumbling 76.3% year-on-year in April (these figures exclude Britain, with a 97% fall), EU automobile industry association ACEA, parts association CLEPA, repairers and dealers’ federation CECRA and tire makers organisation ETRMA have called on the EU to “consider temporary flexibilities in competition rules” restricting takeovers and subsidies.…

Paint and coating manufacturers and retailers in North Africa have been struggling with the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, just as have their counterparts in other regions, however some markets and industries in the region seem better placed to cope with the pandemic’s economic impact than others.…

CHINESE consumers, especially in younger generations such as Millennials and Generation Z, are increasingly concerned with eating healthily- and that includes snack choices. In a trend that may increase following the Covid-19 outbreak, sales of yoghurts, nut snacks and snack bars have all seen soaring growth in sales in recent years.…

AS online food sales boom to aid self-isolation during the Covid-19 outbreak, the risks of counterfeiting and piracy within the food and drink sectors will become more evident. This comes as regulators are mulling tougher action to fight this commercial crime.…

GEOGRAPHICAL indications can be controversial legal protections that some food manufacturers regard as being unjust restrictions on trade in quality food items that are inspired by traditional products.

Of course, for companies based in traditional production regions of goods such as Prosciutto ham and Irish whisky, they can be a Godsend – preventing illicit competition (as they see it) from banking on a reputation for taste that has been created by protected manufacturers in previous decades, even centuries.…

The can making and filling sectors have become beneficiaries – at least in the short term – of consumers turning their kitchen cupboards into pandemic pantries, stockpiling canned food and other long-lasting products because they fear of food shortages because of Covid-19.…

While this dispute is happening thousands of kilometres away from where most Canadians (settler or indigenous) live, this dispute illustrates how tough it is to get appropriate sign-off from indigenous communities on pipeline projects and how it is underpinned by centuries’ old struggles involving indigenous Canadians.…

Given the recent surge in popularity in healthy snacks within China, market researchers predict that sales of yoghurt, nut snacks and snack bars will continue to grow in upcoming years. The market for chilled yoghurt sales in China is expected to jump 91% to Chinese Yuan Renminbi CNY70.7 billion (USD9.9 billion) in 2023 from CNY36.9 billion in 2018, thanks to anticipated improvements in cold chain technology across China, according to market researchers Frost & Sullivan.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is taking a hard look at hydrogen as a low carbon option to help make Europe a first climate-neutral continent by 2050, a key policy goal that is at the heart of policy-making within the new European Commission of its president Ursula von der Leyen – however he need to make H-vehicles and renewables-based H-fuel cheaper is a major challenge.  …

Like other European cities, the sheer number of cheap nail salons that have exploded in Barcelona in recent years has reached saturation point. There is one, however, that has a waiting list. Dvine creates the ‘art nails’ that have become the statement accessory of Rosalia, the Catalan singing sensation who swept the 2020 Grammy Awards.…

NORTH Africa is a region where care for appearance, grooming and personal hygiene is integral to its cultural DNA, so while personal care product majors have a strong presence, it is maybe no surprise that local beauty manufacturers continue to bubble up with fresh ideas and products that capture the imagination of consumers.…

The intersection between beauty products, fashion and sport has never been so mainstream. This was evident last year when popular yoga and athletic-apparel brand, Vancouver, Canada-based Lululemon Athletica Inc launched in June (2019) its own athleisure gender-neutral beauty and personal care line (BPC), called ‘lululemon selfcare’.…

As paint company conferences go, the Sankeshu Paint Co’s annual Chinese New Year gathering was special. A room of sales executives wearing matching blue suits and red ties were serenaded with ‘Zui Mei de Shen Hu’ – ‘The Most Beautiful Shenzhou My Home’),” sung by a soprano before chairman Hong Jie strode on stage to rally his assembled ranks to shout in unison company slogans, such as “Full product range!…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has called on EU member states and other EU institutions to work harder to fight the scourge of food fraud, which can damage the commercial health of legitimate manufacturers and risk consumer health. In a detailed policy statement (called ‘council conclusions’ in EU jargon), ministers said an EU “legal definition of food fraud” should be created that would underpin future regulatory actions fighting such wrongdoing, which can include deliberate mislabelling and the use of illicit ingredients.…

Airbus is to pay out EUR3.6 billion (USD4 billion) under a trio of deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) with British, French and United States authorities that were simultaneously agreed by national courts January 31 as part of a global resolution over bribes to clinch civil and military aircraft sales.…

WITH Middle East dairy sales expanding steadily, dairy suppliers from around the world are targeting its consumers, hoping to gain a foothold in an increasingly diverse marketplace that is often open to innovation.

Dairy Industries International attended the 4th Global Dairy Innovation Congress MENA 2020, held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), from January 20-21, where participants were encouraged by sales projections as from market researcher Euromonitor International that the Middle East (and Africa) dairy market should expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 3% between 2019 and 2023.…

BEAUTY consumers worldwide are demanding more transparency in manufacturing processes and ingredients, less environmental impact, and simple and clean ingredients. So goes the product, so goes the packaging. The beauty industry is responding with brand packaging and labelling that transmits a marketing message that the beauty product inside may be healthy and full of goodness.…

SALES within the South African home paint market are expected to reach USD416.6 million (South African Rand ZAR5.96 billion) in the year to December 2019, up from USD358 million (ZAR5.12 billion) in the previous year, but industry association officials fear this growth could be hit by South Africa’s weak general economy in the coming year.…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has called for a more robust approach to defend European honey production, as bee numbers continue to fall. In a motion supported almost unanimously, the EP’s environment committee has called for the European Union (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) – which is now under review – to include active steps on reducing pesticide use, which MEPs blame for honey bee deaths.…

A queue formed at the L’Oréal stand at November’s China International Import Expo fair, in Shanghai: the French firm had set up photo opportunities to appeal the ‘Da ka’ set – Chinese slang referring to generation of selfie-taking youths who seemingly live to photograph themselves at important landmarks.…

In every industry, including the clothing and textile sector, sustainability often means huge amount of long-term investment – be it new sewage processing systems or recycling technology. But how to get rewards from these investments? At the Integral Conversation conference held by Hong Kong-based shirt manufacturer, Esquel, in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on November 8, companies in the fashion industry were exploring solutions.…

A free trade deal between Europe and Australia is in the making but European Union (EU) trade negotiators have managed to generate some serious concerns among Australian dairy industry in the process. The EU wants Australia to recognise the exclusive rights of EU cheesemakers to the traditional names of almost 60 different types of cheeses through Australia recognising EU geographical indications (GI) within any agreement.…

The British subsidiary of French engineering giant Alstom has been fined GBP15 million (USD19.37 million) plus GBP1.4 million (USD1.8 million) costs over bribes it paid to win a key contract to build trams to serve the Tunisian capital Tunis. The fine comes more than a year after Alstom Network UK’s April 2018 conviction for bribery and corruption, in a case brought by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO). …

With a new European Commission about to take office (probably on December 1, one month late, with three proposed nominees being rejected by MEPs), one key challenge will be pushing fraud out of the European Union (EU). It is still a huge problem, with in 2018, 1,152 frauds detected and reported.…

TUNISIA is partnering with France to open a new university based in the north African country offering teach business skills and provide degrees that will help build sustainably growing economies in Africa.

The Franco-Tunisian University for Africa and the Mediterranean (UFTAM – Université Franco-Tunisienne pour l’Afrique et la Méditerranée) is the first structural academic collaboration between France and Tunisia – http://uftam.net/.…

A FORMER EY auditor has launched a legal case claiming he was forced from the international accounting network, having alleged that a Dubai audit client was involved in a major precious metal money laundering scam.

Amjad Rihan, represented by London law firm Leigh Day, will claim in a case scheduled to begin in January that he had flagged concerns Kaloti Jewellery International had handled billions of dollars’ worth of cash transactions; imported gold from Moroccan suppliers painted with silver to avoid gold export restrictions; and handled transactions with high-risk countries such as Sudan and Iran without proper due diligence.…

The USA-owned Shengyuan International Group (trading as Synutra – http://www.synutraingredients.com and https://www.shengyuan.com.cn/), a China-focused milk powder specialist, has successfully acquired a Chinese dairy sector competitor Alfbeta (Chinese name Harbin Aibeite). The deal has been confirmed by a note from the new subsidiary – posted in Mandarin on http://www.aibeite.com.…

THE NEW European Commission, which is now expected to assume office on December 1, is expected to push the further harmonisation of European Union (EU) food labelling rules regarding nutrition. Incoming EU health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, of Cyprus, said she wanted to see the Commission act against pack claims declaring that products were healthy when they contained “a high level of sugar, fat or salt”.…

COMPANIES using offshore tax jurisdictions need to assess whether their strategies can be branded unethical, as well as illegal, causing them reputational as well as financial damage. They need to assess whether the risk is worth taking. Poorna Rodrigo reports.

The series of data dumps, such as the Panama Papers, and the recent Mauritius Leaks have continued to tarnish the reputation of offshore tax havens, but experts stress that properly used, a positive case can be made for offshore tax policies.…

AFTER 20 years of negotiations the European Union (EU)-Mercosur trade deal, which has boosted hopes for increased can and associated materials trades with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, is now at risk of being blocked ahead of its ratification.

Furious about ongoing deforestation and wildfires in Amazonia, EU countries, including influential countries France and Ireland, have warned that they are ready to block the deal because of alleged breaches by Brazil of its international environmental commitments.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) fourth anti-money laundering directive had not even been implemented before Panama Papers revelations on massive tax evasion highlighted critical gaps in the bloc’s regulatory framework, especially regarding cryptocurrencies and prepaid cards. The result was directive (EU) 2018/843 of May 30, 2018 commonly known as the fifth anti-money laundering directive.…

Clothing brands from the USA who are switching purchasing to Vietnam from China because of the trade war need to smarten up – and understand how business with Vietnamese trading partners differs from working with their old Chinese suppliers. “The main issue is that many US buyers expect to do business in Vietnam the way they have been doing in China, but the business culture is very different and many find it impossible to work in Vietnam because they do not understand or accept the differences,” said Frank Vossen, who runs Seditex, a Ho Chi Minh City-based based sourcing consultancy, focused on quality control. …

A FRENCH court has fined Google almost EUR1 billion in a tax fraud case that set a legal precedent for other tech giants operating in France. The EUR945 million (USD1 billion) settlement over tax fraud allegations, brings to a close investigations that French authorities started in 2015.…

THE TURKISH plastics manufacturing sector has grown exponentially over the past decade, but growth has spluttered over the past year due to the country’s economic downturn and currency depreciation raising the cost of raw materials. Investment has also slowed, but manufacturers are optimistic the sector will rebound, with exports remaining strong.…

INTELLIGENT materials make for packaging with better functionality and security, and innovative producers worldwide are developing better protection for personal care products.

Market researcher Smithers Pira, in a January 2018 report The Future of Active & Intelligent Packaging to 2023, notes potential uses for cosmetics manufacturers includes greater levels of engagement with customers, more personalised products and enhanced security and tracking features.…

WHILE the spectre of Brexit looms over the British economy and hence its beauty markets, the fundamentals of its personal care product sector live on. As the UK ponders leaving the European Union (EU), maybe in October, commentators often cast a wary eye at Germany to see how this economic engine of the EU is performing – maybe to check whether Brexit is as big a business mistake as many experts warn.…

THE INDIAN cosmetics market is becoming increasingly focused on environmental issues and personal care product companies are being forced to adapt accordingly. “‘Water conservation’, ‘anti-pollution’, ‘plastic ban’ and ‘paraben free’ are the claims that more and more consumers like and brands are getting very savvy of,” Koyel Mukherjea, new business development specialist for the beauty and personal care sector, at market intelligence company, told Soap Perfumery and Cosmetics (SPC).…

‘AUSTRALIAN-made’, ‘cruelty-free’ and ‘natural’ – these were the marketing buzz words most commonly cited during Australia’s leading beauty event – Beauty Expo Australia – staged in Sydney between August 24 and 25.

Although ‘Proudly Australian’ has become a slogan used by many beauty brands based in Australia, the conference actually demonstrated how Australian beauty retailers and consumers are open to trying more international lines, new treatments and innovative products.…

THE INTENSIFYING trade war between the USA and China has proved to be an opportunity for some larger Chinese clothing manufacturing firms, some of which had already built capacity overseas, notably in southeast Asia, and Vietnam especially. These companies have been able to adjust to the worsening tariff barriers to the US market for China-sourced exports, whereas smaller companies unable to afford new SE Asia operations have suffered.…

WITH anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) controls becoming ever more comprehensive, strategic and widespread, the demand for trained AML/CFT professionals is growing. Salaries are increasing, as a result. This good compensation reflects the fact that AML work is becoming increasingly demanding because of regulatory requirements, said Michael Harris, director, financial crime compliance, at LexisNexis Risk Solutions.…

IT has been another subdued year for the beauty and personal care product market in Latin America, as the region’s economy underperforms yet again after six years of deceleration (and in some countries outright recession), keeping a lid on sales growth. …

CLOSE links between Tunisian and German higher education systems are boosting Tunisia’s higher education system, but both sides agree importance of encouraging Tunisian graduates to return home after exchange studies.

The opening of a new German library at the faculty of arts, letters and humanities (FAHM), of the University of Manouba, in Tunis on May 29 is a key example of Tunisian-German collaboration in HE.…

MONGOLIA’S grassland ecology has always lent itself to livestock and hence milk production, so it is no surprise that the development of a dairy industry has been a priority for its government and international institutions.

A five-year loan worth USD12 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development via Mongolia’s XacBank announced in February (2019) is just one such related initiative.…

THE LONG lines of customer to the cash register in Inditex stores – the giant Spanish company behind High Street fashion brands Zara, Bershka and Pull&Bear (among others) – are also now buying personal care products as well as clothes. They funnel customers through shelves that are not only bursting with low-cost impulse buys, such as hair accessories, smart phone covers and key rings, but now also Inditex scents.…

The European Parliament has backed a ground-breaking directive that would protect whistleblowers European Union (EU)-wide by 591 votes in favour and 29 against. Currently only 10 of the EU’s 28 member states (France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Slovakia, Sweden and the UK) have national legislation that effectively protects whistleblowers, according to the European Commission.…

IRELAND’S whistleblowing regime is to be strengthened to comply with a new European Union (EU) whistleblowing directive that was approved in April (2019) by the European Parliament. Reforms must be in place by 2021 and will build on Ireland’s Protected Disclosures Act 2014 – itself a step forward legally for Irish whistleblowing, according to Professor Kate Kenny, of the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI).…

CANADIAN tobacco majors have sought creditor protection after the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld two class action rulings, warning appellants Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd, Rothmans, Benson & Hedges (RBH) and JTI-Macdonald Corp are liable to pay Canadian dollars CAD13.6 billion (USD10.2 billion) in damages to sick smokers.…

BOTH France and Germany are facing legal action by the European Commission over their failure to implement the European Union’s (EU) 2015 fourth anti-money laundering directive (AMLD – 2015/849) correctly.

While both countries have written the legislation into national law, the EU’s executive has concluded that certain provisions are missing.…

THE JAPANESE nuclear sector may have the backing of its government, but a combination of technical challenges and public unpopularity is impeding plans to restore the country’s nuclear capacity towards its generation before the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

During a news conference on January 1, Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, was pessimistic about the industry’s future.…

SWISS bank UBS has said it will appeal a judgement made by a Paris court that it should pay penalties of EUR3.7 billion and EUR15 million, plus civil damages of EUR800 million, for helping its French customers evade tax.

Le tribunal correctionnel de Paris found UBS guilty of illicit solicitation and laundering of the proceeds of tax fraud, having heard allegations about how UBS executives persuaded French depositors to move money to accounts in Switzerland – reducing France’s tax take.…

The opening of trial in Paris on the ‘Spanghero’ affair, known also as ‘Horsegate’, during which cheap horsemeat ended up in ready-made meals sold as ‘pure beef’ across Europe six years ago, has sparked concerns that the scandal has damaged meat consumer confidence in the long-term.…

NORTH Africa offers personal care product majors populous markets, close to European manufacturing centres, with large and growing middle classes (outside troubled Libya) – but trading in these countries is not without complication. Regulatory shifts, counterfeiting and some security concerns make these useful markets a challenge for brands to tap.…

EASTERN Europe remains a highly diverse market, where major beauty brands must think strategically to achieve economies of scale and a regional presence that really deliver profits. This is also a region where some markets are significantly bigger than others – with Russia and Poland being key targets.…

THE WOOL industry worldwide needs to bolster its reputation for sustainability, amidst increasing siren attacks on its marketing position from animal rights and environmental activists, the 2018 International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) Wool Round Table, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, heard this month (December 3-4).…

It is hard to avoid either a cosmetics store or an advertisement for one in Chinese cities today. A mind-boggling wave of new retailers set up by investment firms to cash in on the cosmetics and personal care boom are eagerly seeking franchisees around the country.…

With the USA re-imposing sanctions on Iran, and international financial institutions wary of dealing with the country, Tehran is dusting off its pre-2015 sanctions-busting playbook. Old networks are being renewed, including with neighbouring countries and China, but there are more obstacles for the Iranian government to contend with this time around.…

With different forms of fraud skyrocketing, demand for surveillance is not only growing but becoming more diverse, with companies offering services ranging from old-fashioned stakeouts to high-tech detection. A Market Guide for Online Fraud Detection, released in January (2018) by research and advisory firm Gartner Inc, forecasts that the fraud detection and prevention marketplace is expected to grow significantly by 2022.…

THE PERCEPTION of beauty and hence the design and supply of personal care products is slowly changing in sub-Saharan Africa as its increasingly wealthy middle class consumers take a more personalised approach to how they look. The region has a widely diversified consumer-base, whose varied tastes are pushing brands to rethink personalising cosmetics and personal care products like never before. …

With traditional universities increasingly using web-based learning as a way of recruiting students world-wide, University World News spoke to the head of Italy’s top online university to see how it has developed a successful model for international higher learning

Enrollments for the 2018-2019 school year at the Rome-based International Telematic University, Uninettuno, have exceeded expectations, university rector Maria Amata Garito, shared with UWN: “I can confirm that enrolments have jumped quite a bit this year – up by circa 200% compared to last year,” said Garito.…

COLLABORATION between processors and national institutions is the key to boosting the

downtrodden dairy industry in Senegal, agriculture experts have warned, with European

suppliers denying their cheap exports are to blame for a dearth of dairy development in the west

African country.…

AMERICAN confectioners may suffer from the latest tit-for-tat tariff exchange between the USA and China, with retaliatory duties from China targeting US confectionery exports. Many of these duties are high – at 25% – imposed from September 24 on US-made sugar; cocoa powder; milk powder; honey; jams; and more; plus 20% duties on US-made confectionery without cocoa; chewing gum; some chocolates; and more.…

A FAILURE to embrace and adopt science and technology is hurting the clothing, textile and cotton industries of Africa, delegates attending an International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) three-day conference in Nairobi, Kenya, from September 7-9. The annual conference, staged this year in a sub-Saharan African country for the first time in the ITMF’s 114 years of existence, heard experts commenting that a reluctance by African companies to adopt new technology had not only slowed growth in the apparel and textile sector, but was also potentially pushing companies towards stagnation.…

A EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) advocate general has advised the court to allow organic labels to be fixed to meat and poultry products from livestock killed under religious rules, such as halal and kosher, without pre-stunning.

This formal opinion from Advocate General Nils Wahl argued that European Union (EU) organic production laws do not insist that animals be stunned before slaughter, only that their suffering be minimised.…

The latest edition of the biannual China International Trade Fair for Technical Textiles and Nonwovens (Cinte Techtextil China), held September 4-6, in Shanghai, showed how Chinese manufacturers are more than holding their own in these technically demanding markets.

The fair, a spin-off from the Techtextil show in Germany, attracted a diverse range of some 500 exhibitors from around 20 countries, covering 12 different application areas with protech, mobiltech and geotech, spanning wovens, knits and nonwovens, arguably being most prominent. …

SOLAR energy in Africa ought to be a no brainer. The continent has lot of sun, and weak electricity supplies, especially in the Sahel and sub-Saharan Africa. And yet, climate finance that has developed since the Paris climate change agreement of 2015, that could help grow green energy in this sunny continent, has not focused on Africa.…

AUSTRALIA and New Zealand might be saturated markets for the cosmetic and toiletry retailing industry but the consumers’ willingness to buy a variety of complex formulated and premium green products is continually expanding revenue. Millennial consumers especially are contributing to rising demand for independent and green brands.…

With lower battery and auto prices boosting the battery electric vehicle (BEV) market in Europe, the race is on to ensure there are enough fast-charging stations to satisfy demand. 

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) warned European Union (EU) lawmakers July 5 that plans to force a continent-wide switch to BEVs through swingeing cuts in CO2 emissions caps for manufacturers, was doomed to fail due to the lack of charging points.…

NEW European Union (EU) rules on whistleblower protection proposed by the European Commission will help the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, EU experts have told Money Laundering Bulletin.

The proposals unveiled on April 23 for a directive ‘on the protection of persons reporting on breaches of Union law[*], “will strengthen the enforcement of the fourth anti-money laundering directive [4AMLD], complementing the directive’s existing rules [Article 61] on whistleblower protection, aligning them with the common high standards of protection,” a Commission official said.…

CONTRACTORS at Sint Maarten’s hurricane-battered airport are battling against the clock to complete major repairs by the start of the new tourist season in November.

Princess Juliana International Airport was one of several across the Caribbean pummeled by catastrophic Hurricane Irma in September 2017.…

China seems to have given the world nuclear industry back its mojo this summer with two big moves: the signing in June of an order for four Gen 3+ VVER-1200 reactors from Russia’s Rosatom. This certainly got the bubbly flowing at the World Nuclear Exhibition, in Paris, in late June, following two years of sluggish investment in this globalised industry.…

ENVIRONMENTAL enforcement and product safety improvements were top priorities for China National Coatings Industrial Association, president Sun Lian Ying, when addressing her organisation’s annual summit, held in March (2018) in Jiangsu province. The meeting launched a ‘Green Development – Six Actions of China’s Coatings Industry Plan’ for the industry, which included pledges to pledges to reduce pollution in production plants while increasing the industry’s range of environmentally-friendly, highly innovative products.…

PLAIN packaging rules, or approximations, are growing around the world, but the tobacco sector still argues that these controls are over-reaches that do not reduce smoking and instead encourage counterfeiting and smuggling.

Since January 2017, French smokers have been buying non-branded packs of cigarettes, seeing only a warning picture with text about how tobacco consumption affects people’s health, along with the name of the manufacturer in a simple typeface.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) customs’ long-standing struggle with counterfeit textile products coming from south-east Asia and the resulting economic losses have sparked the EU to invest in two initiatives aiming at preventing the trade of fake goods. 

