Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
EU/WTO FOOD AND DRINK REGULATORY ROUND UP – EFSA CRACKS DOWN ON BPA
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has declared it will impose an effective European Union (EU) ban on using plastics containing the ingredient bisphenol A (BPA) as food contact materials. It is consulting on plans to reduce a tolerable daily intake by consumers of BPA to almost zero – 0.04 nanograms per kilogram of body weight per day.…
INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL ROUND UP - SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING BODIES PLEDGE COOPERATION WITH ISSB’S FIRST LEADER
The IFRS Foundation has appointed former Danone CEO Emmanuel Faber as chair of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), which is developing global sustainable reporting standards. His initial term is for three years. Faber has stressed the importance of sustainability information for investment decisions.…
EU ADDS PROSECUTORIAL MUSCLE TO ANTI-FRAUD EFFORTS – IT MAY REDUCE CRIMEEU ADDS PROSECUTORIAL MUSCLE TO ANTI-FRAUD EFFORTS – IT MAY REDUCE CRIME
The complexity of the European Union (EU) and its institutions has long a honeypot for fraudsters, but 2021 saw an unprecedented increase in EU anti-crime capacity building. Will this deliver results? There is evidence it may. Keith Nuthall reports.
If the EU’s anti-fraud unit OLAF is to be believed, financial scams impacting EU expenditure and revenue generation are already on the decline.…
NGO SAYS UK FINES AND SEIZURES SHOULD BE RING-FENCED FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT BUDGETS
The British government should ringfence assets recovered from fighting economic crime to reinvest into law enforcement agencies through a central fund, according to a January 2022 report from Spotlight on Corruption. ‘Closing the UK’s economic crime enforcement gap: Proposals for boosting resources for UK law enforcement to fight economic crime’ (1) was released following a review of five years’ resourcing for British agencies fighting economic crime, which includes corruption, bribery, money laundering and fraud.…
AMERICAS DIGITAL INKS – DEEP DIVE
INTRODUCTION
The growth in digital textile printing across the Americas has created a surge in demand for a wide range of digital inks, which is spreading into Latin America as well as north America. The adaptability and broad uses of digital inks, for garments, household products, technical textiles, and more, fits the diversity of the textile sector in the Americas, which spans higher wage industries such as US textile production to lower cost manufacture in central America.…
MALAWI HIGHER EDUCATION REGULATOR STRUGGLES TO MAINTAIN QUALITY AT ACCREDITED UNIVERSITIES
Malawi’s National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) has been accused of allowing accredited universities to operate and deliver academic programmes that breach the minimum requirements it must set under national law.
The claims come as the NCHE has launched a five-year strategic plan lasting until 2026, which will – for instance – involve the agency improving oversight and its human resources, while enhancing transparency, accountability, governance and management systems.…
BOSNIAN HALAL FOOD PRODUCERS SEEK ADDITIONAL SALES IN OVERSEAS MARKETS
HALAL food producers from Bosnia & Herzegovina (B&H) are increasingly their competitiveness in European regional and worldwide food markets. This country, with 3.2 million inhabitants (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=BA), of which more than 50% are Muslims, in 2006 established an Agency for Halal Quality Certification (https://www.halal.ba/index.php/en/pocetna/o-agenciji),…
SUSTAINABILITY ACCOUNTING STANDARDS – IMPACT ON TEXTILES INDUSTRY
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.…
REPORT HIGHLIGHTS KILLINGS OF STUDENTS AND ACADEMICS WORLDWIDE OVER FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND CONSCIENCE
Universities in Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, Madagascar, Nigeria and Yemen have been highlighted as institutions where academics or students were killed because of their beliefs or activism in the past academic year, though a report from campaign group Scholars at Risk (SAR).…
MATERNITY SUPPORT GARMENTS SECTOR IS MAJOR GROWTH SEGMENT THAT REQUIRES STANDARDISATION WORK
It is maybe surprising that maternity support garments (MSGs) are still a niche segment, even though women of childbearing age constitute approximately one-quarter of the populations of developed countries. Indeed, tubular bands made out of cotton and elastane are still commonly used instead of MSGs across the world. …