Search Results for: World Trade Organisation⊂mit=Search

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE INTERNATIONAL Labour Organisation (ILO) has highlighted ways in which tobacco companies worldwide ease the pain caused to its workers when they lose their jobs through global downsizing. A recent ILO report, called Employment Trends in the Tobacco Sector: Challenges and Prospects analyses how the use of better technology and cheaper labour in developing countries has resulted in the loss of jobs in richer countries, despite increases in production.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FARMERS may know them as the high priests of capitalism and expect them to preach against agricultural subsidies, but a recent report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has laid bare doubts that a truly effective farm support system has yet been invented, let alone implemented.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission and Vietnam have struck a new textile and clothing trade deal. Until 2005, the EU will increase the size of Vietnam textile and clothing export quotas by between 50 and 75 per cent, generating Euro 200 million of trade opportunities and boosting Vietnamese exports to the EU by 25 per cent.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT is a rule of thumb that when trade grows, so does crime. So it is no surprise that counterfeiters have taken advantage of the growth in commerce within the European Union to sell an increasing number of fake goods.…

BY MARK ROWE and ALAN OSBORN, in London, PHILIP FINE and MONICA DOBIE, in Montreal, and RICHARD HURST, in Johannesburg

RATCHETING up security has been a prime concern of the nuclear industry since the September 11 attacks, with all countries possessing commercial reactors addressing the issue to some extent.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has approved some wide-ranging reforms to EU textile trade regulations – noted last year by Textile Month – covering the import of samples and the imposition of possible safeguard duties on Chinese imports.…

BY MARK ROWE
SINGAPORE, said to be the world’s most expensive place to buy a car, has scrapped legal requirements for would-be buyers to hand over a 30 per cent down payment on purchases. Instead of having to pay up-front fees of at least US$11,000, in future they will be able to pay for the whole car on credit.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A SIGNIFICANT reduction of the number of cases for which an export refund can be granted for the trade in live animals has been announced by the European Commission. Brussels says it is acting to take account of animal welfare concerns.…

Keith Nuthall
THE INTERNATIONAL Chamber of Commerce has drawn up global guidelines for customs officials worldwide, to promote the efficient and secure handling of containers at a time when controls are being tightened to fight terrorism. The advice has been submitted to the World Customs Organisation and national customs administrations; they include a checklist of good practice, such as greater reliance on sophisticated risk assessment and control techniques.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation of the World Bank is heading up a groundbreaking aid deal that will try to foster key local companies who will be responsible for maintaining and managing piplelines sending natural gas and oil from central Asia to the European Union.…