IP Key South East Asia (IP Key SEA) and ASEAN Regional Integration Support from the EU (ARISE Plus), both launched this April, will be strongly promoting the protection of intellectual and industrial property rights in the textile and other impacted sector.…

CHINA’S plans to become a significant exporter of nuclear power technology to the USA may have been targeted by new tariffs announced in June by the USA, but the Chinese nuclear sector anticipated the move and is pushing ahead with its plans to create a comprehensive supply chain.…

THE FRENCH paint and varnishes industry saw sales decline for the third consecutive year in 2016, contracting by 1.6% year-on-year to EUR2.9 billion, according to market research company Euromonitor International. It believes, however, that business should pick up in the coming years due to rising construction of homes.…

Looking to tap into Europe’s growing hunger for Japanese cuisine – and ramen noodles especially – noodle-maker Takara Sangyo Co Ltd, has announced plans to open its first European production facility in France.

The company, which is headquartered in Kyoto, is to invest EUR2.6 million in establishing a new plant in the town of Amblainville, Hauts-de-France region, in northern France, although no date has yet been set for production to commence, an official told just-food.com.…

UK and remaining European Union (EU) food producers are becoming increasingly anxious about the prospect of Britain crashing out of the EU single market without a replacement trade deal. It is a scenario that could leave British manufacturers facing crippling tariffs, border delays and reams of red tape.…

THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has announced that it is lending EUR100 million to Réunion Roland Garros Airport to finance the development of the French Indian Ocean island’s airport until 2022. The goal is building sustainable, high-performance infrastructure to meet anticipated traffic growth to 3 million passengers annually by 2025.…

MEMBERS of the European Parliament (MEPs) are risking conflicts of interest and potentially breaching their code of conduct by accepting extra paid work Transparency International EU revealed in a July 10 report. ‘Moonlighting in Brussels – side jobs and ethics concerns at the European Parliament’ showed 31% of the 751 MEPs declared sidelines, up to 104 earning above EUR100,000 over the past four years, and between nine and 30 earning more from the extra work than their EUR8,484 monthly salaries.…

SOUTH-EAST Asia maybe a diverse and hence complicated region in which to market personal care products, but the growth in sales in all its countries make it an attractive target for beauty brands.

The Philippines is a case in point. The gross domestic product (GDP) of this 103 million people archipelago recorded 6.7% GDP growth in 2017, and the World Bank projects it to grow further at an annual rate of 6.7% in both 2018 and 2019, before settling at 6.6% in 2020.…

KNITWEAR is a key part of the growth in clothing manufacturing that is becoming an important part of the economies of several Caribbean countries, providing thousands of jobs and producing apparel worn not only in the region but in the USA, Canada, Europe and elsewhere.…

KEEPING accounting relevant through ongoing transformation is the driving force of Olivier Boutellis-Taft, chief executive of Accountancy Europe. “Change is my fuel,” says the industry organisation chief, speaking to Accounting & Business at his office in the heart of Brussels’ European Union (EU) quarter.…

A report prepared for the European Commission has questioned whether a planned EUR3 billion pipeline across the Pyrenees linking France and Spain would be commercially viable, unless Algeria reduced exports of gas to Europe. Brussels asked consultancy Poyry to assess the Midi-Catalonia (Midcat) pipeline, which it has supported as a way of easing European reliance in Russian gas through boosting access to Span’s LNG terminals.…

WITH textile industry support, the French government is planning to crack down on garment and textile waste – by ensuring that “unsold products are neither thrown away nor destroyed starting from next year,” the French embassy in London has told just-style.…

TECHNIQUES for using forensic linguistics to detect fraud continue to be refined as experts debate the best and most reliable way to use such technology and practices. Indeed, specialists continue to disagree over how forensic linguistics should be used in the anti-fraud arena.…

Green and European Free Alliance (EFA) members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are calling on the Spanish government to block a requested extradition to Switzerland of a French-Italian whistleblower arrested in Spain on April 4.  Hervé Falciani revealed details of 100,000 accounts held by French nationals, including politicians and celebrities, to France’s then finance minister Christine Lagarde (now managing director of the International Monetary Fund – IMF) in 2006 and 2007 when working as a computer scientist at HSBC’s Swiss affiliate.…

Diversity – a theme very close to Mohamed Irshad’s heart – could not be embodied by a more appropriate person than the affable, youthful-looking 34-year-old head of global internal audit – the Americas, at French multinational Schneider Electric. Irshad is an Indian national who was born and raised in Dubai, studied in India, has lived in Paris and is now based in Canada.…

The prospect of significant hikes in taxes and administrative red tape on Irish exports and imports travelling through the UK to and from the rest of Europe once Britain leaves the European Union (EU), has prompted Irish exporters to seek more options for direct maritime trade.…

Irish meat and livestock exporters could soon bypass the UK by shipping products directly to continental Europe, in a bid to avoid increased costs and customs checks at British ports, once the UK leaves the European Union (EU).

According to the Irish Exporters Association (IEA), around 67% of Irish exporters currently make use of the UK land-bridge to access continental markets.…

WITH President Donald Trump angered by the Syrian government chemical weapon attack near Damascus, the US government has rolled out additional financial sanctions on oligarchs and companies linked to a Russian government that Washington blames for abetting such outrages in Syria.…

DEFERRED Prosecution Agreements (DPAs), that allow companies and individuals that admit to wrongdoing and cooperate with investigators and avoid prosecution, are becoming increasingly common worldwide, including for money laundering offences. The systems are particularly useful sticks to force erring financial and other corporate institutions to improve their anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism systems (AML/CFT), with prosecuting agencies deferring criminal cases on condition of sustained AML/CFT reforms.…

NEW Caledonia, a Pacific overseas territory governed by France, will need to transpose the new so-called European Union (EU) fifth anti-money laundering directive (AMLD5) reforms agreed in May. This is because the territory will have to follow AML/CFT implementing rules within French law, a spokesperson from the French ministry of economy and finance told the Money Laundering Bulletin.…

RUSSIAN airports are intensifying preparations for a flood of passengers in the run up to the 2018 FIFA World Cup from June 14 to July 15, having expanded their carrying capacities and modernised operations, according to Russian transport ministry officials and airport bosses.…

RUSSIAN airports are intensifying preparations for a flood of passengers in the run up to the 2018 FIFA World Cup from June 14 to July 15, having expanded their carrying capacities and modernised operations, according to Russian transport ministry officials and airport bosses.…

INTERNATIONAL tenders are now open to expand Latvia’s Riga International Airport (RIX), with bidders being asked to propose designs for a new expanded terminal. With increased passenger and flight numbers, the existing terminal’s check-in, security, and luggage claim areas are no longer able to accommodate ongoing traffic growth.…

WITH boasts of being the strongest, thinnest, most flexible material that is also super-lightweight and an excellent thermal and electronic conductor, the ‘wonder material’ graphene is finding its properties a game changer in the sporting arena – including at last month’s Winter Olympics (February).…

Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with ambitious plans to build 16 nuclear reactors, both small and large, to generate 17GWe by 2040. While no tenders have yet been awarded, the kingdom is working with numerous international partners to develop its nuclear infrastructure and safety systems.…

IF evidence was needed to show that consistent government support for sales of electric cars can create a sustainable market, look no further than Norway, the world’s number one country for sales of e-vehicles in 2016. With a market share of 29% for new cars, the Scandinavian country is a leading light in its transition to zero emission cars, noted the Norwegian Electric Vehicles Association (Norsk elbilforening).…

THE EUROPEAN Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has added four chemicals used by the paint, coatings and adhesives sector to its rolling CoRAP programme of assessing in detail the environmental health risks posed by certain chemicals. These investigations are carried out by European Union (EU) member states and their conclusions can spark additional controls being placed on these chemicals.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) fourth anti-money laundering directive (4AMLD – 2015/849) was hailed as major step forward in combatting money laundering when it was adopted in May 2015, but member states are dragging their feet on compliance, just as the bloc moves towards adopting its fifth update.…

INDIA’S fast-growing consumer goods company Patanjali Ayurved has confirmed to just-food that it is considering a foreign investment offers of USD800 million by French luxury group LVMH, but stresses it is not the only foreign investment offer it has received.

Patanjali spokesperson S K Tijarawala explained to just-food how such foreign inputs meshed with its overall strategy of developing and selling products that are based on Hindu traditions such as Ayurvedic lines.…

A COOPERATION Agreement has been struck between the European Union (EU) and the Agency for Aerial Navigation Safety in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA) over the mutual development of satellite navigation. The deal commits the EU to creating an autonomous satellite-based augmentation service (SBAS) to help ASECNA, which coordinates air navigation in 14 African countries and Madagascar.…

DEFERRED Prosecution Agreements (DPAs), that allow companies and individuals that admit to wrongdoing and cooperate with investigators to pay a fine and avoid prosecution, are becoming increasingly common worldwide. Enabling wrongdoers to avoid being debarred from bidding for many contracts and providing law enforcers with a commitment that companies and individual fraudsters will avoid fraud in future, DPAs offer benefits for police and suspects.…

THE WORLD Trade Organisation’s (WTO) latest ministerial conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December, failed to agree detailed policy for the global body, other than a commitment to negotiate a deal limiting fishing subsidies by next December (2018). A new agriculture agreement covering all food and drink remained elusive, with the USA calling for “plurilateral” agreements of “like-minded countries” going forward, that can be adopted by WTO member states after being concluded.…

IT was a key strength of the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change that it set out a clear macro target of limiting global warming, while giving flexibility to supporting governments on how to achieve this goal. And the same could be said of the EU’s current approach towards promoting green energy – with broad targets linked to a range of policy choices regarding implementation (although there is plenty of detailed guidance – this is the EU after all).…

AFTER years of slow growth since 2008, eastern Europe’s now mature cosmetics and personal care market has continued to show marginal gains in products sales in the past year, according to experts.

The region’s cosmetics and personal care products sales edged to USD23.67 billion in 2017 from USD21.74 billion in 2016, counting sales in Poland, Croatia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Georgia.…

REFORMS now under discussion for European Union (EU) dairy subsidies and controls under the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) must keep the internal market intact, dairy industry experts have told Dairy Industries International. Their comments follow the European Parliament giving a ‘first reading’ vote in principle on December 12, to EU agricultural financial spending rules within a so-called ‘omnibus’ finance regulation.…

Consumers in the home of cosmetics, France, appear to be combining the long-established traditions of French-made products with the ultra-modern twist of Korea-inspired ‘K-beauty’ items in their latest personal care trends.

Traditionally, mention France and cosmetics in the same breath and an image of class and sophistication is brought to mind.…

Transparency International and European Parliament members are warning that the latest tax dodge revelations unveiled by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists show where criminals could exploit loopholes for corruption and money laundering. Published November 5, the so-called ‘Paradise Papers’ stem from 13.4 million files leaked to German newspaper ‘Süddeutsche Zeitung’ and include financial data showing how the British monarchy, Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton and rock star Bono, among others, have minimised their taxes through offshore tax gambits.…

THE FIVE month-long diplomatic and commercial dispute between Qatar and the so-called ‘anti-terror quartet – ATQ’ of Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt) continues and revolves around Doha’s alleged financial support for terrorist groups.…

CHINA’S imposition of temporary safeguard duties to protect its sugar industry have been challenged at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), with sugar giant Brazil arguing Beijing’s tariffs break global commerce rules. In a signal that Brazil might be considering launching a disputes case against China, diplomats for the South American country told a WTO safeguards committee meeting that the duties broke the WTO agreement on safeguards and the general agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT). …

TECHNICAL textile brands are only too aware of the reputational risks posed by consumers purchasing performance clothing and gear to protect them from the elements in the great outdoors, whose manufacturing chemicals and processes are actually damaging the planet.

Environmentally harmful chemicals have been a mainstay in producing the highest quality durable water repellent (DWR) for outerwear, footwear and kit – including backpacks, tents and sleeping bags – with manufacturers apparently putting profits from this lucrative, burgeoning market ahead of ‘green’ credentials.…

A Paris court has convicted Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the vice-president of Equatorial Guinea, of embezzling more than EUR150 million (USD174 million) of public money. His is also the son of the small central African country’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.…

French prosecutors have accused Denmark’s leading bank Danske Bank of playing an organised role in a Russian fraud and money laundering scam. Prosecutors, from the Paris High Court, allege that an Estonian branch of the bank helped to move EUR15 million “from organised fraud and tax evasion” in Russia into France and other European Union (EU) jurisdictions between 2008 and 2011.…

Ethiopia’s energy sector is undergoing a rapid transformation, becoming a trail blazer for renewables growth in Africa. Although still one of the continent’s poorest nations in Africa (gross national income per capita just USD660 in 2016, says the World Bank), its potential for green energy production is massive.…

Millennial consumers – the key driver of demand in today’s personal care product market – love personalisation, customisation and ‘do it yourself’ lines, and maybe nowhere more than in Germany. This ‘maker movement’ trend has inspired Cosnova, the Sulzbach, Hesse-based producer of cosmetic brands such as essence, Catrice and L.O.V.,…

MILLENNIALS are changing the cosmetic industry like never before: this generation with an ‘I want it all – I want it now’ attitude is forcing cosmetics firms to cut down on lead time –  the speed with which products are delivered to market – to a bare minimum.…

INDONESIA is an important market – it does not just have 261 million people, but its female consumers especially are becoming more assertive and shaping colour cosmetic trends that brands should follow if they want to boost revenue. Last year, market observers have said, women consumers in Indonesia decided they wanted to buy matte lipstick, and this demand has mushroomed.…

THE UNITED Arab Emirates (UAE) has long been a fertile ground for colour cosmetics brands thanks to its large young population (its median age is just over 30) and the presence of image conscious consumers. Despite the pressure of rising costs and fierce competition among brands, the country’s colour cosmetics market experienced moderate growth in 2017 compared to 2016, increasing an estimated 4% in value terms to reach Emirati Dirham AED1.1 billion (USD299.4 million), according to market researcher Euromonitor International.…

VISITING spa and beauty salons is a way of life in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The country’s competitive business climate has given rise to a ‘work hard, play hard’ mentality and a hectic lifestyle that requires frequent pampering and relaxation.…

THE ARAB Spring, for all its faults, inconsistencies and disappointments, has delivered the world one thriving open and pluralistic Arab society – Tunisia – where women especially have seized new freedoms and spending power. This is reflected in spending on spa and salon services in the country, where, according to market researcher Euromonitor International, in the year of the 2011 Jasmine Revolution the turnover of the Tunisian spa sector was just USD32.4 million.…

THE AUSTRALIAN cosmetic and toiletry retailing market has experienced modest growth amidst fierce competition over the past decade, figures reveal, with a constant stream of new products, many environmentally conscious, maintaining consumer interest in an otherwise saturated market.

According to California-based market research company IBISWorld, more than 18,000 people work in almost 4,000 businesses in the cosmetics industry in Australia, a country of more than 24 million people.…

A new industry roadmap to advance the development of power-to-gas in Europe is just one reason advocates of hydrogen production and storage are optimistic about the next decade. The laying of foundations for larger-scale developments of power-to-gas (P2G) in Europe have gathered momentum throughout 2017, with the European Association for Storage of Energy (EASE) and the Joint Programme on Energy Storage under the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) laying plans.…

HONG KONG and Saudi Arabia has struck an agreement on avoiding double taxation so any Saudi Arabian tax paid by Hong Kong companies will be credited against tax payable on the same profits in the special administrative region. The same would apply to Saudi companies paying tax in Hong Kong.…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament must “urgently reform” its ethics system, according to anti-corruption organisation Transparency International, which claims MEPs including former leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) Nigel Farage, Italian Socialist Renato Soru and French Christian Democrat Michèle Alliot-Marie have not properly accounted for their earnings.…

India’s Heritage Foods and France’s Novandie will be investing Indian Rupees INR160 million (USD2.5 million) in building a yoghurt manufacturing facility in Maharashtra as part of a 50-50 joint venture. “The plant would be set up in western region, in the vicinity of Mumbai or Pune and will start production next year (2018),” a company spokesperson told just-food.…

THE NEW centrist government in France has said it will may block the domestic sale of biofuels which have used palm oil as a feedstock, to reduce deforestation in producing countries. French environment minister Nicolas Hulot, previously an environmental activist, said: “We will close a window that offered the possibility for using palm oil in biofuels.”…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has allowed the French government to help finance a new express railway line between Paris train station Gare de l’Est and the Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport by levying a special fee on CDG passengers, except those in transit.…

MOROCCO is blessed with an ideal geographical position to develop a Europe-focused export-based dairy sector although its proximity to Spain – just 14 km of the Straits of Gibraltar separates the two – means this emerging market is a key focus of European exporters.…

BRAZIL’S beauty and personal care market took a hit in 2016, as the world’s fourth-biggest beauty market struggled to emerge from its worst-ever recession amid political corruption scandals. 

The outlook is for a slow recovery this year, as high unemployment keeps a lid on purchasing power in this market of 207 million people.…

THE UK’s exit from the European Union (EU), scheduled April 1, 2019, will be a real challenge for the European cosmetics industry, John Chave, director-general for EU industry body Cosmetics Europe told Soap Perfumery & Cosmetics in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the key European Cosmetics Week 2017 event in Brussels.…

THE SOUTH African hair care market grew 6% in current value terms in the past year to South African Rand ZAR6.6 billion (USD488.4 million). And this growth is projected, by London-based market researchers Euromonitor, to rise by a 1% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in constant value terms over the next five years.…

China may have more coaches than ever, with the majority of them serving multinationals only, the expansion of the profession is still limited, a Shanghai conference has been told.

“China’s coaching industry will only take off when local companies embrace coaching, Garry Wang, CEO of the coaching service provider MindSpan, said at a two–day leadership coaching conference entitled ‘Leading into 2020’ held in Shanghai on June 22-23.…

CORRUPTION issues continue to challenge the European Union (EU) as it seeks to renew its popularity amidst the start of the Brexit negotiations and the rule of a French President in Emmanuel Macron who says EU must reform, root-and-branch, or die.…

Aerospace giant Airbus has announced (Monday, May 22) that it has set up a high-level Independent Compliance Review Panel (ICRP) to probe self-reported bribery and corruption charges involving consultants hired to win British subsidies for export contracts. The panel, which Airbus said “will have access to all levels of the company,” is composed of France’s Noëlle Lenoir, a member of the Conseil d’Etat (France’s highest constitutional court) since 1984, former German finance minister Theo Waigel and British Conservative peer Lord Gold, all “well-versed in compliance monitoring of large corporations.”…

European Union (EU) banks are to be forced to bring in fraud prevention measures to protect their customers under regulatory technical standards (RTS) due to come into force by early 2019.

These will say when banks have to undertake ‘strong customer authentication’ (SCA) where customer identities are checked using two or more elements, including something a client knows (like a password), they hold (such as a mobile phone and number) or is part of their body, such as a fingerprint.…

SEVEN years of recession and two years of capital controls have taken their toll not only on the Greek economy but also on the country’s cosmetics market, although local companies have been maintaining their focus on R&D and exports. According to the Hellenic Statistical Authority (Elstat), the overall turnover retail index for cosmetics and pharmaceutical products in February 2017 was 58.8% of sales in 2010 – the year marking the beginning of Greece’s financial and economic turmoil.…

AN increasing number of Japanese consumers are becoming more environmentally conscious in their purchases and adhering to what is commonly referred to as a ‘LOHAS’ (lifestyles of health and sustainability) way of life. In the Japan cosmetics and personal care market, this initially manifested itself in the rising popularity of imported brands that prided themselves on their use of organic and natural ingredients.…

EU MINISTERS APPROVE DOUBLE TAXATION REDUCTION SYSTEM

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has agreed a directive insisting that member states establish an effective system for resolving EU double taxation disputes. The system requires dispute resolution mechanisms to be mandatory and binding, with clear time limits.…

MOROCCO is becoming an increasingly attractive destination for African students seeking to study abroad, and is now their second most popular destination on the continent, following South Africa. According to the latest statistics published by Morocco’s ministry of higher education, training and research, more than 18,000 African foreign students are currently enrolled in higher institutions in Morocco.…

Swiss bank Credit Suisse is facing parallel investigations in five countries – Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK for facilitating tax evasion and money laundering. The bank admitted in a March 31 statement that it was “cooperating” with local tax authorities which had contacted its London, Paris and Amsterdam offices the day before “concerning client tax matters.”…

The oil and gas industry is reshaping its strategies, practices and values as it responds to global agreements on climate change and sustainable development. The 2015 United Nations Paris Agreement on climate change and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – which came into effect in January 2016 – are prominent among global governance challenges driving change in the oil and gas industry, but pressure just keeps building.…

THE EUROPEAN wipes market is a complex affair. This is a varied segment, in itself, but wipe use varies between countries with contrasting consumer cultures – meaning that in some states, wipes sales are increasing; in others decreasing; and in others, the kinds of wipes being sold is changing.…

ANTI-CORRUPTION organisation Transparency International (TI) has called for a comprehensive tightening of regulatory and commercial action to restrict how luxury goods are abused as money laundering vehicles and to promote graft.

A new TI report ‘Tainted Treasures: Money laundering risks in luxury markets’ concludes that too little due diligence focuses on luxury goods buyers and where there are luxury goods laws, enforcement is weak.…

EUROPEAN and French meat industry organisations are preparing to respond to China’s decision to lift its embargo on French exports of de-boned beef for animals. China is the second largest importer of beef worldwide: “We welcome the move in principle,” European Union (EU) farm body Copa-Cogeca’s secretary general Pekka Pesonen told GlobalMeatNews.…

THE cosmetics sector of South Korea, evaluated at USD12 billion in sales during 2016 by market researcher Frost & Sullivan, has been enduring a tough crash course in political risk since its government agreed to host the US missile-defence system Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence (THAAD).…

Italy’s premier beauty trade fair celebrated half a century this year in Bologna with a host of special events that ranged from an opening cocktail party on the fair grounds to a special dance performance held in the Bologna city centre.…

IT has been a tough year for the fragrance industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where competition between international and local brands has intensified, while consumer spending has been weakening. But this has not stopped perfumiers from launching new products nor has it prevented overseas suppliers from expanding their local presence.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission’s plans to create a pan-European personal pension (PEPP), on which a legislative proposal is expected by summer 2017, will help the self-employed and facilitate the growing mobility of workers across the European Union (EU), experts have told Accounting & Business.…

EUROPEAN food and drink exporters will be preparing to boost exports through the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the European Union (EU) and Canada (CETA), which has been provisionally approved by the European Parliament.

The deal, whose duty reduction and quota expansion elements could apply from April (2017) will phase out nearly 99% of tariffs on all food and drink traded between the EU and Canada over the next seven years.…

PAKISTAN business leaders trading in traditional Kashmiri textiles are worried about the shrinking size of the trade in their products, blaming the government for this poor state of affairs. It is hard times for Pakistan manufacturers of Kashmiri shawls, popularised by French Queen Marie Antoinette as a luxury item and more recently popular amongst ethnic clothing consumers.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) lawmakers are pushing for national regulators to put 20% of new car models released for driving through laboratory tests to check compliance with emissions standards, a demand that has spooked Europe’s automakers.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) backed this 20% rule in a vote yesterday (Feb 9) in its key internal market and consumer protection committee on proposals to overhaul the EU’s type approval system.…

THE EUROPEAN and Canadian minerals industries have broadly welcomed the approval by the European Parliament of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the European Union (EU) and Canada (CETA), saying it would increase exports in an already flourishing trade.…

THE CONTINUED success of Europe’ major technical textile fair, Techtextil, Frankfurt, (the next event runs from May 9 to 12) illustrates how the continent’s technical textile sector is thriving on its innovation.

“We don’t know what the future brings. We only know where it will be exhibited.…

KEY MESSAGES

*The nuclear industry has an ageing staff and needs to recruit new professionals as they retire

*Its strong health and retirement benefits packages could help it attract the new staff it needs

*The nuclear industry outside north America has a strong expat component, making it easier for recruit staff from abroad

INTRODUCTION

The nuclear industry sector is facing some significant human resources challenges, but new research carried out by Airswift and Energy Jobline indicates that the nuclear sector can still compete for talent.…

YEAR–round sunshine, a young population, and a large expatriate community have made the United Arab Emirates (UAE) a strategic destination for multinational suncare brands, which continue to dominate the local market.

According to London-based research company Euromonitor International, the UAE’s suncare market was valued at Emirati Dirham AED89.38 million (USD24.3 million) in 2016, up 4% compared to 2015.…

CRACKING the sun care product market in a country like Iran is not easy because many Iranians consider sun care an “unnecessary luxury.” That said, it’s not all bad news. The country’s small niche sun care segment is growing slowly even from a low base.…

AS many leading fashion brands are stepping up use of Australian Merino wool, Chinese fabric makers with a long track record of in-house research and development (R&D) into wool are finding themselves better positioned than latecomers to reap the fruits of this trend.…

THE DIRECTOR-general of the European Union’s anti-fraud office – OLAF – has argued that the only way to stop counterfeit cigarettes and other goods entering Europe is to tackle the trade at source. Giovanni Kessler spoke out at a joint OLAF press conference with the Belgian Customs and Excise Administration in December to showcase how their cooperation had smashed a cigarette smuggling ring.…

THE UNITED States authorities have lifted an embargo on French beef imports after 19 years, the French agriculture ministry has said, and European meat producers are delighted.

France is the fourth European Union (EU) country, after Lithuania, Ireland and the Netherlands, to have its beef re-admitted to the US market after a January 1998 ban imposed because of fears over bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease.…

PUTTING video cameras in France’s 960 slaughterhouses will not stop malpractice, industry groups have argued, following last week’s adoption in the French National Assembly (lower house of parliament) of a proposed law mandating video surveillance in slaughterhouses from January 1 2018.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) XP-DITE accelerated checkpoint design integration test and evaluation project has enabled the creation and approval of the world’s first combined EU and United States pre-clearance checkpoint. Its goal is to create a regulatory system that gives the designers and operators of airport checkpoints more freedom to choose how they build and run these systems, making them more effective and maybe cheaper, but at the same time guaranteeing a high level of security.…

ELECTRONICS and gadgets such as smart watches may have reached their technological and popularity limits, but smart textiles – materials, for example anti-bacterial, that react to environmental or physical stimuli – are here to stay, industry experts argue.

Speakers at this year’s FUTEX – the 7^th Innovative Textile European Convention on ‘interactive textiles for health, sport and the home’ emphasised the bright future for ‘wearable’ technology.…

FRENCH luxury group conglomerate LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) has consolidated its position in Russia by acquiring a 100% stake in Ile de Beauté, one of Russia’s leading cosmetics chains.

The deal was signed on January 16 with Igor Denisov, a Russian businessman and the founder of Ile de Beauté, which, to date, has operated the retail business together with LVMH, in the form of a joint venture.…

POLAND’S beauty and personal care market is fragmented, highly competitive and extremely price sensitive, but continues to grow faster than that of most other countries in central and eastern Europe. Poles spent about EUR3.6 billion (USD 3.85 billion) on cosmetics and personal care products in 2016, according to the latest estimates from London-based market research firm Euromonitor International.…

MANY personal care product markets in eastern and central Europe are growing slowly, with incremental growth being tapped especially by major international brands who have squeezed out local players with their solid pricing and reliable quality.

But with natural cosmetics rising in popularity, there is still space for innovative smaller players with sufficient local roots and knowhow to appeal to consumers in what remains an extremely diverse region in terms of culture and consumer habits.…

MANY personal care product markets in eastern and central Europe are growing slowly, with incremental growth being tapped especially by major international brands who have squeezed out local players with their solid pricing and reliable quality.

But with natural cosmetics rising in popularity, there is still space for innovative smaller players with sufficient local roots and knowhow to appeal to consumers in what remains an extremely diverse region in terms of culture and consumer habits.…

Saudi Arabia’s economy has been going through tough times ever since oil prices started tumbling in late 2014. Only a few market segments have withstood the effects of the latest downturn – men’s grooming being one of them. Overall, the male grooming market in the kingdom registered a minor value decline of 0.4% in 2016 compared to 2015, reaching Saudi Arabian SAR2 billion (USD533.2 million), according to research company Euromonitor International.…

PROFESSIONAL coaching in China is starting to move into the mainstream, with the sector increasingly welcomed into businesses, whether foreign or locally-owned. Indeed, the Shanghai operation of the International Coach Federation witnessed a surge in coaching activities within mainland China’s most important commercial centre last year. …

A long-held ambition by Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) to create an aerotropolis, or airport city, anchored around Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is taking key steps forward with a newly finalised master plan and a number of strategic partnerships.

The project, called KLIA Aeropolis, was announced in May (2016).…

THE FIRST phase of a EUR5.6 million upgrade to French Saint Martin’s L’Esperance Airport has been completed, with a renovated terminal building being opened. It has enlarged arrivals and departures halls, free wi-fi, more check-in desks, and a bigger luggage carousel.…

ONE of the wealthiest countries in the world, Qatar’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was estimated at USD73,653 in 2015, according to the World Bank. Close to 85% of the country’s 2.5 million population are expatriates and this has influenced the skincare products on offer, while high levels of disposable income continue to drive consumption.…

A NEW law authorising the use of deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) in France is being challenged in France’s highest constitutional court, the Conseil Constitutionnel.

Justices will now review the law, following a request from the opposition-controlled French senate and 60 deputies within the national assembly from the centre-right opposition Les Republicains.…

EU E-COMMERCE VAT REFORMS PROPOSED BY EUROPEAN COMMISSION

REFORMS to European Union (EU) e-commerce VAT rules have been proposed by the European Commission which include a clear declaration VAT should be paid in the member state of the final consumer.…

EU E-COMMERCE VAT REFORMS PROPOSED BY EUROPEAN COMMISSION

REFORMS to European Union (EU) e-commerce VAT rules have been proposed by the European Commission which include a clear declaration VAT should be paid in the member state of the final consumer.…

LEADING French automaker Renault could soon start producing vehicles in Pakistan, the chairman of the south Asian country’s Board of Investment (BOI) has predicted to wardsauto. Miftah Ismail said that the manufacturer had submitted an application to the government of Pakistan seeking permission to produce cars locally, initially in a joint venture with Ghandhara Nissan, which is Renault’s global partner.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) tax authorities should automatically exchange anti-money laundering (AML) information within three months of collection, the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee in Brussels has said. MEPs voted to amend EU directive 2011/16/EU on access to AML information in this way, so that this data is exchanged proactively, rather than tax authorities being offered passive access to databases.…

TOBACCO has been grown, processed, smoked and traded within and between native Canadian and American communities for centuries, so it is no surprise that attempts to restrict how their reserves and reservations make and sell tobacco cause upset.

But in Canada, with tobacco control rules on health warnings, advertising and tobacco content in these First Nations jurisdictions often weak or non-existent, and tax and duty not collected on sales, there has been pressure on the federal and provincial government to crack down on what police and anti-tobacco campaigners regard as a legal free-for-all.…

THE EUROPEAN Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is investigating if European Union (EU)-wide controls are needed to protect consumers against substances used in tattoo inks and permanent make-up (PMU) – with one solution expanding the scope of the EU cosmetics directive.

While the printing ink industry has suffered a recession, the tattoo and PMU ink sectors are booming in the wake of a huge increase in purchases of tattoos EU-wide.…

IRAN’S rose water export sector is facing the potential for rapid expansion now that the country can trade freely globally after the bulk of international banking and economic sanctions imposed over the Iranian nuclear programme were lifted this January (2016).…

SUB-Saharan Africa offers the personal care product a real chance to see solid and steep growth in sales in upcoming years, with the region’s middle class growing in size and prosperity, served by international brands boosting their retail presence, especially in larger urban markets.…

IVORY Coast has imported more than double the value of cosmetic products in 2015 when compared with 2009, from the European Union (EU) alone, signaling the creation of a booming domestic beauty market as the country emerges from a civil war that ended in 2011.…

The European Commission needs to reform its governance systems to boost its efficiency and make it less prone to corruption scandals, Lazaros Lazarou, the Cypriot member of the European Union’s (EU) financial watchdog, the European Court of Auditors, has told Accounting & Business.…

To keep pace with today’s global and interconnected world, auditors must move with the times, European experts told a high-level Brussels conference on November 16.  Maggie McGhee, director of professional insights at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) – joint hosts of the ‘Future of Audit’ conference with assurance, tax and advisory services network Grant Thornton International, said: “Auditors need to adapt and constantly innovate.…

With the country in political turmoil following an attempted coup in the summer and a subsequent economic downturn, the current situation in Turkey is having a negative impact on spending, particularly on luxury items including personal care and pampering products. Consumers, instead, are tending to stock up on essential items such as basic foodstuffs as concerns about the present crisis continue, but personal care products, especially higher end lines, are a lower priority for consumers.…

CLOTHING manufacturing will be completely changed by the internet and digital printing over the next five to 10 years, Lutz Walter, secretary general of European Technology Platform for the Future of Textiles and Clothing (ETP) – the largest European textiles research and innovations network – told just-style at a October 12-13 ‘European Textiles: Going Digital – Going High-Tech’ conference in Brussels.…

AVIATION regulation software provider EMPIC has won a contract to provide an IT system operating and monitoring doctor assessments of civilian pilots. The German company has established a centralised database of medical checks, enabling regulators to ensure doctors are doing their jobs effectively, and preventing pilots who fail a check-up from living onto another medic to get a different result.…

PERSONAL care product and cosmetics manufacturers are continuing to invest in sustainable materials – such as responsibly-sourced cardboard and bio-plastics. Indeed, such green alternatives can boost sales in markets where consumers are increasingly concerned with the environmental impact of products. But packagers still face challenges in ensuring these meet the standards of their clients, particularly in premium sectors.…

An assembly line for French automotive company Peugeot (Groupe PSA) has opened in Ethiopia (July 1) in partnership with local firm, Mesfin Industrial Engineering (MIE). The new USD1.2 million facility is expected to assemble 1,200 vehicles-a-year for sale to Ethiopia’s growing car market and to neighboring countries Djibouti and Somalia.…

European Union (EU) lawmakers in a key European Parliament committee are split over how to amend proposed reforms to the 28 country bloc’s automotive type approval controls. These members of the parliament’s internal market and consumer protection committee discussed on Thursday (September 29) changes suggested by British Conservative MEP Dan Dalton on proposals from the EU executive, the European Commission, to overhaul EU type approval rules – its key goal is making them sufficiently tight to prevent a repeat of the Dieselgate scandal where emissions controls were circumvented.…

THE DEVELOPMENT of electricity interconnectors crossing national borders is simultaneously a technical and geo-political act, requiring careful planning and skilled installation of technology, along with an eye towards promoting security of power supplies.

Such investments are a priority of the European Union (EU) and its member states under its Energy Union programme.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) SNIFFER project which has developed artificial olfactory techniques to detect explosives and illicit narcotics is being taken forward in a new study designed to create cargo-screening technology.

SNIFFER, which wrapped up in 2015, is the subject of a new European Commission memorandum, which reported successful trials at Athens international airport, Greece.…

FOOD and drink manufacturers based in Britain face a risk that their exports to the European Union (EU) will attract duties now the UK government has confirmed it will push ahead with leaving the EU following the June 23 Brexit referendum result.…

South America’s cosmetics and personal care sector is looking to bounce back from a slowdown caused by the region’s macroeconomic troubles, but political pressures and regional trade alliances are driving individual country markets down divergent paths.

Over the last year, countries across the region have been buffeted by economic turmoil that has had a knock-on impact on the cosmetics sector.…

JUDGING by the initial responses to the final guidance on net neutrality released on August 30 by European regulators group BEREC, these new rules are too restrictive for the taste of telecoms companies, and will hinder commercial progress. Free internet campaigners, however, are happy – regarding the new system as an effective protection against the privatisation and Balkanisation of the web.…

India will start manufacturing fuel components and other equipment for its Russian-designed nuclear reactors within the next 10 years, Indian authorities have told Fuel Cycle Week. “There will be certain range of equipment that could be made much earlier, but others like pressure vessels for a large steam generator could take that period of time [10 years],” Malur Ramaswamy Srinivasan, member of India’s Atomic Energy Commission told Fuel Cycle Week.…

AFRICA’S economic growth means it does not just have more banks than before, banking groups are spreading across national borders. And while this can boost banks’ lending and savings security, it also complicates the job of regulators charged with ensuring such institutions are honest and solvent.…

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed and his regime overthrown in 2011. Billions of dollars in assets and funds stashed away over the years have disappeared. The hunt is still on but with Libya in chaos, there is no effective state to push the investigation and repatriate the cash, while commercial crime in this north African country has reached unprecedented levels.…

BUILDING a career in auditing in what is often regarded as the most corrupt country in the European Union (EU) is not for the faint-hearted, but that is what Nikolay Garnev, EY manging partner for Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo, has done.…

LAWRENCE Agbor Abunaw had set his sights on the banking sector as an economics undergraduate student at the UK’s University of Leicester more than two decades ago. But a career orientation fair and meeting a headhunter changed the Cameroonian’s goals and led to joining the accountancy profession in May 1993 with PwC France, before returning to his country of birth Cameroon for eight years.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has accused six European Union (EU) member states of failing to detect enough fraud in EU spending programmes where their governments have a significant management role. In its latest annual report on the ‘Protection of the European Union’s financial interests – Fight against fraud 2015’, the Commission said Austria, Britain and Finland had reported “a very low number of fraudulent irregularities, in particular in relation to the amount of frauds allocated to them” for  EU agricultural spending.…

Europe in 2016 has been witness to significant milestones passed in deployment of new, full-scale demonstration and commercial tidal stream and wave energy projects.

This is encouraging for the European Union (EU), which wants clean, renewable ‘ocean energy’ to provide a tenth of its power by mid-century.…

South-east Asia is a region that has sharp contrasts in economic development, from between the wealth of Singapore to countries such as Myanmar, where poverty is endemic and consumer markets are relatively undeveloped.

Such contrasts pose challenges for personal care product companies seeking regional strategies to tap the markets of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) 10 countries, whose cosmetics suppliers have to comply with the standards of the ASEAN Cosmetics Directive, which was modelled on European Union legislation.…

Scandinavia’s colour cosmetic sector is poised to grow between 2016 and 2019 after two years of slumping sales, with Sweden being the stronger national market, according to UK-based market intelligence firm Mintel.

Even Sweden has had a bumpy ride, however: in 2013, Sweden’s SEK41.12 million (USD4.78 million – at current exchange rates) colour cosmetics market up from SEK35.9 million (USD4.18 million).…

Finland is always different from its neighbours across the Baltic. Not Scandinavian, but still Nordic, Finland’s personal care product market has been experiencing hard times, as the country of 5.5 million people sees its economy seesaw between contraction and mild grow (-0.7% – +0.5%) in the last three years.…

HAVING a strong reputation for sustainable practice is increasingly a strong marketing card, for the confectionery sector as much as any other consumer industry. But with its extended international supply chains, demonstrating a high regard for environmental good practice is not always easy for the confectionery sector.…

France should maintain its “soft law” approach, used in most corporate governance [company management] to decisions over pay, key director and management organisations in the country have told Board Agenda. These include the Financial Markets Authority (AMF – Autorité des marchés financiers): French Institute of Directors (IFA – Institut Français des Administrateurs), and business network MEDEF (Mouvement des entreprises de France), despite the government coming under increasing pressure to legislate in this area.…

FRANCE is in the midst of reforming its often tough labour laws, in the teeth of opposition of unions who are usually backers of the country’s socialist government. The reform, commonly called the ‘El Khomri law‘ after the French labour minister Myriam El Khomri, will receive be debated and voted upon (and probably amended) at the National Assembly between July 5-8.…

IF more evidence was needed that India’s sweet bakery and confectionery market was becoming more international and sophisticated, exporters may look to Mumbai’s macaroon specialist Pooja Dhingra, 29.

She owns four Le 15 Patisserie outlets in India’s commercial capital that sell top-class original sweet bakery products.…

Delivering products that are present in everyday life to unknown markets across the globe, online sales are essential to boost the already booming EUR77 billion European cosmetics market, Cosmetics Europe director general John Chave told last week’s ‘Personal care in a changing world’ conference in Brussels (June 13-17).…

MIRRORING how Spain is crawling out of its long recession, the country’s personal care product market is recovering. UK-based market researchers Euromonitor released a report last month concluding: “After years of decline in value terms, beauty and personal care finally saw a positive performance in Spain in 2015.”…

COSMETICS and personal care product labelling and decoration continues to play a key role in differentiating brands on the shelf and creating an experience for the consumer. While many companies are moving towards more simple, clean looks, other higher-end brands still prefer eye-catching, metallic designs.…

With earth movers set to move in on August 1, the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) plans to build an HK141.5 billion (USD18.2 billion) third airport runway at the city’s Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) on Chek Lap Kok island. It is set to be the most expensive infrastructure project in the city since the 1997 handover from the UK.…

Global biolubricant sales should reach USD2.97 billion by 2020, according to US research firm MarketsandMarkets, with hydraulic fluids driving the sector. The US market is the fastest-growing region, while Europe retains the largest market share (around 45%).

However, although research and development projects have unveiled and unleashed the vast growth potential for this sector, the struggle remains to develop sufficient quantities of raw material to enable industry to replace fossil oil-based lubricants in a cost-effective manner.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has protected four more meat traditional products – from Croatia, France, and Spain – by adding them to the European Union’s (EU) list of protected ‘geographical indications.’

This system prevents their sale under registered names across the EU, unless the products are made in their traditional home region and by established production methods laid down in the EU register.…

Plans to establish standardized European Union (EU) type approval fees, paid to national funds not individual test houses, could face a challenge from the European Parliament, the EU’s democratically elected co-legislature, wardsauto has learned. The proposals were made back in January by the EU executive, the European Commission, in a bid to revamp Europe’s type approval system, which were discredited after the ‘dieselgate’ scandal of crooked emissions measurement systems.…

Use of phthalates in medical devices could be restricted in the European Union (EU) under a deal stuck in Brussels on Thursday (May 26). European Parliament and EU Council of Ministers representatives clinched a compromise deal on a proposed revision of the EU medical devices and in vitro diagnostics directives, which would limit use of substances that are carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic for reproduction or have endocrine (hormone) disrupting properties.…

Limiting an agreement on the controversial Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) to cutting tariffs will not suffice, and could have negative consequences for some segments, major food manufacturers and their representatives in the European Union (EU) and United States have told just-food.com.…

INNOVATIVE ways of powering trains are poised for mainstream use in the global transport industry. Today, the most common trains are still those powered by diesel engines, but there is a continuing shift towards electricity and alternative power sources.

“With rail expected to play an increasingly important role in future transport systems…there is a lot of focus on how it should be more energy efficient,” said Andrew Foulkes, a communications manager at Ricardo Rail, a UK-based railway engineering and consultancy firm.…

THE GLOBAL trade in counterfeit and pirated goods could be so large, it might account for 2.5% of imports and exports worldwide, a report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU) has claimed. Released today, (April 18) ‘Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods: Mapping the Economic Impact’ has valued imported fake goods worldwide at USD461 billion in 2013, compared with total global imports of USD17.9 trillion.…

KNITWEAR manufacturers used to plan production a year in advance, but the advent of fast fashion has changed all that. Today, suppliers are being asked to supply goods in some cases weeks in advance of a product line going to market.…

New European Union (EU) legislation on veterinary medicines must increase innovation in the meat and livestock sector, Roxane Feller, secretary general of the International Federation of Animal Health (IFAH-Europe), has told GlobalMeatNews. Arguing that some of the proposed reforms to EU controls on veterinary medicine are too strict, Feller condemned “the current complex system” as burdensome and “contributing to a 20 per cent drop in the innovation rate and lower product availability, particularly for minor species and smaller countries.”…

French agriculture minister Stéphane Le Foll’s plan to boost transparency by sanctioning meat, livestock and other food firms that do not publish their annual results will not halt the decline in France’s agrofood sector, meat industry organisation ‘Culture viande’ said today (8 April).…

A COST of maintaining nuclear generation capacity of between 95 GWe and 105GWe in the European Union (EU) until 2050 and beyond will cost between EUR350 and EUR450 billion over the next 35 years, the European Commission has concluded. (That is between USD398 billion and USD511 billion at current exchange rates).…

THE ARAB Spring has certainly been a mixed blessing for North Africa, with political instability as common as progress towards democratisation, and the region’s paint sector has not been insulated from these changes. Sales have swung up and down, with North Africa’s economies performing unevenly as the Arab Spring’s political changes shake out.…

THE STABLE north African kingdom of Morocco is pushing ahead with plans to grow its automotive manufacturing industry, creating a lower-cost hub for supplying nearby wealthy European markets. Indeed, with the Strait of Gibraltar crossing between Morocco and Spain being just over eight miles wide, the Morocco government’s 2014-2020 industrial acceleration policy is clear – it wants to grow its auto sector fast.…

With the desire for packaging beauty being an integral part of north-east Asian consumer culture, it is perhaps no surprise that Japanese and South Korean cosmetics companies have led the way with compacts – whose popularity is spreading worldwide.

The ultimate combination of utility and design, when Japanese cosmetics companies start developing a new compact product, its packaging needs to meet two basic requirements: it has to delight the user with the way it looks, and it must be easy and convenient to use.…

THE COMMITTEE of European Sugar Users (CIUS) has called on the European Union (EU) to take urgent action to prevent EU confectionery and sweet bakery manufacturers facing a sugar supply crunch this summer. In a strongly worded message, the industry group has said that duties and levies should not be imposed on supplies of beet and cane sugar and the EU’s cane sugar ‘CXL’ duty should be scrapped immediately.…

THE EUROPEAN Association of Sugar Pro­ducers (CEFS) and the European Federation of Trade Unions in the Food, Agriculture and Tourism sectors (EFFAT) have called for the European Union (EU) to push for a global agreement ending all subsidies and other trade-distorting policies affecting the sugar sector.…

THE UNITED Arab Emirates’ (UAE) fragrance retail market (unisex and those targeted at female and male consumers) experienced healthy growth in 2015 compared to 2014, increasing 8% in value terms to reach Emirati Dirham AED2.23 billion (USD607.2 million), according to market researchers Euromonitor International.…

A proposed new European Union (EU) regulation governing the use of antibiotics on animals has been welcomed with caution by farmers, medical practitioners and medicinal suppliers, after MEPs backed the law yesterday (Wed Feb 17).

The European Parliament’s environment, public health and food safety committee backed beefed up measures designed to tackle the alarming growth of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) within livestock to anti-bacterials.…

Boxes are not known for their excitement, but personal care product companies are making secondary packaging more alluring by designing them to give consumers an enticing glimpse of the goods inside. They are also using their collective imaginations to create aesthetically desirable mixes of different materials and textures, maybe combining these with visually arresting spatial design.…

Considered a key player within the cosmetics market in north Africa, Morocco’s colour cosmetics sales holds a market estimated between MAD800 million (Moroccan dirhams) and MAD1 billion (between USD81 and USD102 million). This is according to London-based market research firm Euromonitor International’s Moroccan marketing analyst Houda Bennani.…

Chinese tourism is changing the locations where cosmetics are sold internationally – and also changing how corporations are marketing to a savvier and better travelled breed of Chinese consumers, according to a detailed research report by a Hong Kong investment bank.…

The Chilean chocolate market grow by almost 11% annually over the last four years to hit 2.4 kilogrammes annually per head during 2014, with Chile’s consumption overtaking Argentina for the first time, according to data from market analysts Nielsen. But while overall consumption is growing, Chileans are also becoming increasingly sophisticated in their tastes, which has given rise to a growing market for gourmet chocolates, both locally produced and imported.…

2015 was a significant year for Singapore and for its paints and coatings sector. The Asian city-state marked its 50th anniversary of independence, began work on a vast new shipping port and progressed with a new business district – all should keep the country’s paint manufacturers busy for years to come.…

Changing management styles is key the success of corporate gender diversity initiatives in the Gulf region and elsewhere, participants of a recent networking breakfast hosted by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) have concurred.

Entitled ‘Lead the Change: increasing gender diversity to boost performance’, the event was held on February 7 at the Shangri-La Dubai hotel and was attended by more than 60 CFOs and senior finance professionals.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed European Union (EU) legislation implementing the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) principles tabled last October by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD).

Indeed, its comprehensive package gold plates the BEPS rules in certain areas, adding new requirements that go beyond the OECD proposals, something that is of concern to Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation at ACCA.…

A European Parliament probe into the dieselgate scandal kicked off yesterday (March 2) with a row over how far the year-long probe should go in finger-pointing at the car industry. For the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the European Parliament’s largest political group, Latvian MEP Krišjānis Kariņš warned the new Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector (EMIS): “The EPP will do its utmost to prevent this committee from becoming what could be termed as a witch hunt either against industry or against diesel technologies where Europe has a competitive advantage in the world.”…

Activists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are locked in a battle with President Joseph Kabila’s administration over what they are describing as an attempt to extend his mandate beyond the official end of his second – and final – term in November.…

Experts have called at the European Parliament for updated regulations and a harmonisation of policies in each of the 28 European Union (EU) member states to address road safety concerns – notably new rules on cutting vehicle speed. They were speaking at a hearing entitled ‘Towards a European Road Safety Area’, held on Tuesday (Feb 16) by the parliament’s committee on transport and tourism.…

China has admitted in a new white paper that its nuclear emergency response mechanism is “inadequate” for coping with “new situations and challenges” arising from its nuclear power plants. And the document, issued by China’s State Council (effectively its cabinet) has admitted that the country is still lagging behind its nuclear power competitors regarding both technology and trained manpower.…

China pharmaceutical industry investors want to help sub-Saharan African countries meet growing domestic demand for medicine in return for tax breaks and private-public partnership initiatives. But there are difficulties – including product quality and standards issues that impede the flow of Chinese Yuan into African pharma production.…

The leading players in the French dairy industry have been given until mid-February to answer questions posed by the European Commission’s competition directorate general about a meeting last July (2015), which Brussels claims could have involved illegal collusion.

Indeed, the meeting preceded a recovery in a depressed price of milk in France, and the Commission has said it had been alerted by complainants into the possibility that there had been illegal price-fixing.…

Five years since the start of the Arab uprisings in 2011, instability is still impacting cosmetics sales in the Levant and north Africa. Last year saw a slight improvement on overall sales in 2014, the year the Islamic State spread through northern Iraq and Syria, but figures are down on 2013, and the growth projected in 2010, according to figures from market researcher Euromonitor International and estimates from cosmetics companies.…

The professional coaching sector is booming in the Middle East. Over the past decade the region has become increasingly interconnected in the global business system, and accordingly adopted international standards. This has driven the need for professional coaching and training. But with coaching modelled on US and European norms, there is a need for greater localisation, while more coaching accreditation is needed to develop further confidence in the fledgling sector.…

NEWLY trained medical graduates are now receiving degrees for studies completed within Mauritania, following an expansion of medicine higher education in this impoverished north-western Africa and largely desert country.

Mauritania has few doctors. Its 3.89 million people is served by just 0.12 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants, according to 2015 World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics.…

The European Commission is making preliminary inquiries to determine whether a full-blown investigation into alleged price-fixing in the French pork and beef markets is justified. A spokeswoman for the Commission’s competition directorate general said it had received complaints and was investigating.…

If the 2013 and 2014 were all about the rise of South Korean personal care product brands in China, then 2015 was the year that regional currency wars and weaker economic sentiment at home dictated how Chinese consumers spent on cosmetics and toiletries.…

A SUSTAINABLE garment-making firm in Cambodia has managed to revive the country’s centuries-old, long-forgotten tradition of making clothes out of fibres from Lotus flower stems. Moreover, it has successfully found a growing international niche market for its unique brand of clothes and fabric.…

In recent years, brands that source from textile and garments manufacturers in Asia have been targeted by bad publicity for everything from poor wages, long hours and dangerous exposure to chemicals and unsustainable use of water.
In response, they have tended not to work unilaterally but to sign up for either regional or international standards schemes, or co-operate on open platforms, where knowledge is shared.…

French luxury goods maker Kering has sued Chinese online wholesaler Alibaba over counterfeit sales of its brands, which include Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Puma. Kering alleges Alibaba makes it possible for US customers to order counterfeit goods such as Gucci watches in bulk from the online wholesaler’s different websites.…

IF a global poll was made on which countries are the world’s worst offenders for online piracy, Australia would probably be far from the top of the list. But the international media sector is worried about the amount of online piracy being undertaken in Australia and is taking action.…

The latest report from European Union (EU) police agency Europol report has revealed the true extent of “the complex reality” of counterfeit goods networks across Europe. But what are the latest scams and how successful has Europol been in tackling them?…

Best-selling Australian author and accounting historian Jane Gleeson-White sees accountants as potential revolutionaries with the power to save the planet. Now, there’s a thought.
They need to be creative, however. And while such tactics are generally associated with the mafia and corporate crooks, laundering the proceeds of drug cartels or squirrelling profits away from the view of the taxman, Gleeson-White, 54, challenges this perception.…

MONEY launderers are always looking for a new opportunity to clean dirty money, and have been exploiting sales of French vineyards for the purpose. Criminal networks have to this end leveraged a combination of a flagging domestic property market, increasing foreign interest in French property and wine, and a general ignorance among the real estate professional community about money laundering risks.…

GROUND power units (GPUs) are an increasing source of energy savings for Chinese airports as the country’s aviation sector works towards some exacting environmental targets. The Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC), has pledged to cut 2005 levels of energy consumption and emissions by 22% from the country’s aviation sector by 2020.…

HM REVENUE and Customs (HMRC) has asked the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) to provide it with the huge offshore finance data dump obtained from Panama-based legal firm Mossack Fonseca. Jennie Granger, the HMRC director general of enforcement and compliance said: “We will closely examine this data and will act on it swiftly and appropriately.”…

THE EXPANSION of Renault’s manufacturing operations in Algeria looks set to continue, providing new jobs in the north African nation, fuelling speculation about its strategic significance. The company has already created 250 direct jobs and 500 indirect jobs according to Guillaume Josselin, chief executive officer of Renault Algeria, through the opening last November 10 (2014) of a car manufacturing plant, based in the coastal city of Oran.…

The Australian government has raised bureaucratic and regulatory hurdles that impede foreign investors from sinking money into the country’s agribusinesses, leaving the local dairy sector torn between the desire for growth and respecting Australia’s need to secure its food supplies.
Foreign money flowing into Australian rural businesses “has got to be investment that serves our national interest.…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s budgetary control committee has called for more thorough checks on European Union (EU) institution and budget spending. In a detailed resolution, it noted that while the value of EU frauds has been falling, the number of scams has been increasing.…

THE RE-EXAMINATION of European Union (EU) market authorisations following concerns over clinical trials conducted by GVK Biosciences in Hyderabad, India, has sparked intense debate in Brussels.

A European Parliament hearing has heard comment and details about the recommendation from the European Medicine Agency’s committee for medicinal products for human use (CHMP) that some 800 forms and dosages of medicines approved in the EU be suspended.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has to cut import duties for bio feedstock such as sugar and bioethanol coming from the US to allow for a bio-polymer industry to grow in Europe, the executive director for industrial policy at the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) said yesterday.…

The Egyptian energy sector is facing numerous challenges in the immediate and long-term, mirroring how the country is struggling to secure political stability. Insufficient power supply is resulting in sporadic power cuts in the major cities, driving up sales of private generators.…

THE EUROPEAN Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has warned airlines to “exercise extreme caution if planning to fly into, out of, within or above Pakistan airspace,” because of increased risks of ground-based terrorist attacks on planes.

A EASA safety information bulletin cites a AIC France circular issued by DGAC-France requiring French operators not to fly in Pakistan airspace (OPLR – Lahore and FIR OPKR – Karachi) below flight level 240 (around 7,400 metres in altitude).…

TOILETRIES sales in the Arab Gulf countries remain robust, an oasis of economic and political stability in a turbulent Middle East. Elsewhere in the region, the ongoing conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and the rise of the Islamic State, has seen toiletries sales plummet.…

EGYPT’S USD1 billion cosmetics and perfume market – regulated and unregulated – has still to recover from the country’s 2011 revolution. Ongoing instability and weak economic growth has stymied a hoped-for robust rebound in sales. That said, demand is starting to pick up and the country’s large population of 85.5 million is making significant purchases of mass market toiletries.…

TEXTILE exports from Serbia to Russia have been increasing, as European Union (EU) exports fall amidst the continuing diplomatic standoff between Brussels and Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. The Serbian government has also been working to prevent EU exporters using Serbia as a backdoor conduit for textile re-exports to Russian markets, taking advantage of the 2000 Serbo-Russian free trade agreement.…

The challenge of maintaining the integrity and efficient operation of remote oil and gas pipelines under deep water will become more taxing in future. And their potential failure will cost companies more in commercial losses and in regulatory penalties, according to industry experts.…

As they looks at the rewards of shale gas production seen over recent years in the US, European producers are edging closer to commercial shale gas production. However, it faces a wide range of challenges, and the debate within Europe over shale gas is intensifying.…

IT is a truism to say that in the information age, knowledge is power. But it is undeniable that the better mobile operators know their customers, the more they can sell. France-based Astellia, the innovative telco technology partner, has been digging deep into how data collection and analysis can help mobile operators understand users.…

THE FACIAL skin care market in Chile has enjoyed double digit growth for over a decade, and is expected to continue expanding. Although this market is expected to grow at a slower rate this year, market research firm Canadean Ltd has forecast an average annual growth rate of 11% between 2013 and 2018.…

SERIOUS concerns were raised today at the European Parliament over the impending abolition of European Union (EU) milk production quotas, as dairy prices continue to fall. A special hearing on the future of the industry heard (on Tuesday January 27) how the sector had been taken by surprise in the past year by production increases and export market losses through Russia’s embargo.…

THE EFFECT of research and development tax incentives on commercial R&D expenditure is unclear, according to a weighty European Commission analysis – although its authors venture that the positive impact on start-up firms can be above average. The report benchmarks the 20 most effective schemes in the European Union (EU): a French tax credit for young innovative enterprises (Jeunes Entreprises Innovantes); Norway’s ‘SkatteFUNN’ tax credit; and Denmark’s ‘Accelerated amortisation’ scheme.…

The French motor trade is celebrating victory in a multi-year campaign to persuade the government to tighten up the procedures for payment of value-added-tax (VAT) on second-hand vehicles imported into France.  The French ministry of finance has proposed reforms to the government’s national budget for 2014 that would end a cross-border fraud estimated to have cost the country a billion euros through the sale of about 160,000  used autos in the past 10 years, depressing the market for new France-made and imported cars.…

CHINA’S huge cosmetics market remains a battleground for the world’s multinational personal care product players and they are still more than holding their own against local manufacturers and brands, especially in higher end segments.

The country’s overall cosmetics and personal care product market was worth Chinese Yuan Renminbi CNY274 billion (USD44 billion) in 2013, according to data provided by market analysts Euromonitor International.…

The Open University of Tanzania (OUT) is reaching out to higher education institutions in other neighbouring countries to establish collaborations that will encourage more foreign students to enroll for distance learning.
University vice chancellor Professor Tolly Mbwette said the institution’s board hoped to spread its influence regionally: “We are now the largest distance learning university in the region and our plan is to take distance learning to most countries in East Africa and those under the Southern African Development Community [SADC] by 2016.”…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) seems to have sparked a regulatory trend with its REACH chemical control system, with more and more countries in Asia adopting REACH-inspired chemical management laws. Thus textile finishing units, companies and suppliers will have to pay increasingly close attention to chemical regulations in Asia-Pacific countries such as China and South Korea.…

The mainland Chinese bathroom product market has in 2013 grown in value and volume at healthy year-on-year rates of 12.8% and 8.6% to USD2.7 billion and 3.06 billion units respectively. Canadean, the market research company producing these figures, attributes growing per capita consumption to rising incomes as well as the increased availability of products.…

The request was highly unusual. But, when the ambassador of Haiti to Canada heard that Montreal’s Mirabel airport was to be demolished, his thoughts turned to his country’s Cap Haïtien airport, which was undergoing large-scale renovation. The doomed airport’s equipment, he figured, would be of more use in Haiti than on the scrap-heap.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed changing the basis of intra-European Union (EU) VAT arrangements. It wants to shift away from the current system where VAT is charged in the country of supply, which Brussels regards as vulnerable to fraud. Instead, a consultation paper suggests charging VAT in the destination country of an intra-EU trade.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission’s response to Europe’s African swine fever (ASF) crisis was criticised at the European Parliament yesterday (Tuesday Oct 7) for being too weak. The disease has brought about considerable economic damage to Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, members of the parliament’s agriculture and rural development committee warned in Brussels.…

THE NEW European Commission of president Jean-Claude Juncker, which will take office for five years on November 1 is expected to be more political than its predecessors and certainly has a clear brief from its boss: more growth and jobs.

Juncker, a consummate European Union (EU) insider, a former president of the Eurogroup of Euro-zone finance ministers, and an ex-prime minister of his native Luxembourg, will use powerful vice-presidents to keep his team in line.…

FORMER French finance minister Pierre Moscovici has promised to push two existing European Union (EU) proposals on energy taxation and the creation of a common corporate tax base, once he starts work as the new European Union (EU) Commissioner for economic and financial affairs, taxation and customs.…

EVERY five years, a new European Commission is appointed with the supposed aim of renewing the energy and impetus of the European Union (EU). What are the implications for the fight against commercial crime? Keith Nuthall and Méabh Mc Mahon report from Brussels.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) finance ministers agreed at an EU economic and finance ministers (ECOFIN) meeting on the scope of the long-threatened ‘financial transaction tax’, and 11 governments pledged to reach an agreement on its details by the end of the year.…

European Union (EU) wine harvest volumes for 2014 have dropped by almost 10% from last year, a news conference in Brussels heard today (Friday). Speaking at the headquarters of the European farmers and their cooperatives lobby, Copa-Cogeca, French wine producer Thierry Coste said this year’s harvest may only reach 157.7 million hectare litres (hl), some 9.9% less than last year.…

For international dairy exporters, India remains an attractive destination, but they face serious challenges related to supply chain and distribution networks. “For an international company to come in and start from scratch, [it] has to struggle with the portfolio, procurement and distribution,” said Siva Nagarajan, managing director of Mother Dairy Fruits & Vegetables Ltd, owned by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB): It would take at least 10 years to build such a network, he told just-food.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the full acquisition of the Belgian ground handling company Aviapartner by the French management fund HIG European Capital Partners SAS. Aviapartner is currently present at 35 airports in five European countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, where it specialises in ramp and passenger services, cargo handling and freight related services.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved public subsidy investments into three airports in Germany (Dortmund, Leipzig/Halle and Niederrhein-Weeze) and three in France (Angoulême, Pau Pyrénées and Nîmes). In all cases, it found government-related financial injections were in line with European Union (EU) state aid rules.…

A NEW European Commission nominated to hold office for the next five years has been told by its incoming president that it must increase transparency and avoid any hint of sleaze.

With fraud against the European Union (EU) institutions still costing taxpayers millions of Euros and the record of the outgoing Barroso Commission marred by the Dalli affair, nominated Commissioners have been told their “conduct must be unimpeachable.”…

THE CONCLUSION of a Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) currently being negotiated between the European Union (EU) and the US could have serious adverse consequences for the EU suckler cows sector, European experts claim. A new study presented yesterday (Wednesday) in the European Parliament in Brussels argues US-sourced beef imports could increase in volume and fall in price.…

A RESEARCH project that has received EUR7 million in funding from the European Commission is working to bring more environmentally-friendly processes in the mainstream of the cosmetics industry in Europe. The OPTIBIOCAT (Optimised esterase biocatalysts for cost-effective industrial production) project, which began in 2013, wants to replace resource and energy-intensive chemical processes currently used in the cosmetics industry with less intensive ones, based on enzymes.…

A move by China this summer to drop the requirement for compulsory testing of some types of cosmetics has been applauded by animal rights activists in Beijing. “China is become more caring for animals…it shows that officials also have dogs and cats,” said Wang Ping, the head of the Tuanjiehu branch of the Small Animals Protection Association, an increasingly active, government-sanctioned national movement for animal rights.…

Product lifecycle management (PLM) systems help apparel companies share information more efficiently and plan for future lines more accurately as time-to-market shrinks.

Software such as the WFX Cloud PLM helps speed up companies’ processes from product concept and design to delivery at stores, said Jatin Paul, CEO of WFX (World Fashion Exchange).…

EDITOR’s NOTE: Proceedings area active and Contempt of Court applies. This version is safe.

A JUDICIAL hearing is scheduled for September 9 in London after the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) charged the UK subsidiary of French engineering group Alstom with fraud and conspiracy to corrupt.…

Chinese construction firms have cornered plenty of business in Africa and Latin America, but they need upskilling to consolidate their position. Anyone who observes the queues of nervous young men lining up in the early morning in Beijing’s tree-lined Sanlitun diplomatic district will be in no doubt of the intensity of Chinese activity in Africa and Latin America.…

Caribbean jurisdictions may be increasingly signing up to the requirements of America’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) but there is no great enthusiasm about it. Indeed, some bankers fear it could lead to a sharp fall in the region’s charms for investors.…

THE LATEST European Commission annual report on European Union (EU) anti-fraud measures has highlighted concerns that member states may be doing far too little to detect EU-related financial crime. Keith Nuthall reports.

A 2013 Report on the Protection of the EU’s Financial Interests noted that some member states reported “very low numbers of fraudulent irregularities” – but the Commission does not believe this is because they are clean.…

FRENCH pharmaco Servier and five generics producers have been fined EUR427.7 million by the European Commission over anti-competitive deals. Brussels says Niche/Unichem, Matrix (now part of Mylan), Teva, Krka and Lupin agreed to protect Servier’s bestselling blood pressure medicine, perindopril, from price competition by generics in the European Union (EU).…

THE LATEST European Commission annual report on European Union (EU) anti-fraud measures has highlighted concerns that member states may be doing far too little to detect EU-related financial crime.
Brussels’ 2013 Report on the Protection of the EU’s Financial Interests noted that some member states reported “very low numbers of fraudulent irregularities”.…

Regulators participating in the International Cooperation on Cosmetics Regulation (ICCR) met in Ottawa, Canada for their annual meeting (July 8 – 10) to discuss how member countries could better harmonise regulatory requirements and standards, promoting trade, among their cosmetics and personal care industries.…

THE MARKET for perfume and other scents in Asia is developing fast in most of the continent, especially in emerging markets, where consumers are using their new purchasing power to explore new tastes and brands.
To some extent, perfume has been lagging behind colour cosmetics and skincare, which have been targeted by the bigger brands as products likely to be regarded as affordable luxuries in the masstige market segments.…

AN INFLUX of big-brand café and convenience retail chains is whetting China’s appetite for sweet bakery, including in smaller cities. Brands are diversifying and moving upmarket, offering coffee and seating.

Take Beijing’s Beixinqiao, in the city’s older quarter, a busy intersection of residential blocks and a hub for restaurants and youth-focused fashion stores.…

A SINGLE global standard for automatic information exchange (AIE) between tax authorities worldwide is in the final stages of preparation by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD). G20 finance ministers will consider it in September before sanctioning its implementation.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) confectionery sector was one of Europe’s major export earners in 2013, with the latest EU trade data showing that Euro EUR3.6 billion’s worth of chocolate, confectionery and ice cream was sold outside the EU last year.

Overseas chocolate sales were particularly impressive, rising 8.2% year-on year, rising to EUR31 million in 2013.…

Experts at an international Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) meeting yesterday (June 26) warned that developed world clothing companies implementing international ethical standards when investing in Myanmar would probably compete with Asian companies who ignore such guidance.

Participants at the Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct (June 26-27) in Paris discussed how the OECD’s ‘guidelines for multinational enterprises,’ which includes responsible business conduct could promote responsible investment in Burma.…

US-based Baker & Taylor and Canada-based Whitehots Inc have agreed to cooperate in offering Canadian libraries and schools a one-stop, cloud-based platform to acquire and distribute print and digital material. “What was missing in the [Canadian] market was a Canadian company that was able to sell both print and digital materials to Canadian public and school libraries,” said Russ Culver, CEO of Whitehots.…

Switzerland-based Nestlé is to further develop its personal care products following its planned acquisition of sole ownership over Galderma, its joint venture with L’Oréal. The European Commission cleared Nestlé to acquire sole control of Galderma on May 5. Galderma manufactures, markets and sells products including shampoos, soaps, bath, shower and skin care lines, noted a Commission statement. …

Global technology analysts Gartner Inc is well known for its articulated predictions. An announcement in January 2014 to accompany its report on ‘Predicts 2014: The Rise of the Postmodern ERP and Enterprise Applications World’, highlighted the complex, and at times conflicting scenario facing companies considering moving their enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to the cloud.…

PORCINE epidemic diarrhoea (PED) killed around 150,000 young pigs in Taiwan from October last year to this February, causing pork prices to reach a 10-year high in the country. With local elections due in November, the government has been speaking out about alleged price gouging, while at the same time loosening import controls for European pork; after approval in March, a first shipment of 400 tonnes of frozen pork from France is expected to arrive in late May.…

THE CHINA representative of France pigmeat association INAPORC has welcomed an agreement between the Chinese and French governments that should enable French processed pigmeat products to be exported to China.

Until now, while France has been able to export fresh and frozen pigmeat (and some by-products such as pigs’ trotters and ears) to China, Beijing has blocked imports of processed products such as raw and cooked ham, dry and cooked sausage.…

ONE of the warmest fibres used in knitwear across the world is also – unsurprisingly – one of the rarest and most expensive, making the manufacturing of ‘qiviuk’ garments from musk ox wool a true art. Harvested from the soft underfur of this High Arctic musk ox, qiviuk fibre is long, does not shrink when washed and lacks the scales that makes sheep wool itchy.…

FINLAND’S Stallhagen brewery is recreating French beer found aboard an 1840s shipwreck in the Baltic Sea in 2010 (along with 145 champagne bottles). The company will sell 2,000 0.6-litre bottles of Stallhagen Historic Beer 1842 (approx abv 4.5%) brewed by a specialist team at Hogeschool Gent, Belgium, who developed a recipe based on five French beer bottles found on the wreck, which includes a wild yeast ingredient.…

UKRAINE manufacturers of plastics and plastic products exporting to the European Union (EU) could benefit from the planned scrapping of import duties charged on products traded between them. With the Ukraine government on March 21 signing a political agreement cementing closer links with the EU, the European Commission has released details of proposals to remove tariffs on goods traded between the EU and Ukraine.…

Concerns are growing about the potential impact of reforms to Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG – Erneuerbare Energien Gesetz) on the country’s cogeneration sector. On April 8, (2014) the German federal government proposed a bill amending the EEG, following the tabling of an initial plan about potential reforms in January.…

AUSTRIA

The location of ECC Austria in central Vienna means many consumers drop by to receive advice or lodge complaints in person with the ECC’s five staff members. A top priority in 2013 was increasing public awareness about e-commerce fraud; a brochure aimed at combatting the problem was published and more than 600,000 were distributed throughout Austria.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the payment of Euro EUR12.3 million investment aid by French national, regional and local governments to help redevelop Marseille Provence airport in southern France. Brussels said subsidies for restructuring the airport (EUR3.6 million), developing freight services (EUR1.5 million) and building a low cost terminal (EUR7.2 million) were legal under European Union (EU) state aid rules.…

THE LVMH Group has strengthened its position in the luxury clothing segment by acquiring a majority stake in one the world’s most exclusive luxury brands, Italy’s Loro Piana. All relevant regulatory approvals were secured by December 2013, including the unconditional merger clearance by the European Commission.…

THE CARIBBEAN is maybe the most culturally diverse region in the world and this has been reflected in its colourful, tasty and varied cuisine. So it is no surprise that the region’s confectionery sector is innovative, drawing on unusual combinations of ingredients that create tasty products that could serve as inspiration for companies around the world.…

NORDIC nonwoven companies Suominen, Ahlstrom and Fibertex are fast emerging from the post-2008 economic downturn fitter and leaner. This follows five years of cost-cutting and market re-alignment projects that included unit divestments, strategic acquisitions, and increased use of automation to reduce costs and strengthen profitability.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) should be securing complete deregulation in EU markets that are already competitive, the CEO of Deutsche Telekom Tim Höttges said in Brussels yesterday (Tuesday). Referring to the European Commission’s recent connected continent proposals for revamping Europe’s electronic communications sector DT’s new boss was speaking at the European Competition Forum – an annual European Commission-staged meeting of senior policy makers and business executives that aims to stimulate debate on EU competition policy.…

Personal care product multinationals have long been known for their eagerness to invest in China, even during the recent global recession. That is why the decision by two renowned PCP companies to retreat from China in the past month is so remarkable.…

THE BEST packaging always seems to be an integral part of a product – indeed for personal care product consumers, the appearance of a container can be why they make a purchase. So for brands, making packaging decorations and finishing seem to melt into a product can be or critical importance.…

THE FRENCH government has welcomed an agreement between the German Food and Allied Workers Union (NGG) and the employers group ANG to introduce a minimum wage structure for the approximately 80,000 employees of the German meat industry.

French farm minister Stephane le Foll said that following the deal the expected the Germany good industry to return to “more balanced competition with its European partners.”…

Canada’s higher education sector has welcomed a comprehensive strategy released by the Canadian government for recruiting more foreign students into its institutions.

Announcing a new International Education Strategy on Wednesday (Jan 15), the country’s international trade minister Ed Fast accepted that Canada could profit more from the lucrative global international student market.…

THE INSULATION of heated livestock buildings and replacing soya with rapeseed in animal feed are some of the measures livestock farmers can use to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a European Parliament workshop heard this week (Tuesday) in Brussels.

“About 40% of the total GHG emissions of agriculture in France come from methane from ruminants and their manure,” Dr Sylvain Pellerin, research director at the French National Agriculture Research Centre (INRA) told members of the European Parliament (MEPs).…

THE USE of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags in the food and drink sector might have grown exponentially in the past 10 years, but the technology is likely to become even more ubiquitous worldwide. UK-based retailers and pioneers in the use of the technology Marks & Spencer and Tesco can now chalk up a decade of experience in the use of RFID, from distribution centre (DC) operations right through to retail floor item-level tagging.…

THE TAIWAN textile dyeing and finishing sectors have never quite recovered from the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) abolition of global textile quotas in 2005. It resulted in the closure of many stand-alone units by making their labour-intensive manufacturing processes on the relatively wealthy island uncompetitive.…

EASTERN and central Europen markets for biocosmetics are a key growth area for personal care product companies, with some markets growing and others relatively untapped.

The region’s largest country, Poland (38 million people) is witnessing sales of bio-cosmetics surging at rates of 10% to 30% annually, according to producers and distributors.…

BY LEE ADENDORFF

THE USE of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags in the food and drink sector might have grown exponentially in the past 10 years, but the technology is likely to become even more ubiquitous worldwide. UK-based retailers and pioneers in the use of the technology Marks & Spencer and Tesco can now chalk up a decade of experience in the use of RFID, from distribution centre (DC) operations right through to retail floor item-level tagging.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AS the electronic communications sector becomes ever more complex – with telcos adding Internet and content-based services to their voice and text – providing customer care can be increasingly demanding.

It can be expensive and unwieldy when care is delivered through traditional call centre models: major telcos can easily employ 15,000 people to help users deal with technical, operational and billing problems.…

BY JENS KASTNER, in Taipei

THE TAIWAN textile dyeing and finishing sectors have never quite recovered from the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) abolition of global textile quotas in 2005. It resulted in the closure of many stand-alone units by making their labour-intensive manufacturing processes on the relatively wealthy island uncompetitive.…

AS the electronic communications sector becomes ever more complex – with telcos adding Internet and content-based services to their voice and text – providing customer care can be increasingly demanding.

It can be expensive and unwieldy when care is delivered through traditional call centre models: major telcos can easily employ 15,000 people to help users deal with technical, operational and billing problems.…

CANADA is making it easier for foreign nurses, including from Britain, to apply for licences by harmonising diverse requirements from its 10 provinces and three territories. This is the key goal of a National Nursing Assessment Service (NNAS) (http://www.nnas.ca/), set to launch August.…

THE FINAL investment deal on piping gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz II field has been struck, confirming Europe will receive 10 billion cubic metres (bcm) annually from 2019. The gas will be shipped via the upgraded South Caucasus Pipeline through Georgia and the new TANAP pipeline across Turkey, linking with the planned Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) through Greece and Albania to Italy.…

EVEN if the heated political debate over the reform of the European Union’s (EU) common agricultural policy (CAP) has cooled off in Brussels after the final agreement reached in September, the European Commission is still thrashing out the practical rules on how the policy will be implemented.…

WINNERS AND LOSERS

RETAIL

WINNERS

ASOS

Fashion retailer ASOS showed online convenience and price are still a winning combination with shoppers. The UK-based online retailer continued its impressive trajectory this year, announcing pre-tax profit had reached GBP54.7m (US$88.3m) for the year ending 31 August, compared to GBP40m in the same period of last year, with retail sales jumping 40% to GBP753.8m, up from GBP537.9m last year. …

THE GOVERNMENT of Québec has confirmed it will table legislation in the New Year expected to limit discounts on new books to 10%. And while the move would address an important challenge facing independent booksellers, it would hurt the sector in general, said the Canadian bookselling industry.…

A EUROPEAN Union-funded ‘BETITEX’ research project has brought together a consortium of 10 partners to develop protective, biodegradable textiles that can kill ticks and bedbugs. The Euro EUR1.5 million (USD2.06 million) project will focus on developing personal protective equipment for small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and also “domestic use in the form of home linen,” according to a European Commission note.…

A SENIOR official within an organisation charged with increasing European textile exports to Russia has told WTiN.com that Russia’s 2012 accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has created real opportunities for European manufacturers to score Russian sales.

Igor Salomakhin, head of the Moscow liaison office of the Russia-Europe Textile Alliance (RETA), has told WTiN that it is helping a growing number of European textile businesses expand their sales in Russia by helping establish direct contact with new customers in Russia.…

Cameco – Canada’s leading uranium producer – has given a cautious welcome to the prospect of eased restrictions on European investment in Canada’s uranium industry as part of the recently agreed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union (EU).…

Battle lines have been drawn across the international palm oil industry as its companies prepare to comply with the incoming European Union (EU) food information regulation No 1169/2011, which comes into force from December 13, 2014, and requires product labels to list types of vegetable oil used in food.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the payment of a French government subsidy of Euro EUR150 million to Société Aéroports du Grand Ouest to help fund a planned relocation of Nantes Atlantique Airport in western France. The subsidiary of the Vinci group, a France-based transport specialist, plans to build a new airport at Notre-Dame-des-Landes, 20km north of Nantes.…

The ongoing investigation into Swedish telecoms group TeliaSonera’s involvement in suspected money laundering (ML) and bribery in Uzbekistan has prompted a fresh push by government to introduce tougher reporting rules for a broader range of ML offences in 2014.

Significantly, the new measures will give law enforcement agencies greater powers of arrest and asset seizures where money laundering is suspected.…

THE INCREASING complexity of mobile telecommunications networks and the companies that operate them highlights why telcos should leverage their user and performance data to optimise service. But with companies having to operate second and third generation services while rolling-out LTE 4G systems, this optimisation planning is no simple task, especially as it also has to include boosting monetisation while keeping customers happy with core services.…

WHETHER improved transparency in clothing supply chains will be enough to guarantee a sustainable future for outsourcers in south Asia remains to be seen, but a conference staged in Sri Lanka last week (Oct 10) heard plenty of calls for improved openness.…

French luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has told the European Commission of the benefits that would flow from its planned merger with Italian cashmere giant Loro Piana. In a filing to Brussels designed to encourage it to grant competition approval, LVMH said the deal will help “capitalise on their shared philosophy for exceptional craftsmanship, creativity and long-term vision and commitment to build up noteworthy synergies, to the benefit of consumers.”…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) food and feed safety rapid alert network (RASFF) has warned of continued detections of salmonella contamination of imported meat and meat products across Europe. In most instances, consignments were exported from other EU member states. It reported six salmonella meat contamination cases between October 21 and 24 for instance.…

THE SCALE of the European Union (EU) market access secured for Canadian meat exporters within the free trade agreement struck between the EU and Canada has been made clear by the the Canadian government. It yesterday (Wednesday) revealed details of the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), announced October 18.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) scientific committee on consumer safety has concluded that henna is safe as a hair dye, probably thwarting a request from French health authorities that henna be tested on animals. This is now generally illegal in the EU under the revised cosmetics directive, and such tests must be approved by the European Commission, when alternative methods are not available and there is a real health risk.…

EXPORT refunds paid by the European Union (EU) to bovine livestock exporters, ahead of a suspension of these subsidies last September (2012), were dwindling and dominated by four countries, the latest data from the European Commission has revealed.

Brussels paid out Euro EUR5.7 million on such sales in 2012, said the Commission, down from EUR9.6 million in 2011, and around EUR10 million in 2008 and 2009 (EUR8.6 million was paid out in 2010).…

SOFTWARE solutions specifically designed for the knitwear industry can save time and money while moving products from design to production more quickly.

Paris headquartered Pointcarré International is a leader in computer aided design (CAD), its innovative Pointcarré knit software and its various modules being used by major brands such as Ralph Lauren, Hot Sox, K.…

A WORKSHOP held last week (Friday September 6th) to hear the views of interested parties on the conflicts of interest (COI) policies of the European Medicines Agency (EMA)has left the agency with a slew of sometimes conflicting opinions as it ponders the next step forward.…

REPRESENTATIVES of regions from France and Sweden have asked the European Commission to take into account major differences between regional airports in Europe which can receive public support to operate under its revised state aid guidelines.

Under the new rules, expected to be passed in January, airports with under 3 million passengers per year could receive public operational subsidies for up to 10 years, but afterwards they would have to survive on market-based revenues.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has ordered France and Britain to repay Euro EUR2.1 million in European Union (EU) livestock subsidies that its officials have decided were misspent. The orders follow investigations by Brussels that identified deficiencies in how French authorities verify the eligibility criteria for paying EU sheep premiums, resulting in a demand that the French government recover EUR1.335 million from French sheep farmers.…

THE INSURANCE risks involved in oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) are rising in line with growing industry complexity and the move into deeper, remoter and more environmentally sensitive environments.

This is placing ever greater demands on the need to identify, quantify and insure against risk, particularly when the financial and reputational repercussions of getting it wrong are escalating too.…

THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) is lending Euro EUR140 million to Aéroports de Lyon, so the French operator can build a new passenger terminal at Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport. The money will also finance the reconfiguration of existing terminals and aprons to increase their handling capacity.…

When Australia’s recently deposed Prime Minister Julia Gillard decided to announce that there was to be a challenge in the ruling Labor Party on her leadership, she did it in a one-to-one interview with Sky News Australia – and not with ABC 24 News, Australia’s publicly-funded, round-the-clock news channel.…

Although it has been the subject of intense speculation over recent years, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tagging has fulfilled many of the predictions made by industry forecasters more than 10 years ago, when pilots of wide scale deployment by giant department store retailers began.…

FRANCE and Japan have two of the world’s most powerful personal care product sectors, but their companies fare quite differently when trying to sell into each other’s markets. The glamour of the French industry is a strong calling card in Japan, while Japanese manufacturers must work harder to persuade French consumers to buy their wares because of their technical excellence.…

WITH Europe’s economy still struggling to deal with the fall-out of the global financial crisis, its co-generation sector has had to fight to expand, or in some cases hold its position. Tightening national government budgets have meant that the co-gen industry has had to argue persuasively for public subsidies and tax breaks, or even the right to have equal treatment with renewable energies.…

MOBILE communication services have become a significant focus for airports worldwide regarding improving passenger experience, especially as the use of interconnected smart devices has boomed. Airports have been building on previous services, such as improving and expanding their wireless internet coverage and working with airlines to allow for flight check-ins via mobile communication devices.…

THE RUSSIAN market for technical textiles is developing steadily, with the government seeing this as a growth area serving increasing local demand while it looks for a way to kick start a traditional textile industry that has been stagnating in recent years.…

the fanfare that greeted Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union (EU), there was little expectation that membership would eradicate corruption overnight. Six years on, major corruption scrutiny bodies appear to have come to a predictable conclusion: that Bulgaria has made substantial efforts to clean out some of the worst elements of corruption, but there is plenty left to do.…

PERSONAL care product market in the Middle East can be divided into two current trends: sales in the affluent Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are booming, while on the other side of the region, in the Levant, markets are feeling the effects of the Syrian conflict, with the loss of tourists and low consumer confidence impacting bottom lines.…

In Paris, traffic is managed jointly by the city’s administration and its police prefecture, (part of the interior ministry). The city of Paris’ directorate for roads and travel (the direction de la voirie et des déplacements) is in charge of the traffic management infrastructure such as road signs, traffic lights and other traffic markings, according to the directorate’s spokeswoman, Marie-Emmanuelle Leblan.…

As befits a country as connected online as South Korea traffic controls in its capital Seoul are organised centrally and in an integrated way. As one of the world’s largest cities, with a population exceeding 10 million, Seoul has notoriously heavy traffic.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has released documents showing that it wants the US to ban future export restrictions on selling energy products raw materials to the European Union (EU), during negotiations for the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. This would be the world’s largest bilateral trade deal.…

THESE are brighter days for oil and gas technology entrepreneurs as investors ranging from business angels through venture capitalists, private equity firms and the corporate venture wings of exploration and production (E&P) majors show renewed appetite to back bright ideas with global applications.…

One of the world’s most successful student exchange programmes found itself under fire at a conference on international curricula in Brussels last week. The Erasmus project which is responsible for placing abroad some 230,000 students each year was said to be reaching its limits and the supply of applicants has stopped growing.…

While the European horsemeat scandal and a fresh Asian avian flu epidemic has dented public confidence in meat and livestock safety, Bernard Vallat, director general of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has stressed recent victories in the global battle for disease control.…

EUROPEAN Commission proposed in Strasbourg today (Tues) updates on the four regulations which govern the Single European Sky (SES), trying to push European Union (EU) member countries to implement long-overdue air traffic control reforms.

One proposed amendment would insist that national supervisory air traffic control (ATC) authorities should be completely separated from the organisations providing ATC organisations in all EU countries to increase oversight and safety, Brussels said today.…

EUROPEAN Commission proposed in Strasbourg today (Tues) updates on the four regulations which govern the Single European Sky (SES), trying to push European Union (EU) member countries to implement long-overdue air traffic control reforms.

One proposed amendment would insist that national supervisory air traffic control (ATC) authorities should be completely separated from the organisations providing ATC organisations in all EU countries to increase oversight and safety, Brussels said today.…

AN AGREEMENT reached this week (Wednesday) between the European Union (EU) institutions on the reform of the Common Agriculture policy (CAP) will scrap the existing system of wine planting rights at the end of 2015, European Commission officials have told just-drinks.…

BIOMETRICS technologies producing voice and phone ‘fingerprints’ to prevent, detect and prosecute fraud and other crimes are evolving rapidly in an arms race between fraudsters, law enforcement, private companies and private sector anti-fraud companies.

For forensics, many jurisdictions admit voice biometrics in evidence.…

may be a big concept, but the road to making personal care product packaging greener is made of small incremental steps that can both provide green marketing benefits and reduce costs.

Recent innovations include reducing the size of containers, while maintaining the volume of product they hold, alongside innovations in using renewable resources and keeping packaging waste out of landfills.…

SUSTAINABILITY may be a big concept, but the road to making personal care product packaging greener is made of small incremental steps that can both provide green marketing benefits and reduce costs.

Recent innovations include reducing the size of containers, while maintaining the volume of product they hold, alongside innovations in using renewable resources and keeping packaging waste out of landfills.…

1. THE FRENCH government will propose amendments to the draft European Union (EU) directive on non-financial business reporting tabled by the European Commission on April 16, Robin Edme, senior adviser for responsible finance at the French ministry for sustainable development, ecology and energy told an event organised by ACCA in the European Parliament on June 4.

EUROPEAN biofuel industry knew it was in for a rough ride when the European Commission announced last October that it would stop subsiding food-based biofuels from 2020 and support the production of secondary biofuels based on waste matter and algae. But maybe it was not prepared for how the European Parliament would try to amend the proposals by introducing regulatory distinctions between types of biofuels that discriminate against biodiesel.…

THE INDIAN Ocean island state of Mauritius has a good reputation within Africa for effective financial regulation. But the country has been criticised recently for excessive banking secrecy and it has been exposed to some high profile fraud. As a result, its anti-money laundering (AML) regulators will have to work hard to ensure Mauritius maintains its good name as Africa’s Mr Clean in AML terms.…

Greece – the Olympian challenge

Hercules may have succeeded in cleaning the Augean stables but the mythic hero would surely have shaken his head at the state of the Greek parliament, labouring to implement austerity measures against a backdrop of corrosive corruption and widespread tax evasion.…

A joint meeting of national and European parliamentarians (MEPs) in Brussels last week (Tuesday 7^th May) lambasted European Union (EU) member governments for foot-dragging in the fight against organised crime and money laundering in particular.

“The information exchange between authorities across the continent is abysmal.…

By Kaci Racelma, in Tizi Ouzou, Algeria; and Paul Cochrane, in Beirut 

This article appeared last March (2012) in Commercial Crime International, a specialist title run by the International Chamber of Commerce. It foreshadowed the Islamist-related unrest and rebellion that actually occurred later in Mali and Algeria….

COMMERCIAL crime may not be as omnipresent in North Africa as in some other parts of the world, but companies operating in the region have risks to contend with. Corruption is rife, smuggling across the borders with Sub-Saharan countries is a major activity, and terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) are in the ascendancy. Kaci Racelma and Paul Cochrane take a detailed look at these problems.

 “CORRUPTION is systemic in all of the Maghreb, and not likely to change,” said Dr Geoff Porter, a political risk and security consultant specialising in North Africa. “We’ll have to see what happens in Tunisia. It was a cesspool of corruption under the previous government and while the new one seems to have a zero tolerance policy to corruption, it has not been in power long enough to gauge its effectiveness,” said Dr Porter, founder of US-based North Africa Risk Consulting.…

SUMMER 2013 marks an important milestone in the evolution of the European Union (EU) regulatory framework and financial support for Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E) that will contribute towards the European Commission’s goal of a single-energy market for gas and electricity. Oil and carbon dioxide (CO2) transport from carbon capture and storage systems also figure in the picture.…

ENVIRONMENTAL concerns and market demands for higher quality are prompting Indian technical textile manufactures to switch to modern dyeing machines imported from Europe, industry players have stressed at a New Delhi conference.

“Many companies are acquiring machines from [Italy’s] Obem, [Germany’s] Thies and Loris Bellini,” also of Italy, said Shashi Kant Gaur, general manager of Ludhiana-based fibre dyeing and spinning yarns manufacturer Yogindera Worsted Limited, “people are more confident with the European technology”.…

SUCCESSION issues are a significant and growing challenge for companies and could be an opportunity for qualified accountants who may step up internally or be drafted in to even become the next CEO or CFO.

“Many businesses spend very little time, if any, thinking through who will lead the various aspects of their business in the future,” said Karen Young, a director for the senior finance section of global recruitment experts Hays, and whose remit includes qualified accountancy jobs including finance director, financial controller, management accountant, financial accountant, or practice accounting.…

French branded food giant Danone has introduced a second infant formula brand to China, targeting its soaring imported infant formula demand. Aside from maternity stores, Danone has made Nutrilon available at Tmall, a business-to-consumer site run by China’s largest online shopping platform Taobao. …

Given their rapid evolution over recent years, it is difficult to predict where ERP and PLM will be a few years from now. Global giants such as Siemens, SAP and Oracle are likely to continue their dominance of the overall ERP and PLM markets, but there is a possibility they will lose increasing market share to specialist solution providers for the apparel industry.…

THE ANNUAL conference of the European University Association (EUA) has debated how rankings systems need to become more sophisticated benchmarks as the higher education system worldwide becomes more internationalised.

Speaking to University World News after last week’s event in Ghent, Belgium, Ms Lesley Wilson, the EUA’s Secretary General, said that while “everyone has a different view” about rankings, they need to deliver sophisticated benchmarking systems with which institutions will be able to compare themselves against other learning bodies.…

A new report on global university rankings by the European Universities Association (EUA)  confirms what most HE heads will have known or suspected for some time: the dramatic growth in the number and scope of rankings tables in recent years has begun to shape the actual ways in which higher education is now developing world-wide.…

THE CHINESE government has been told by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to reform anti-dumping duties imposed on exports into China of x-ray security inspection equipment made in the European Union (EU). A WTO disputes panel found that some calculations made by China’s commerce ministry when setting the duties breached the WTO’s anti-dumping agreement.…

WITH mobile communication service providers facing an increasingly complex but growing market, they are being offered a range of third party services to help navigate a path to maximum profitability in this new commercial world. And with consumers using multiple devices and switching between data, video and voice, it is useful not only to be supplied software systems that helps make sense of this communications Babel, but to be advised and helped along the way.…

WITH AREVA celebrating 30 years of operations in China in 2013 its head of operations in the country is hoping for an expansion of joint ventures as well as overseas collaboration with Chinese partners in uranium sourcing.

Speaking in Beijing, Rémy Autebert, senior executive vice-president for Asia, explained how he hopes to see a doubling in the number of joint ventures with Chinese partners, from the company’s current four.…

POLITICAL battle-lines are being drawn over the oncoming debates at the European Parliament and the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers on the shape of the revised tobacco products directive. While formal amendments have yet to be proposed, preliminary discussions are giving the industry a good idea of the challenges to be faced over the coming months.…

Money laundering takes place in the arts world and much of it at auctions, only the arts world doesn’t like to talk about it much. And anti-money laundering (AML) experts understand the methods used. At a Paris conference held last February (2012) by the Syndicat National des Antiquaires (the French national union of antique dealers) the director of the l’Institut de Criminologie de Paris, Philippe Conte, explained how launderers would put a work up for auction, to be bought by an accomplice in cash using dirty money.…

European steel industry representatives have asked the European Commission and the European Union (EU) member states for help dealing with critical issues impeding the sector such as high energy costs, climate change adaptation and production capacity issues. Convened together in a High-Level Roundtable on Steel, a high-level meeting organised today by EU industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani, the group released a series of recommendations on how to improve the EU steel sector’s performance.…

TRANSLITERATION and translation have become inescapable challenges for financial institutions and other companies striving to comply with international sanctions.

Precise identification of a sanctions target named in a foreign language is often difficult, but is essential for efficient screening of transactions that should be controlled or blocked in line with blacklists issued by national authorities (and the European Union (EU)), and those based on the comprehensive list issued by the United Nations (UN) Security Council.…

MEMBERS of the European Parliament’s public health and food safety committee asked last night for horsemeat supplies within the European Union (EU) to be subjected to better traceability requirements because of the ongoing labelling scandal. “We have very strict rules on the traceability of bovines, and we need better traceability of horsemeat,” said an Irish member of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) Mairead McGuinness speaking during a debate at the parliament’s Brussels building.…

WHILE it is always sensible to handle reports emerging from North Korea with care, it appears undeniable that the country does manufacture cosmetics and other personal care products and could, if current hopes of liberalisation are ultimately realised, become a new market for international players.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) confectionery manufacturers and their suppliers stand to boost their export sales and reduce import costs with the launch of talks to forge the two largest bilateral trade deals ever sought by the EU – with the USA and Japan.…

DESPITE China’s slowing economy in 2012, Chinese consumers still spent handsomely on beauty products. In December alone, for example, spending on cosmetics and personal care products (such as personal soaps, shampoo and toothpastes) increased 16% and 16.6% respectively from the same time a year ago, compared with 8.7% for clothing and 3.6% for jewelry, according to the China Nation Commercial Information Center, a Beijing-based government organisation tracking national retail statistics.…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s internal market committee yesterday (Wednesday) proposed giving trainee nurses the right to have their experience recognised across the European Union (EU). A current proposed European Union (EU) directive would offer mutual professional recognition rights mainly to EU qualified nurses, helping them work in any EU member state.…

THE BIDDING for a contract to expand Temelín nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic is approaching decision time, with the winner of the four-year long tender process to be chosen in 2013. Worth USD10 billion, the contract represents the largest public tender in the country’s history and has generated considerable debate, from safety issues and the distinctions between the various reactor designs and their technologies, to political and economic issues regarding everything from energy security to the deal’s transparency.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) Japanese knitwear manufacturers are assessing the opportunities offered by the planned EU-Japan free trade agreement (FTA), with negotiations about to begin, having been authorised by the European Union (EU) member states before Christmas.

“We will try to develop good contacts with the Japanese industry to try to come up with solutions during the negotiations that could be beneficial for both whenever possible”, said Luisa Santos, head of international trade at the European apparel and textile confederation (Euratex).…

DESPITE China’s slowing economy in 2012, Chinese consumers still spent handsomely on beauty products. In December alone, for example, spending on cosmetics and personal care products (such as personal soaps, shampoo and toothpastes) increased 16% and 16.6% respectively from the same time a year ago, compared with 8.7% for clothing and 3.6% for jewelry, according to the China Nation Commercial Information Center, a Beijing-based government organisation tracking national retail statistics.…

BY MARK ROWE, MICHAEL KOSMIDES, IN ATHENS, AND MOHAMMED YUSUF, IN NAIROBI

INTERNATIONAL civil aviation procedures are designed to create predictability. But they are not usually applicable for airports in territories that have declared independence, but have not achieved full international recognition, or a seat at the United Nations.…

BY MARK ROWE

TO describe recent times as difficult for the eastern European cosmetics industry would be something of an understatement. Since 2010, some countries have experienced dizzying declines in production and sales that indicated the industry was more or less in tune with the wider economic mood across the region.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

With book buyers set to deliver another bumper Christmas to online retailers, a European Commission study found 75% of a sample of websites selling e-books, games, videos and music in the European Union (EU) did not comply with consumer protection rules.…

BY WANG FANGQING, IN SHANGHAI

THE CHINESE pharmaceutical sector is pushing hard to secure sales in sub-Saharan Africa – seeing it as a softer and growing export market, compared to stagnating mature markets in Europe and north America. It is for want of trying.…

THE LUXURY packaging seent of the personal care product industry has always been important, but with the industry’s high end becoming increasingly profitable worldwide, packagers are assuming a really critical role.

Simply, while revolutionary formulations are being developed to tap wealthy markets, the resulting cosmetics and personal care products need to set themselves apart for marketing with classy exteriors.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

THERE are no reasons for the European Union to restrict or even ban the use of crystalline silica or talc in workplaces across Europe, Michelle Wyart-Remy, secretary general of Industrial Minerals Association Europe (IMA-Europe) has said.…

BY JULIAN RYALL, IN TOKYO

THE JAPANESE government has signalled that it will relax its rules on beef imports in the early part of 2013.

After hearing the opinions of a 13-strong expert panel, ministers said they would raise the age limit on livestock used to source beef imports to 30 months from the present 20 months.…

BY JULIAN RYALL, IN TOKYO

Masumi Natsusaka has global ambitions for Kanebo Cosmetics Inc., where he assumed the company’s presidency in June. And he has told Soap Perfumery & Cosmetics that he is impatient for brands that have previously only been for selected foreign and domestic markets to evolve into truly global brands developed to directly meet the needs of a new generation of consumers around the world.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS, IN CALGARY

A SHORTAGE of nurses in Canada following several years of health care restructuring and hospital downsizing could mean an abundance of opportunities for British professionals, who are willing to make the hop across the pond.

"In certain regions of the country there’s an acute shortage of medical doctors, nurses and other practitioners, and those shortages will only grow as our population ages.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

European Commission officials have warned that the European Union’s (EU) annual Euro EUR140 million meat and livestock market intervention budget is facing deep cuts. Heads of government will meet November 22-23 in Brussels to agree an overall 2014-20 EU spending deal.…

BY MINI PANT ZACHARIAH, IN MUMBAI

French multinational food company Danone plans to double its market share of 8% in India’s Indian Rupee INR 25 billion (USD 459 million) baby food market over the next three years, Laurent Marcel, managing director of Nutricia Baby Nutrition has said.…

BY MICHAEL KOSMIDES, IN ATHENS

THE GREEK economic crisis may provide the perfect backdrop for money laundering. Dr Ioannis Filos, professor of Auditing at Panteion University in Athens and director of the Greek chapter of the European Business Ethics Network (EBEN) told the Money Laundering Bulletin that "it is obvious… that the financial stress is a big threat for someone to get involved in wrong actions/fraud/corruption."…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

WITH telecommunications operators across Europe increasingly seeing flat lined revenue growth from residential mobile customers, new sights currently are being set on cultivating and enhancing relationships with enterprise customers.

And while the transition towards offering comprehensive service bundles to enterprise customers can involve a lot of legwork on the telco side, companies like Poland-based Comarch offer software systems and solutions helping telcos better support enterprises.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

A PROPOSED European Union (EU) directive should deliver more transparency and better governance for collective management of copyright and related rights on behalf of publishers and authors, a Brussels conference has been told.

The European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers are now debating this tabled law on on collective management of copyright and related rights.…

BY DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS

BUILDING on its long-held global reputation for quality natural ingredients, France has now emerged as the second biggest natural and organic cosmetics market in Europe, after Germany. A January 2012 report by international consultants Deloitte – the most comprehensive yet conducted exclusively on the French natural cosmetics industry – calculated an average 2005-2009 growth rate of 25%.…

BY BLAKE BERRY, IN WARSAW; JOHN PAGNI, IN HELSINKI; DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS; LEE ADENDOORF, IN LUCCA, ITALY; CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS; MJ DESCHAMPS; AND ALAN OSBORN

IF you are a biofuel manufacturer, you could be forgiven for being frustrated with the complexity of the market in Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE ORGANISATION for Economic Commerce & Development (OECD) has released a stinging indictment of France’s inaction over fighting the bribery of foreign public officials. A report by the OECD working group on bribery noted only five convictions – one under appeal – have been secured in 12 years.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS; ANDREW KURETH, IN WARSAW; LEE ADENDORFF, IN ITALY; DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS; AND ALAN OSBORN

STANDARDIZATION remains the main hurdle European Union (EU) countries will have to pass to see an increased uptake of electric vehicles, auto industry specialists at a recent conference in Brussels organized by the Public Policy Exchange has determined.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

A MAJOR six-year reconstruction and modernisation of Orly airport in Paris involving investment of Euro EUR400-450 million has been announced by the operator Aéroports de Paris (ADP). The project will include the merger of the two existing terminals, Orly South and Orly West, the construction of a brand new international departure lounge and the complete redevelopment of all the terminal entrances, amounting to 100,000 square metres of new reception areas for passengers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE CEO of L’Oréal is resisting French government plans to impose a 75% tax rate on incomes above Euro EUR1million. The new socialist administration of President Francois Hollande has published a budget including the controversial idea, and L’Oréal’s Jean-Paul Agon is opposing it, warning: "It’s going to be…very difficult to attract talent to work in France…."…

BY ALAN OSBORN

BRITAIN’S Crown Dependencies (CDs) – the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man – have always been tricky customers for the world’s anti money laundering authorities to get a fix on. This shows up in the approach taken by the European Commission to them in its so-called anti-money laundering (AML) ‘white list’."…

BY ALAN OSBORN, IN LONDON

Professor Guido Rasi, executive director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), has told Manufacturing Chemist of his concerns about the availability of medicines in the European Union (EU).

Speaking in his office at EMA headquarters in London’s Canary Wharf, Professor Rasi said EMA wanted "to see what role we can play and what counsel we can give in respect of the problem of the (drug) shortages."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

PRESSURE is growing on European Union (EU) ministers to give the EU’s sugar production quota system a stay of execution. MEPs on the European Parliament’s agriculture committee have called for the retention of EU sugar quotas for beet farmers until 2020, rather than follow existing plans to phase them out in 2015.…

BY ZLATKO CONKAS

INCREASING passenger traffic and aircraft movements have required an expansion of Croatia’s Zagreb Airport, which serves the country’s capital, in the form of a new passenger terminal which should be fully operational by 2016.

"Given the imminent entry of Croatia into the European Union [EU] in January 2013, and the existing attractiveness of the capital Zagreb, we need bigger, better, more beautiful and more efficient facilities – which will certainly be achieved with the construction of a new passenger terminal," Tonci Peovic, general manager of Zagreb Airport (Zra?na…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

DESPITE the challenging global economic climate, demand in the luxury sector continues to remain unscathed, with high-end apparel consumers not willing to compromise on quality – and textile and fibre suppliers have taken note. They have been increasing the share that luxury clients have in their customer base.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

It has been a been a turbulent time in the Middle East since the Arab uprisings swept much of the region over the past year-and-a-half, with not only sales of cosmetics, toiletries and perfumeries being depressed by losses in consumer confidence, but also distribution being harmed, especially by the protracted conflict in Syria.…

BY SHEENA ROSSITER, IN SÃO PAULO; RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, IN NEW DELHI; HELEN CLARK, IN HANOI; AND WANG FANGQING, IN SHANGHAI

THE GROWTH in outsourcing has been maybe the most important trend in the clothing and textile sector in the past decade, with emerging market countries offering increasingly reliable and sophisticated services.…

BY WANG FANGQING, IN SHANGHAI

THE DEMAND for natural ingredients-based skin care products has been growing so fast in China that both multinational and domestic cosmetics companies are pouring new products onto the market to attract consumers, both men and women, with different levels of income.…

BY SHEENA ROSSITER, IN SÃO PAULO; RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, IN NEW DELHI; HELEN CLARK, IN HANOI; AND WANG FANGQING, IN SHANGHAI

WHILE the focus on emerging markets for the big international clothing brands has often been to view them as outsourcing opportunities, the truth is that there are a lot of people with a lot of money in these countries.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

AT a time where concern is increasing about the transmission to new generations of regional languages across North America and worldwide, in southeastern New Brunswick, young people are embracing a hybrid dialect called ‘Chiac’ – and they find it "right dla fun".…

BY BILL CORCORAN, IN CAPE TOWN

SOUTH Africa has deposits of rare earth elements (REEs) to rival that of Australia, and the country is poised to take advantage of this increasingly strategic resource, according to Mintek, the government’s mineral technology organisation.…

BY ROBERT STOKES IN MÁLAGA

THIS year I have abandoned my premium brand sun screen in favour of a Deliplus private label product sold by the Spanish supermarket group Mercadona for around EUR 5.00, saving around EUR 12.00 into the bargain.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL AND LEAH GERMAIN

AN AMBITIOUS plan is being unrolled across the Arctic – using native Inuit languages and their dialects to build a new cultural nation. Its goal is building linguistic links between the 150,000 Inuit of Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Siberia so that they can read the same newspapers, websites and books and understand films, television and radio, all in their own indigenous language.…

BY NICK HOLDSWORTH, IN KALUGA, RUSSIA

CARMAKERS were celebrating on July 4 when the first of four new models rolled off a state-of-the-art production line in a 145 hectare plant in Kaluga, western Russia. The latest in an ongoing expansion of Russia’s auto sector, a bright, clean, airy and surprisingly quiet car assembly plant is surrounded by fields and forests: Peugeot Citroen’s Russian joint venture with Mitsubishi, PCMA Rus has pressed the button to start full scale production that will deliver 125,000 a year vehicles specially designed for the Russian market.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BEAUVAIS airport, in northern France, is the subject of a competition probe by the European Commission, which fears public subsidies it received could break European Union (EU) state aid rules. The airport, 75km north of Paris, is used by RyanAir for passengers visiting the French capital.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT; AND MARK GAO, IN ISTANBUL

MOST states in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) have mulled developing nuclear power over the past decade, from Morocco to Egypt, and Jordan to Saudi Arabia, but only the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is coming close to embarking on the nuclear option thus far.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has declared illegal under European Union (EU) law a French 25% tax on dividends distributed to undertakings for collective investments in transferable securities (UCITS) that are based outside France. The problem is UCITS based in France pay no tax on these dividend transfers – and judges said this broke EU capital movement rules.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS, IN OTTAWA

AS regards Francophone Canadian literature and English Canadian literature, the ‘two solitudes’ are often present in the context of the country’s book market – with clear divides between English and French publishing houses, retailers and distributors – but what about within the literature itself?…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

NANOMATERIALS have been finding their way into cosmetics and personal care products for years now, but until recently, the term meant different things to different manufacturers – and almost nothing to consumers. It is not until the European Commission came out with a common European Union (EU) definition for nanomaterials last October – materials whose main constituents have a dimension of between 1 billionth and 100 billionth of a metre (or 0.000000001 metre) – that cosmetics companies finally gained a clear guideline under which to define certain properties of their products.…

BY DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS

CHANTAL Ronceray is targeting fast growth in turnover at Jamal Paris, a small but ambitious halal cosmetics products company she co-founded in 2007. It is an act of faith in the long-term potential for sales among France’s 4.7 million Muslims, Europe’s largest such population.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission preparing to release calls for research proposals commanding millions of Euros of European Union (EU) funding, offering opportunities for bioplastics companies. The initiative is the last batch of funding under the outgoing EU seventh framework programme on research, which ends next year.…

BY ANDREW GREEN, WANG FANGQING, PAUL COCHRANE, JONATHAN DYSON AND CARMEN PAUN

THE POLITECNO di Milano, one of Italy’s most prestigious universities, will teach and assess most of its degree courses and all its postgraduate ones entirely in English from 2014, UWN reported recently.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPE’S confectionery industry is fighting rearguard moves at the European Parliament to delay the abolition of European Union (EU) quotas on EU sugar production. A report from French conservative MEP Michel Dantin on the new EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has proposed that the quotas stay until 2020 – they are currently to be phased out by 2015.…

BY VILLEN ANGANAN, IN BEAU-BASSIN, MAURITIUS

INTERNATIONAL accounting firms are exploring opportunities within Africa, and are using the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius – a regional financial centre – as a stepping stone. All the Big Four: Ernst &Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), KPMG and Deloitte are already successfully offering their services to African clients.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

The European Union’s (EU) anti-fraud unit has hailed the breaking of an international conspiracy to export China-made iron and steel tube and pipe fittings via other Asian countries to evade 58.6% EU anti-dumping duties usually levied on these products.…

BY VILLEN ANGANAN, IN BEAU-BASSIN, MAURITIUS

ACCA fellows can be found in many influential positions worldwide and in Africa, they are often the backbone of financial and management best practice, in many jurisdictions. That is certainly the case on the Indian Ocean state of Mauritius, where environment and sustainable development minister and ACCA member Devanand Virahsawmy belongs to the inner circle of prime minister Navin Ramgoolam who secured a second mandate in May 2010 elections.…

BY VILLEN ANGANAN, IN PORT LOUIS, MAURITIUS

ACCA fellows can be found in many influential positions worldwide. And in Africa, they are often the backbone of financial and management best practice. That is certainly the case on the Indian Ocean state of Mauritius, where environment and sustainable development minister and ACCA member Devanand Virahsawmy, 62, belongs to the inner circle of prime minister Navin Ramgoolam, who secured a second mandate in May 2010 elections.…

BY DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS

FRENCH research firm Eurostaf has said France perfume and cosmetics distributors should better differentiate supplies retailers in the French market, improving customer relationship management in an increasingly concentrated and competitive national market. Successful recent strategies have included more "exclusivity agreements; positioning in niche markets (organic, ethnic-based, etc.)…

BY LEAH GERMAIN

IT is now 30 years since Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into being – and the rights it entrenched for Canadian citizens are still being used to defend minority language communities. Only this year, the Prince Edward Island French language school board has used its language provisions to support a lawsuit it has filed against the provincial government.…

BY ROBERT STOKES, IN MÁLAGA; DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS; LEE ADENDORFF, IN LUCCA; BLAKE BERRY, IN WARSAW; AND ALAN OSBORN

RISING energy prices and Europe’s continuing economic malaise has increased fuel poverty across the continent. The UK government defines fuel poverty as where to heat a home to an adequate standard of warmth, a household must spend more than 10% of its income.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS, IN OTTAWA

FOR a stranger living in a strange land, Louise Penny does not feel so out of place – the Toronto-born, Anglophone writer cannot imagine calling anywhere home then Québec’s Eastern Townships.

Penny, the author behind the successful Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mystery series (set primarily in the fictional Québec village of Three Pines) has drawn on her own experience as an Anglophone living in a primarily Francophone community to paint a backdrop for the majority of her works.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

IN comparison to larger publishing hubs such as France, the USA or Britain, Canada’s literary market has always been regarded as relatively small in global terms. And at a time when the hard copy publishing industry is struggling as a whole, there have been some concerns that Canada’s two official languages – which effectively split an already undersized book market – could be further exacerbating pressures.…

BY BILL CORCORAN, IN CAPE TOWN; MOHAMMED YUSUF, IN NAIROBI; AND KEITH NUTHALL

A BOOK launched at last December’s Durban international climate change conference has focused on the growing potential for sugar to be a biofuel feedstock in Africa. ‘Bioenergy for Sustainable Development and International Competitiveness:

The Role of Sugar Cane in Africa’ was written by 44 authors representing 30 organisations in 16 countries and was published by Routledge.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

INDUSTRIES with disposable products such as the personal care product sector have had to re-assess their packaging to meet national recycling quotas and help reduce unnecessary waste, especially in the European Union (EU) with its packaging and packaging waste directive.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

ALUMINA producers in Ireland, Italy and France have escaped an order from the European Commission that they pay their respective governments additional excise duty for heavy fuel oil they bought between 2002 and 2003. Brussels had told them to pay up because the companies had enjoyed a reduced rate of duty, which the Commission concluded was an illegal disguised subsidy.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL AND MARK GODFREY, IN BEIJING

AN ALLIANCE forged in China between Swiss market expansion advisor DKSH and French specialist cosmetics group LaboratoireBioderma will focus on fighting counterfeit products. DKSH has been appointed the exclusive logistics partner for LaboratoireBioderma in China, managing the company’s distribution services and sales made through pharmaceutical retailers.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, IN BRUSSELS

‘CELEBRITY’ fragrances have become such a huge industry that even the Pope now has his own eau de cologne – according to Italian perfumer Silvana Casoli, (whose clients include Madonna and the King of Spain), this unique blend reflects the German pontiff’s love of Bavarian forests and their flora and fauna, creating an aura of "peace and tranquility".…

BY MICHAEL KOSMIDES, IN ATHENS

ACCOUNTANTS and auditors in Greece have found themselves at the centre of the country’s ongoing political and economic crisis, and it is a far from comfortable place to be. Depending on who one speaks to, Greek official data had been cooked either when the country entered the Eurozone or when it asked for help; Greece was either saved by default or managed a controlled default; the conditions for the bailout loans by the European Union (EU), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are either putting Greece back on track or are deconstructing the labour and social framework of the country.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE CARIBBEAN is a delightful place to live, if you like people. And business reflects this island region’s human scale: commercial relationships work better with real personal relationships, cemented with time and emotional investment.

Buying a newspaper usually requires a quick chat with a shopkeeper.…

BY MARK GODFREY, IN BEIJING

IN the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, China has opted to lower its nuclear construction targets but also to build 3G reactors in inland regions according to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ (ASME) representative in Beijing.…

BY JAMES FULLER

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) executive, the European Commission is trying to defeat criticism of a multilateral treaty opposing counterfeiting through a high stakes legal manoeuvre, with officials saying the outcome is of critical importance to Europe’s powerful auto sector.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL AND KITTY SO, IN OTTAWA; AND CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

KNOWING how to speak two languages in a country where there are two official languages is always going to be a good bet. But as well as the delights of knowing you peanuts from your arachides and your gelée from your jelly, there are whole host of additional cognitive advantages to mastering two tongues rather than one.…

BY KACI RACELMA, IN TIZI OUZOU, ALGERIA; AND PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

COMMERCIAL crime may not be as omnipresent in North Africa as in some other parts of the world, but companies operating in the region have risks to contend with.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE IN BEIRUT

THE ‘ARAB Spring’ uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) over the past year have had a mixed effect on Arabic publishing. Book sales have plunged due to instability, and while some countries have loosened up on censorship, others have clamped down.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

DETAILED investigations into the safety of silicone-based breast implants have been ordered by the European Commission after an initial inquiry highlighted health concerns. These were raised by the European Union’s (EU) scientific committee on emerging and newly identified health risks, which was assessing allegations from French health authorities that France-based manufacturer Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP) used "low-quality material (industrial silicone)" in implants.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, MJ DESCHAMPS, AND JULIAN RYALL

The management challenge of introducing increasingly sophisticated labels is compounded by the continuing diversity of labelling laws worldwide. These can be a major headache for textile and clothing companies, especially those with global supply chains.…

BY DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS

Founded in 1981, FIDEF (Fédération Internationale des Experts-comptables et commissaires aux comptes Francophones) or the "International Federation of Francophone Accountants" currently consists of 30 full members and 15 associate members in 34 countries in Europe, Africa, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia, representing around 65,000 accounting professionals.…

BY DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS

Michèle Cartier Le Guérinel qualified as an accountant and auditor in 1985

1990-93

President of the professional association of the Essonne region, near Paris.

1993-2000, 2003-10

Elected vice president of the Compagnie Régionale des Commissaires aux Comptes de Paris (CRCC – Regional Company of the Auditors of Paris, in English).…

BY DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS

When talking to Accounting & Business in her Paris office, Michèle Cartier Le Guérinel often struggles to make herself heard over the noise of the renovations shaking the walls on either side of her. Several floors of her international accountancy organisation FIDEF’s headquarters, in an anachronistically new and large building on an otherwise quiet street in the most elegant seventh arrondissement (a stone’s throw from the Eiffel Tower), are undergoing a thorough makeover.…

BY KACI RACELMA, IN TIZI OUZOU, ALGERIA

ALGERIA: Ongoing reforms transform the north African country’s research and education landscape

Kaci Racelma

Significant education reforms are on the horizon for Algeria’s higher education sector, with the latest push being the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers’ approval of a scientific and technological agreement with this north African country.…

BY JAMES FULLER

IF evidence were needed to show how globalised the confectionery sector has become – then look at the row between Ecuador and the European Union (EU) over possible EU controls limiting levels of toxic metal cadmium in cocoa powder and chocolate.…

BY KACI RACELMA

NIGER: New higher education degree system drives enrollment and economic benefits

Kaci Racelma

African countries continue to implement the bachelor-master-doctorate system (LMD) – with Niger being one of the latest. Now the system is the standard for all of Niger: its cabinet last May adopted a decree establishing the LMD system as compulsory for all higher education institutions.…

BY MARK ROWE, IN LONDON; ZLATKO CONKAS, IN NOVI SAD, SERBIA; MIKE STEIN, IN PRAGUE; AND BLAKE BERRY, IN WARSAW

DURING the spring of 2011, the prevailing view throughout eastern Europe’s personal care and toiletries market was that while business was not exactly buoyant, the worst of the recession was over – then came the credit crises and the faltering Euro.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

WITH fast fashion and quick turnover key commercial ingredients of today’s garment and apparel industry, excess textile production is prompting the sector to gravitate towards more recycling and reuse of materials, to conserve energy, increase sustainability and lower raw material costs.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN ABU DHABI

IT sounds completely bizarre, given their dominant role as global energy players, but the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are facing a chronic energy shortage, with domestic demand growing by an estimated 8.5% and investment in power systems failing to keep pace.…

BY WANG FANGQING, IN SHANGHAI

WITH a growing interest in colour cosmetics amongst Chinese women, many companies are developing innovative and unique packaging that especially appeal to younger consumers.

Market research firm Euromonitor International has stressed in a report that international marketing has helped fuel this trend: women between the ages of 15 and 30 living in urban areas of China have been widely exposed to Western and Japanese makeup and are gravitating largely towards colour cosmetics because of this.…

By Paul Cochrane, in Beirut

Saudi Arabia’s failure to secure a wide-ranging atomic energy treaty with the USA, continues to push the oil-rich country into the arms of other nuclear suiters, experts on the kingdom have argued. The Saudi's plan is to invest USD112 billion over the next 20 years to build 16 nuclear power plants (NPPs) to offset rising domestic energy demand and retain its position as a leading hydrocarbons exporter.

A memorandum of understanding on nuclear energy was signed with the US in 2008, but the two countries have yet to sign Section 123 of the US Atomic Energy Act, essentially a prerequisite for nuclear cooperation between the US and other nations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WINNERS

VF

In one of 2011’s biggest deals, US-based VF announced its plans to buy major footwear brand Timberland in a US$2bn takeover. As well as boosting earnings by US$700m a year, the purchase would leverage VF platforms in Europe, Asia and Latin America, and boost e-commerce operations.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

THE ONGOING influx of more complex, scientific formulations in anti-aging creams, skin care solutions and more, paired with an economic climate that does not exactly allow its consumers much breathing room for frugality, is highlighting the need for cosmetics packaging to keep products fresh.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has confirmed it is scrapping sugar production quotas across the European Union (EU) in 2015 when proposing a comprehensive reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). There have been calls from some member states and MEPs for the quota regime to be renewed, but the Commission has stuck to its guns and will continue with abolition.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled a ban by French cosmetics company Pierre Fabre on distributors selling certain products via the Internet probably breaks European Union competition law. The ECJ said the company would have to demonstrate "a legitimate aim" for such a ban to be legal, serving the public interest.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT; AND AMELIA SMITH, IN LONDON

THE NEW authorities in Libya are optimistic about the future of oil production and the role of international oil companies (IOCs) in the rebuilding of the country, now the Gaddafi regime has been destroyed.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

THE EUROPEAN and South American gypsum operations of French building materials company Lafarge will be acquired by Etex Group NV/SA of Belgium, a manufacturer of building material and systems, with the deal now receiving competition approval from the European Commission.…

BY MEGAN DETRIE and KACI RACELMA

THE IMPACT of the Arab Spring revolution has rattled though North Africa, leaving no economic sector unscathed – including the personal care products industry. Despite the fact that the growth of the cosmetics markets in countries like Tunisia, Egypt and Libya remains limited in lieu of the year of demonstrations and political upheaval, efforts are currently being made to boost the industry.…

BY MARK GODFREY

THERE is no end to the number of ambitious companies eyeing a slice of the estimated USD10 billion-a-year demand for nuclear power construction and maintenance in China. And in a country known for its favouritism towards local firms in public procurement contracts, one would assume that mainland Chinese companies would get the maximum share of the spoils.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

UPRISINGS in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) this year have hit demand for printers in Lebanon, which has long been the printing hub of the region. Lebanese printers canvassed privately for Print Week MEA report that the upheavals have seen demand from Egypt and Syria decline, while transportation has been marginally affected from Lebanon due to the situation in neighbouring Syria.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) is planning to lend French pharmaceutical company Pierre Fabre up to Euro EUR125 million. The money would help it research and develop medicines for oncology, central nervous systems, cardio-vascular issues, immunology and dermatology.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A REPORT from the French senate’s Office for the Evaluation of Science and Technologies has claimed hormone system-linked illness has grown sharply in France, and is calling for immediate action to reduce the release of endocrine disrupting chemicals.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a major political initiative to prevent European Union (EU) member states being played off against each other in energy negotiations with major suppliers, such as Russia. It has proposed legislation that would insist national EU governments give Brussels information on any current deals and negotiations regarding energy supplies, including, but not only, oil and gas.…

BY MARK GODFREY

ALTHOUGH it has two reactors generation 5% of its electricity needs, South Africa is, like China, a developing country where energy needs exceed capacity. China’s emerging nuclear power giant China Guangdong Nuclear Power Co (CGNPC) has been trying to persuade Johannesburg officials to install its ‘CPR1000-plus’ reactors, derived from French technology.…

BY ROBERT STOKES

AMAZON’s arrival in Spain has lit a slow flame under the soles of Spanish booksellers, but the e-tailer faces obstacles to growth that do no afflict it in the UK and America. Amazon.es launched September 15 and will be hot gossip at the LIBER Madrid International Book Fair, the main platform for publishers of works in Spanish, which begins October 5.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FRENCH cosmetics giant L’Oréal is offering scholarships subsidising up to 50% of fees for full time MBA courses at the well-regarded Vlerick Leuven Ghent Management School, Belgium. However, unlike many such corporate grants, students do not owe work or studies for L’Oréal after graduation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) consumer safety network RAPEX has warned certain skin whiteners have been blocked from sale over health concerns. The main problem was illegal hydroquinone use, breaching the EU cosmetics directive. This was why Portugal customs blocked imports of Democratic Republic of the Congo-made imports of Angel Cosmetics’ Clairmen brand and ‘Caro White’ cream, plus Ivory Coast-made ‘Skin Light’ cream; Austrian shops withdrew Ivory Coast-made ‘Skin Light’ cream; while France warned about French-made ‘Fair & White’ cream.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

WHILE India’s soaps and cosmetics manufacturers are currently reaping the benefits of a rapidly expanding domestic market, they are at the same time bracing themselves for the challenges of dealing with increased competition and a more complex segmented marketplace.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is staging a re-evaluation of the sweetener aspartame after it agreed to bring forward from 2020 a scheduled inquiry, despite recent scientific assessments failing to reveal fresh concerns about the sweetener.

Indeed, EFSA reviewed the latest studies on aspartame only in April, but accepted a European Commission request for a new study.…

BY LEE ADENDORFF

THE growth of data revenues and emerging markets contrasted with lacklustre domestic business, particularly in southern Europe, have dominated latest financial figures from the EU’s ‘big five’ telcos – Telecom Italia, Telefónica, France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

FRANCE, due to its vast array of nuclear reactors and wide experimentation with alternative energy, is one of the lowest carbon emitters in the world. It is perhaps due to the success of nuclear power, though, that the country has not – until recent years – seriously considered developing carbon sequestration and storage (CCS) technologies.…

BY MARK GODFREY

ANYONE who has eaten croissants and Danish-style pastries smothered with mayonnaise, chopped sausages and pork floss will appreciate that Beijing bakeries have a style all of their own. Yet the unorthodox approach is popular with local consumers, judging by how bakery chains are growing here: aside from locally-owned chains such as Holiland and Weiduomei and there has been an influx of regional chains, for instance Kiss n Bake from Taiwan and Singapore’s BreadTalk.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

SAUDI Arabia’s failure to secure a wide-ranging atomic energy treaty with the USA, continues to push the oil-rich country into the arms of other nuclear suiters, experts on the kingdom have told World Nuclear News. The Saudis plan is to invest USD112 billion over the next 20 years to build 16 nuclear power plants (NPPs) to offset rising domestic energy demand and retain its position as a leading hydrocarbons exporter.…

BY AUDREY STUART

Number of French smokers rise, but tobacco sales stagnate

Government efforts to stop people smoking are partly working – smokers are consuming fewer cigarettes per day. However, the number of smokers in France is growing, despite price rises and new pictoral health warnings.…

MINI PANT ZACHARIAH

Danone’s acquisition of the Indian nutrition business of Wockhardt Group will, if approved, give the French dairy multinational entry to a fast growing, infant formula market expected to reach USD 700 million by 2014-15.

"It is the largest segment of the baby food market in India," Pratichee Kapoor, associate director at Indian management consultants Technopak, told just-food.…

BY MONIKA HANLEY, LEE ADENDORFF, MARK ROWE, ALAN OSBORN, MINDY RAN, GERARD O’DWYER and MARTINA MARECKOVA

FOR an industry that generates energy, heat and maybe cooling, the European cogeneration sector has been operating on a decidedly low output in recent years.…

BY MARK GODFREY

MAKING overseas purchasing easier for Chinese tourists is influencing domestic cosmetics sales in China. Paul French, co-head of Shanghai based market research firm Access Asia sees the reach of Chinese tourists as vital to recent success in China for higher end overseas brands such as Kiehls and L’Occitane.…

BY WANG FANGQING

That China offers the international branded food sector huge opportunities has long been a cornerstone of corporate strategies, but new regional markets are developing, with smaller provincial cities becoming richer. This is helping to fuel an annual growth rate of 15.4% in the size of the China hypermarket sector, which expected to reach Chinese Yuan Renminbi CNY911.3 billion (USD141.4 billion) by 2015, predicts Euromonitor.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN APPEAL by a major French chemical group against Euro EUR78.66 million fines for price fixing in the European hydrogen peroxide and sodium perborate bleaching agent market has been rejected by European Court of Justice. It ruled Arkema France and parent companies Total and Elf Aquitaine should together pay these European Commission fines, imposed for participating in a cartel.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Union (EU)-funded research project will this month start developing a prototype polymer-zinc car battery, significantly lighter, safer and more environment-friendly than existing batteries. Their lead acid, lithium and nickel bases have waste disposal, weight and chemical stability problems.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is drafting legislation seeking to break regulatory and financial logjams preventing the European Union (EU) achieving ambitious planned gas infrastructure investments. A Commission working paper predicts the proposal will come in October and warned red-tape and financial shortages are potentially delaying cross-border interconnection and pipeline projects worth billions of Euros.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

IN a drive to combat the illegal exploitation of conflict minerals and create greater transparency of money flows between mining companies and governments, the European Commission is to table a new European Union (EU) law this autumn. It will ask large mining companies to reveal detail about their mining activities and associated financial transactions to shareholders.…

BY WANG FANGQING, MINI PANT ZACHARIAH, PACIFICA GODDARD and MARK ROWE

WITH average incomes in the world’s emerging markets starting to approach western levels – at least in major urban areas – drinks companies are catering to increasingly expensive and refined tastes.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A CONSULTANTS report for the European Commission on the impact of biofuel expansion has warned that a reliance on bioethanol could damage the European Union’s (EU) fossil fuels security of supply.

Written by experts from Wood Mackenzie, Ricardo and Celeres, the paper – just released by Brussels – says that with bioethanol sources focused on Brazil and a few other countries, "there is a risk of a high degree of reliance on few sources of ethanol supply."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Union (EU)-funded research project is about to start developing a prototype zinc-polymer car battery, which its scientists hope will be significantly lighter, safer and more environment-friendly than existing batteries. These are of course based on lead acid, lithium and nickel – all carrying problems associated with waste disposal, weight and chemical stability.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE FRENCH government has asked the European Commission to prepare to help its beef sector, hit by prolonged drought. In a note to the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers last week (June 6), Paris warned French farmers were rushing to sell livestock early, and "if these trends continue, or indeed increase, this could seriously destabilise the European market."…

BY MATTHEW BRACE

Airport security operators may soon be using a new breed of scanning technology if innovation from Canadian technology company VOTI is approved by authorities.

At the Dubai Airport Show, VOTI told Jane’s Airport Review that its scanners were already being piloted at some courthouses and prisons in Canada, with good results.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

FRENCH chemical producer Arkema won an appeal on June 7 to reduce a Euro EUR219.1 million fine imposed on the company and its subsidiaries for participating in a cartel for methacrylates, a plastic ingredient used to make acrylic glass.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

FEW transatlantic agreements have given rise to more friction and animosity than the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP) set up by the US Treasury in 2001 shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and in direct response to them.…

By John Pagni in Helsinki

The Areva/Siemens project to supply Finland’s TVO with the world’s first third generation EPR (European Pressurised water Reactor) at Olkiluoto on the Finnish west coast has suffered a number of problems but these have not shaken the faith of those concerned in the essential viability of the design.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CONTRARY to the usual light touch regulation favoured by businesses worldwide, the European Union (EU) security sector seems to want the EU to tighten its airport rules. There is an EU regulation on airport security, but at a Brussels conference hosted by think tank Security & Defence Agenda (SDA), specialists said its text was so loose, airports often bought the cheapest security equipment and specifications varied widely.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FRENCH cosmetics company Pierre Fabre has been warned its ban on distributors selling certain products via the Internet probably breaks European Union (EU) competition law.

European Court of Justice (ECJ) advocate general Jàn Mazák’s formal opinion criticises this restriction as "disproportionate".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FRENCH government nuclear scientists have warned that radioactive material, usually totally absent from food, has been discovered in milk in France. They are blaming radioactive clouds belching from the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. The French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) says radioactive iodine-131 has been found in densities of Becquerels(bq)/litres(l) of 0.09bq/l near Paris and 0.15bq/l in the Loire valley, western France.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has laid down the gauntlet to the fossil fuel sector, releasing a comprehensive long-term strategy that would halve the use of ‘conventionally-fuelled’ cars in urban transport by 2030, phasing them out in cities by 2050.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

Big European food retailers have been delighted with a new ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) slapping down regulations imposed by the Spanish government to restrict the location and operations of hypermarkets in Catalonia. The court, whose decisions are legal precedents throughout every country and region in the European Union (EU), said Spain had failed to fulfill obligations imposed by the "freedom of establishment" provision of the EU treaties.…

BY LEE ADENDORFF

THE ITALIAN government has put the country’s rebooted nuclear programme into a holding pattern, introducing an amendment yesterday that will extend indefinitely a moratorium on the construction of new reactors. The Cabinet has been charged meanwhile with the formulation of a new energy strategy that takes into account "the position of the European Union (EU) and of competent international authorities", which as regards nuclear energy, is of course currently in flux.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

International tobacco crime fighters combine their muscle

Criminals make a fortune out of smuggling and counterfeiting tobacco products. The USA and the European Union have specialist crime-fighting bodies charged with fighting this crime. They are increasingly cooperating with each other and using smarter tactics and tougher laws to make a difference.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

EARLIER this year, the Lebanese-Canadian Bank (LCB) was designated by the United States as a prime money laundering concern, for alleged connections to drug traffickers and acting as a financial conduit for Lebanese political party Hezbollah, which Washington considers a terrorist organisation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FRENCH wine producer Castel has continued its steady expansion through mergers and acquisition with the European Commission clearing its latest gambits: a 50%-50% joint takeover (with Japan’s Suntory) of France-based wine company Grands Millésimes de France, and sole purchase of French wine and spirit company Savour Club and wine company MAAF Subsidiaries.…

BY MARK GODFREY

China’s nuclear story began in Daya Bay, where two 944MW reactors designed and built by Framatone (now Areva) came online in 1993. By 2010, China had 9GW of installed nuclear power generating capacity. The government still wants this figure to grow, but departments differ about how much is achievable and when.…

BY MARK GODFREY

China’s nuclear story began in Daya Bay, where two 944MW reactors designed and built by Framatone (now Areva) came online in 1993. By 2010, China had 9GW of installed nuclear power generating capacity. The government wants this figure to grow, but departments differ about how much is achievable and when.…

BY TRICIA OBEN

THE DIFFICULTY of luring the cream of ‘Generation Y’ into the accounting profession worldwide is a widely recognised problem, but in countries where opportunities can be sparse such as west Africa’s Cameroon, this can be very tough. The issue was discussed at an ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) employer forum on March 22 in the economic capital Douala.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE DISRUPTION to the European airport sector caused by the continent’s heavy snowfall this winter – the heaviest in 20 years – looks set to prompt a radical shake-up of contingency plans to deal with bad weather.

Many European airports are now conducting reviews of how they source, commission and stockpile equipment for such eventualities.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

IT almost seems like yesterday when European policymakers were hailing biofuels as the practical green alternative to fossil fuels, so clean – cars, vans and trucks might as well have been running on water. However, with the growing and widespread acceptance that producing many biofuels (and burning them of course) produces substantial carbon emissions, those days are well and truly over.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

FRANCE is far ahead of the curve in terms of weaning itself off fossil fuels and sports the closest thing to energy independence of any country in Europe. Ever since 1974 when the government decided to rapidly expand the country’s nuclear power capacity, France has not felt the intense stress of energy insecurity nor been particularly impacted by the rising and falling prices of fuel.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FRENCH consumer authorities have seized five potentially dangerous cosmetics made in the Ivory Coast, said European Union’s (EU) rapid consumer alert service RAPEX. These were three G&G branded ‘Dynamiclair’ skin lighteners; a Dawny branded ‘lightening, anti-blemish beauty oil’; and L’Abidjanaise skin-lightening cream.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE DISTANCE that can be travelled using an electric car battery in Europe could be boosted by a French automotive technology company receiving Euro EUR130 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The Bolloré Group will use this financing to support its battery and electric vehicle research and development.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

THE GLOBAL fashion and textile market has increasingly been influenced by green marketing buzzwords such as ‘organic’, ‘fair trade’ and ‘sustainable’, with the market for ethical and environmentally-friendly fashion growing slowly despite many challenges.

Assessing the size of this sub-sector is a tricky business, given there is no international standard about what is green and what is not green.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

IN today’s beauty-obsessed society, sometimes no price is too high for an anti-aging product that is out of this world: something that many cosmetics companies have taken to heart. Literally.

UK cosmetics company Turn Back Time has recently followed in the footsteps of other cosmetics and beauty companies, looking to aerospace technology to create innovative, anti-aging solutions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE AGREEMENT by the European Parliament last week of CO2 emissions limits for vans sold in the European Union (EU) could increase prices for new models, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) has warned. Communications director Sigrid de Vries told Fleet News the targets were "extremely challenging" in the long term.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

DESPITE having set a clear goal of ensuring 20% of the European Union’s (EU) energy consumption is drawn from green sources, such as biogas and biofuels, more money and resources must be wheeled into action. That is the claim of the European Commission, in a long-awaited policy paper from its energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger, assessing the EU’s renewable energy directive.…

BY LEE ADENDOORF, ALYSSA MCMURTRY, MAKKI MARSEILLES, and KEITH NUTHALL

GLOBAL olive oil manufacturing is on a roll, with the International Olive Council (IOC) saying 2009-10 world production was 3.02 million tonnes, a season-on-season increase of 354,500 tonnes (+13%). This would be the second best olive oil production year ever, next only to the record of 3.17 million tonnes produced in 2003/04.…

BY JOSEPHINE MCKENNA, in Rome

ON the face of it the record is impressive. In the past 12 months Italian customs officials and other agents have carried out raids on counterfeiters from Milan in the north to Taranto in the south, seizing millions of euros’ worth fake fashion merchandise.…

BY FLORENCE LABEDAYS

Michele Norsa is a discreet amicable man who does not seek personal publicity in his role as Chief Executive Officer of Italian luxury clothing company Salvatore Ferragamo. Impeccably-dressed at all times – pin-striped suit, pale blue shirt and red tie, when we met – as one would expect an Italian fashion executive to be, he has ease and approachability.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

WHEN manufacturers generally are feeling the squeeze, maximising the efficiency of packaging systems and their related costs can be an essential part of securing profits. That means increasing demands will be made of conveying, with companies on the look-out for new high-tech solutions.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

Chewing tobacco plastic pouches banned as environmental hazard in India

India’s EUR 2.92 billion chewing tobacco industry is under severe threat after the country’s Supreme Court banned the use of its popular packaging pouches due to complaints about their environmental hazards, such as lack of biodegradability and recyclability.…

BY MARK GODFREY

IN 2011, foreign brands seem set to extend their dominance of the cosmetics and hair products market in China, one of the few sectors of the economy controlled by multinationals. Procter & Gamble (P&G), Unilever and L’Oréal dominate sales revenues here, and to extend their dominance global brands continue to acquire local brands.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

IT sounds like every child’s dream job – chocolate testing: something out of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. But it is of course a deadly serious business – not just to ensure chocolate tastes good and is healthy – but also to comply with laws on chocolate composition.…

By Keith Nuthall

With the British general election looming this week and the prospect of a change in government, one issue seems to electrify UK electors and politicians above all others, and that is immigration. In a sense, this is not surprising.…

BY FLORENCE LABEDAYS

LUXURY brand heavyweights, including from the personal care product sector, agreed at an International Herald Tribune ‘Heritage’ luxury conference that during economic recessions, authenticity and emotion are the keys to customers’ hearts… and purses.

Customers learned that "man can cheat, it generates anxiety and people buy on emotion," said Stanislas de Quercize (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT), Chief Executive Officer of Paris-based Van Cleef & Arpels.…

BY HELENA FLUSFELDER, GERARD O’DWYER

A PLAN to install an electric car network has been approved by Israel’s government, making this small Middle East country a global leader in electric vehicle (EV) technology.

The project is a joint venture between Renault-Nissan, which will provide the electric vehicles, and a Silicon Valley, USA-based start-up project Better Place, which will operate the re-charging grid.…

BY LEE ADENDOORF

NETWORKED clothing that can show you where it is at all times, talking to mirrors and shelves on the shop floor, is no longer the stuff of science fiction, but a reality developing rapidly in stores around the globe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

RUSSIAN President Dmitry Medvedev’s call for his country to exploit the Kyoto Protocol’s clean development mechanism could lead Russia to issue142 million carbon credits for 2008-2012, researchers for French bank Caisse des Depots et Consignations have claimed. This would make Russia the second largest issuer of such credits after China, it said, possibly depressing global prices for purchasing emissions.…

BY ALAN OSBORN, KARRYN MILLER, FLORENCE LABEDAYS, GAVIN BLAIR

PRIVACY is the big bugbear for RFID tags. Sure they give retailers and manufacturers lots of excellent information, but there is a hint of Big Brother about how this automatic data collection.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WINNERS

PHILIPS-VAN HEUSEN

This was a Champagne year for Philips-Van Heusen, owner of Calvin Klein, Arrow, Bass and, since May, Tommy Hilfiger. Its acquisition of Netherlands-based Tommy Hilfiger helped it more than double sales for the third quarter – to $1.5bn, (although profits slipped year-on-year to $80.7m from $86.6m the previous year).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE FRENCH and Brazilian governments have forged an unusual European-emerging market alliance, calling for increased coordination among G20 states during food supply crises, and tighter regulation of the global food market. They have issued a joint communiqué calling for the creation of global and regional food stocks, close monitoring of global cereal stocks especially, greater regulation of food market derivatives, and the creation of financial mechanisms (including price guarantees) to protect food producers from excessive price fluctuations.…

BY ROBERT STOKES

GRUPO Planeta, Spain’s foremost publishing and media group, has started distributing its entire Spanish language catalogue through Apple España’s iBookstore.

e-books from 24 of Planeta’s imprints can now be downloaded via iPad, iPhone, iPod touch and www.itunes.es

Leading Spanish and international authors feature among more than a thousand digital titles.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

The reform package for the European Union’s (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) released today has been so unpopular, it begs the question – is Europe really the best level of government to control food production subsidies?

The CAP has always been at the heart of the EU – part of the grand bargain that underpinned its launch in the 1950s between Germany and France.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is undertaking a major study on the environmental health dangers posed by endocrine disrupter chemicals – often used in textiles – promising to report back to the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers by December 31.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has been alarmed by coordinated ‘bot-net’ attacks on computer networks in Britain, Estonia, Georgia, France, and elsewhere, and is beefing up its cyber-defences. Keith Nuthall reports.

IT takes a lot to spark the lumbering bureaucratic behemoth known as the European Union (EU) into hasty action.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

DEFINING a niche drink is an arbitrary matter and what may pass as niche today may well be considered mainstream tomorrow. Flavoured vodka, for instance, had a relatively specialised following in Europe until a few years ago – now it is classified as an official spirit drink under European Union (EU) regulations.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

DEFINING a niche drink is an arbitrary matter and what may pass as niche today may well be considered mainstream tomorrow. Flavoured vodka, for instance, had a relatively specialised following in Europe until a few years ago – now it is classified as an official spirit drink under European Union (EU) regulations.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

THE MULTI-BILLION dollar cosmetics and fragrances industry in the Middle East’s six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has had a mixed few years in the wake of the global financial crisis, made more unpredictable by demographic change and purchasing behaviour shifts.…

BY LAWRENCE J SPEER

FRENCH carmaker Renault and recycling giant SITA France are increasing joint efforts to boost the recycling of materials from the country’s end-of-life vehicle (ELV) sector. The two companies aim to radically improve teardown, recycling and used-part recovery at 350 state-certified dismantlers nationwide.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A FINAL text of a new international Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has been agreed – protecting drinks manufacturers against illicit copies through tough criminal penalties for counterfeiters. This follows an agreement at ACTA talks in Tokyo this past weekend between the European Union (EU) and United States over the vexed question of brand rights versus geographical indication protection.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Parliament should refuse to grant the UK-based European Police College (CEPOL) a budget discharge for financial year 2008 because of poor spending controls, its budgetary control committee has said. The college has come under fire for accusations of reckless private expense claims.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

INDIA continues to attract international cosmetic and perfume brands as its consumer base and their spending grow. According to the United States Trade Mission to India, the country’s USD2.68 billion beauty and wellness market is growing at 15-20% annually, almost twice as fast as the United States and European markets.…

Dinah Gardner

After five years of work undertaken by 60 editors, the new Oxford University Press (OUP) English Chinese Dictionary is finally complete. The publication includes 370,000 translations, more than 2,000 pages and is the size of a small dog. In OUP own words it is "the world’s largest, most up-to-date, most accurate, and most authoritative single-volume Chinese-English / English-Chinese dictionary."…

BY MARK ROWE

INNOVATIVE packaging is transforming the drinks industry. Heavy tins and bottles are being replaced by lighter composite and biodegradeable materials; hi-tech cartons are being manufactured that tell consumers if the milk’s gone off; and RFID (radio frequency identification) tags are being embedded with temperature sensors.…

BY MARK ROWE

INNOVATIVE packaging is transforming the drinks industry. Heavy tins and bottles are being replaced by lighter composite and biodegradeable materials; hi-tech cartons are being manufactured that tell consumers if the milk’s gone off; and RFID (radio frequency identification) tags are being embedded with temperature sensors.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, ALAN OSBORN

The European Commission’s ‘stock taking document’ called Towards a new Energy Strategy for Europe 2011-2020, tries to take the recession and its effect into account when looking at EU energy policy for the next decade.

It warns that the economic crisis has temporarily depressed gas prices and created a gas supply glut and this could undermine political momentum towards making investments in infrastructure and supply sources.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE GLOBAL recession and tentative recovery have certainly tested the ingenuity of luxury cosmetics brands, with producers keen to keep costs low – but without compromising on quality – with packaging being a critical issue.

After some uncertainty, the luxury arm of the sector appears to be recovering, and fine packaging is helping them recoup revenue.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

THE FOUNDER and CEO of Canada’s book retail giant Indigo Books & Music Inc Heather Reisman has told The Bookseller she firmly believes paper books will survive and thrive in an increasingly digitalised world of bookselling, despite predicting ebooks will take a whopping 20% of the book market in the future.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the proposed sale of Belgium-based Polimeri’s polystyrene business, to France-owned Total Petrochemicals Feluy. Following an inquiry, the Commission concluded there were no major "competition concerns" and approved the deal without conditions. Total Petrochemicals Feluy makes commodity polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene), and is controlled by French fuel giant Total.…

BY KELLY WETHERILLE

FOR years Japan has been the world’s largest market for luxury goods, but change seems to be imminently on the horizon. Although brands like Hermes, Chanel and Louis Vuitton all still maintain several outlets throughout the country, many luxury brands are suffering due to a sluggish economy, which has helped trigger a newfound fascination with fast fashion.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission’s proposals to allow European Union (EU) member states effective control over whether GM food should be grown in their countries have come under fire in the European Parliament. Its environment committee has debated the plans, with Portuguese green MEP Marisa Matias and others raising concerns national bans on products approved for cultivation across the EU may be vulnerable to legal challenges, perhaps at the World Trade Organisation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A US Geological Survey expert has warned environmental difficulties could prevent Europe harvesting significant reserves of shale gas maybe in Britain, Germany, Sweden, Poland, France, Hungary and Austria. Research geologist Don Gauthier told a French Institute for Foreign Relations conference in Brussels the "high density" of wells required, including horizontal wells, could anger urbanised Europe.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

A LITTLE healthy competition can drive innovation – and often pays off for those who think outside the box. The beverage industry is no exception, and drinks industry awards continue to recognise some of the industry’s most creative ideas.…

BY LAWRENCE J SPEER

RECYCLING initiatives at Renault have boosted the use of recycled plastics in new cars and cut purchasing costs on some parts, but have yet to bring major cost savings for the French carmaker.

"If we order a piece in recycled plastic, we systematically insist on paying less than if it was made from virgin plastic," Fabrice Abraham, Renault’s recycling engineering manager, said during a recent environmental seminar in Paris.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) panel has refused to set an advisory limit for the intake of sugar by European Union (EU) consumers. EFSA’s panel on dietetic products, nutrition and allergies has concluded in a comprehensive assessment of dietary requirements for EU consumers “there was insufficient evidence to set an upper limit for sugars”.…

BY MARK GODFREY

EVEN as the Burmese government embarks on construction of an airport in its middle-of-nowhere capital Naypyidaw, traffic remains underwhelming at the county’s main international hub in Rangoon, officially known as Yangon.

Officially opened in May 2007, Yangon International Airport has so far struggled to justify its ambitious capacity of 2.7 million passengers per year set by Burma’s (official name Myanmar) Department of Transportation, which oversees the country’s airports.…

BY JULIAN RYALL

WITHOUT looking, Ryoichi Komaki, 57, reaches out and unerringly selects one out of hundreds of small, glass bottles that are arrayed on shelves around his desk. He unscrews the cap and dips an absorbent strip in the liquid.…

BY GAVIN BLAIR,KARRYN MILLER,ALAN OSBORN and KEITH NUTHALL

EVERY country had its own take on convenience stores. These retail traditions tend to be rooted in local cultures, making a certain combination of goods acceptable in one country, but not another. Rural Ireland, for instance, with its sparse population, has traditionally supported a bewildering array of convenience store offerings, mixing for retail with hardware, post offices, tobacco, newspapers, car repairs and more – and sometimes all at once.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

FRENCH retail giant Carrefour has confirmed to just-food it will open its first store in the Indian capital Delhi, aiming to open for business by the end of July. A company spokesperson told just-food.com that the 55,000 square feet shop would be located at the Metro Mall complex in the Seelampur area of east Delhi, and would offer 30,000 products.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE TOWN of Asbestos in French-speaking Québec, Canada – named after the mineral that underpins its economy – is waiting to see whether its provincial government will approve a Canadian dollar CAD58 million (US dollar USD56 million) loan enabling an underground mine to tap an immense deposit.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and PACIFICA GODDARD

MEXICO is to benefit from European Union (EU) expertise in improving its nuclear safety management as the country considers expanding its nuclear power output. Both sides wrote nuclear safety cooperation into a joint executive plan of what they call a ‘strategic partnership’, which was approved at a summit meeting in May, staged in Comillas, Cantabria, Spain.…

By Keith Nuthall, International News Services 

With the British general election looming this week and the prospect of a change in government, one issue seems to electrify UK electors and politicians above all others, and that is immigration. In a sense, this is not surprising. What could be more an issue of public policy that affects people’s daily lives that the management of who lives in a city, community, neighbourhood or even street?

We all interested in the culture, language, shopping needs, personalities and religion of our neighbours. How they live affects everyone. And when there is change in a community, that can be difficult to deal with – because new friends and acquaintances impact on daily lives.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

A PACKAGING system is only as strong as its conveyors, and they can come in all shapes, sizes and specifications. Indeed, countless types of conveyors exist to support every kind of application, yet in the last year – facing challenging economics – companies have been adding even more to the line-up, improving on old ideas and creating completely new ones to add innovative new conveyor options to the market for manufacturers across Europe.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

IN organised crime these days, it helps to be a linguist. Globalisation has taken organised crime – traditionally centred in one family, one city or one country – and expanded it to an international level, where criminals from all backgrounds, locations and, most importantly, languages can work together – making life even more difficult for often-monolingual law enforcement trying to keep up.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

THE IMPLEMENTATION of the India-USA civil nuclear agreement seems to face one hurdle after another. Despite the successful conclusion of nuclear fuel reprocessing agreement with India in March this year, the American corporations still cannot trade nuclear equipment and materials with Indian customers due to a lack of a nuclear civil liability regime in India.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

According to the US department of agriculture (USDA), about 70% of the 2.5 billion litres of fruit and vegetable juices sold in Mexico in 2009 were produced domestically. Mexico exported USdollar USD266.99 million worth of juices in 2009, compared to USD308.23 million in 2008 and USD247.29 million in 2007, according the UN Comtrade database.…

BY ANDREW CAVE

ALISON Cooper’s accession to chief executive of Britain’s Imperial Tobacco last month (May) put the UK tobacco industry in an unfamiliar position as the 43-year-old mother-of-two became just the fifth female chief executive in the flagship FTSE100 index.…

BY ALAN OSBORN, KARRYN MILLER, WANG FANGQING and GAVIN BLAIR

What’s the attraction of drinks own brands or private labels for the retailers? After all, if consumers are happy with commercial ‘national’ brands – then retailers can make money. "They exist because supermarkets are trying to build their supermarket values and their own relationship with their customers," says Richard Hall, chairman and founder of the international food and drink consultants Zenith International.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

BY its very nature, money laundering tells us that another crime is being, or has been committed. The detection of the act of money laundering itself is usually the handiwork of specialised Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) but these often do not have the resources or the responsibility to investigate the predicate crime.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPE’S slow digitisation of its rich literary treasures should receive a boost this year, with the European Commission establishing a ‘reflection group’ charged with helping clear technical and legal road-blocks.

It is supposed to report by December – and a key goal will be increasing content on Europeana, Europe’s digital library, whose 7 million digitised items, noted the Commission "represent only a fraction of Europe’s complete works".…

BY GEORGE STONE

THE KYOTO Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has made slow progress in Africa, but schemes are slowly getting off the ground, led by programmes in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.

Under the United Nations-backed CDM process, projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to sustainable development can earn saleable certified emission reduction (CER) credits.…

BY LEAH GERMAIN

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) alert system for potentially dangerous consumer products, RAPEX has – unusually – warned of recalls for cosmetic products produced in the EU, rather than outside member states. German authorities have issued a sales ban on fingernail-modelling gel from Nail Scout, a German-based company.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

ESTABLISHED cosmetics firms cannot tell Google to ban the use of their trademarks by rivals as keywords in search engine services, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. Judges said Louis Vuitton Malletier could not require Google to prevent third parties using its mark in its ‘AdWords’ service, allowing rivals’ websites to appear as highlighted links in searches on the French company’s name.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

ON January 12, Haitian accountant Kenny Laforest, 32, was having a normal day in Port-au-Prince. He had just started driving home having left his office when the earthquake that devastated his country struck. Speaking to Accountancy Age from the Haitian capital, he recalled: "I had just finished working.…

BY ALAN OSBORN, EMMA JACKSON, PAUL COCHRANE and JULIAN RYALL

INTRODUCTION

Professionalisation is a key trend in today’s drinks sector, particularly as export markets are growing fast in emerging markets. With brand loyalty up for grabs, it is critical for alcoholic drinks producers especially to maintain and raise quality.…

BY FLORENCE LABEDAYS

WHILE France contemplates banning access to hospitals for women wearing a full veil, French nurses prefer a practical approach to enable care while respecting their patients’ religious beliefs. Respectful communication with the patient is more important than legislation for a minority, nurses told the Nursing Standard.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

WITH maturing fields, a need for more expansive upstream capabilities, and domestic energy demand spiking year on year, the United Arab Emirates is investing more than US$50 billion (Euro 36.6 billion) on oil and gas projects over the next three years to nearly double output capacity by 2020.…

BY PHILLIPA JONES

DESPITE ever greater restrictions on smoking, the land of the Gauloises (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT) last year bucked trends with cigarette sales increasing by a small but significant 2% compared to 2008. According to British American Tobacco (BAT), the world’s second largest tobacco company, the industry benefited from a number of factors, most notably a reduction in the purchasing of cigarettes from neighbouring countries, pushing the number of sticks sold in France up 55.6 billion in 2009.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CANADA – the world’s second largest country by geography – was created because of luxury clothing: the fur trade drove French and British explorers to its remote interior, creating ports and processing hubs, now major cities, such as Montréal and Toronto.…

BY ANCA GURZU

WHEN it comes to perfume bottles, it is the attention to detail that speaks to luxury, and for the scent business packaging really can add value. The bottle attracts the consumer and sells the image – it is the door to the fragrance inside.…

BY MONIKA HANLEY

THE CLOSURE of the last functioning reactor in Lithuania’s Ignalina nuclear power plant facilities on December 31 has laid focus on the daunting decommissioning process currently underway with the help of several international agencies. Funding for this work is chiefly being made available by an Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund (IIDSF), which is managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD).…

BY EMMA JACKSON

THIS April, the long-awaited carbon reduction commitment (CRC) scheme will commence in the UK, bringing in the first phase of a carbon emissions trading programme unlike any other in Europe.

The programme covers virtually everything the European Union’s (EU) emissions trading scheme (ETS) does not: any corporation, company or business – including transport and agriculture – which consumes more than 6,000 megawatt hours (MWh) per year.…

BY GAVIN BLAIR

JAPAN’S Aeon Co. will sever all its ties with Carrefour when its licensing deal expires on March 9, renaming six outlets and phasing out Carrefour-branded merchandise.

The French retailer struggled after opening its first Japan store in 2000.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE and KEITH NUTHALL

SYRIA is such a staple of Middle East political turmoil, it is easy to forget that it is a near neighbour of Europe: less than 200 miles of sea separate it from Cyprus and it borders Turkey, which could be a European Union (EU) member by 2020.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

THE EUROPEAN Commission has committed Euro 17.9 million to market dairy products over three years across the European Union (EU). The money will be spent by dairy industry organisations in 11 member states, who will also contribute funds, along with their national governments.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FRANCE’S appointee as European Union (EU) internal market Commissioner could face tough questioning this Wednesday appearing before a panel of MEPs at the European Parliament in Brussels. The nomination of Michel Barnier, a close ally of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has raised criticism in the UK especially, over fears that he could burden The City of London and its financial institutions with red tape.…

BY PHILIPPA JONES

WITH so much competition in design and price within the apparel and textile sector, manufacturers are always looking for an edge. One way in which they can steal a march on competitors is with fibre innovation. And with new technology allowing the incorporation of increasingly complex arrays of chemicals and particles, even on the nano-scale, the opportunities to develop a revolutionary new fibre or mix of fibres are maybe greater today than ever before.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH

EFFORTS to boost food producers in their frequent quarrels with big-time retail chains have been promised by the European Union’s (EU) agriculture Commissioner-designate Dacian Ciolo? when he appeared before European Parliament lawmakers.

Speaking in a confirmation hearing in Brussels, he said he wanted "to improve the negotiating position" of food producers when dealing with large retailers: "I want to see a better dialogue between the various actors in the food chain.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EARTHQUAKE that has ravaged Haiti seriously damaged the air traffic control tower at Toussaint L’Ouverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, rendering it unusable. Denis Chagnon public information officer for the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) said: "It’s out of commission and non-operational."…

BY PHILIPPA JONES

FRANCE’S nominee as the next European Union (EU) internal market Commissioner has said he will press ahead with plans to impose regulatory controls on Europe’s financial sector, at a European Parliament hearing last night.

Questioning Michel Barnier during a three-hour grilling in Brussels, Godfrey Bloom UK Independence Party (UKIP) MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire pleaded for the City of London and its financial institutions to be left alone.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA

INTRODUCTION

"INDIA can emerge as a leader in the global food processing industry," said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in December 2009 while addressing a conference of food processing ministers of different Indian states in New Delhi, noting the country’s US$100 billion food processing sector grew by 14.7% in 2009.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH and KEITH NUTHALL

THE POWER industry has good reason to pay more attention than usual to the anticipated appointment of a new European Union (EU) energy Commissioner this February 10. Under the newly ratified Treaty of Lisbon, the EU has gained constitutional authority to frame energy policy in general for all 27 member states.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

DECLARED "an energetic and seductive city" by Giorgio Armani, Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, is a hotspot for fashion and design. Often called the ‘Paris of Latin America’, Buenos Aires consumers are well known for favouring trendy attire, and Argentine designers are developing a reputation globally for their creativity and excellent fashion sense.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AFTER the disappointment of the Copenhagen summit on climate change, it is perhaps encouraging to note that the auto industry – so often painted as the bad boy of the climate change issue – really is reducing its vehicles’ carbon dioxide emissions.…

BY LEE ADENDORFF, ERIC LYMAN and KEITH NUTHALL

INTRODUCTION

THE ITALIAN wine industry hit rock bottom a generation ago, when thousands of bottles of Italian wine were found laced with deadly levels of methanol, a key ingredient in antifreeze that had been used to raise the alcohol content of the wine.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A YEAR of struggle would be the best way to sum up 2009 as far as the global clothing and textile industry is concerned. The depth and severity of the worldwide recession left many clothing and textile companies reeling, even impacting upon China, which had previously been dominating global markets.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE PLANNED shape of a new European Commission for the next five years has been unveiled, and it includes recreating a new single directorate general (DG) for energy. Since 2000, the Commission has operated a joint directorate general for energy and transport, but with the growing importance of the energy brief to the European Union (EU), energy policy will receive a new separate directorate general.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FRANCE’S nominee to the new European Commission has publicly declared he will try to influence the Romanian proposed as the new agriculture Commissioner. Speaking at a press conference in Paris, Michel Barnier, who has been allotted the powerful internal market brief, said: "He will be independent but I will give him my opinion," a potentially undiplomatic statement given the concerns aired about French influence over nominee Dacian Ciolo?.…

By Katherine Dunn, International News Services

The travails of Roman Polanski in Switzerland this autumn have offered some lessons to the world’s wanted over extradition laws and how to deal with them. The Polish director has of course been living in France, with little fear of extradition, since 1978, when he fled the USA facing statutory rape charges. Only now of course this autumn was he arrested on an American warrant on a visit to Switzerland, while movie stars and directors crowed for his release.

Now, he is out on bail, secured with the help of French president Nicholas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni, who intervened on Polanski’s behalf. 

As Polanski languishes in Alpine house arrest in a luxury Swiss chalet, it’s clear that extradition is still, at base, a political decision – and to avoid it, one key is not supporting international causes unpopular with powerful governments.…