Archive

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WITH counterfeiting of the Euro currency increasing, the European Central Bank (ECB) has released advice to businesses on how to spot fake notes, without installing special equipment. “You only need to check a few features. Just feel the banknote, look at it and tilt it.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN research network has developed a quality offset press that it claims is flexible enough to thrive in the plastic films, paper or aluminium packaging sectors. The independent EUREKA network’s ‘variable sleeve offset printing’ project had to reduce the cost of machine parts printing variable sizes “as there are no standard sizes in packaging applications”, said a project memorandum.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) disputes panel has ruled that the United States broke its rules when renewing maintain anti-dumping duties against Argentine exports of oil country tubular goods (OCTG), but has refrained from ordering their repeal. Instead, the US will have to review its tariff against this complex ruling and see whether it can justify their imposition legally using procedures mandated by the panel.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has suspended anti-dumping duties imposed since 1997 on certain seamless pipes and tubes of iron or non-alloy steel from Russia and Romania because of concerns they were based on corrupted data.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
LEGAL bloody-mindedness is an occupational hazard in France, but Usinor subsidiary and inactive iron ore mine company Lormines has really come a cropper. At the European Court of Justice, Lormines has failed to summon protection from the European Commission against “discriminatory” charges by the French government for safety works.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INDIAN government has launched the first stage of disputes proceedings at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), complaining about anti-dumping duties imposed by the European Union (EU) in 2000 on hot-rolled steel coils. India wants formal talks with Brussels, claiming discrimination over the EU’s failure to impose anti-dumping duties on the same products from Egypt, Slovakia and Turkey, despite a European Commission investigation showing they were dumping coils and damaging EU producers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FRENCH government has been ordered by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to scrap its “gold alloy” designation for lower carats of gold with a fineness of 375 or 585 parts per thousand. Under French regulations, only gold with a purity of more than 750 parts per thousand (18 carat) can be sold as “gold” to the public.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRANCE is being threatened with a second case at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over alleged restrictive practices regarding precious metals. The European Commission wants France to scrap rules preventing the sale of precious metals to carrying fineness and manufacturing marks from another European Union country (EU).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ANTI-DUMPING duties imposed since 1997 on certain seamless pipes and tubes of iron or non-alloy steel from Russia and Romania will probably be suspended because of concerns they were based on corrupted data. The European Commission has said their founding calculations could have been influenced by two cartels, (an European Union (EU)-Japan and a purely European network), that were formally unmasked last year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SHAKE UP in the World Bank’s lending guidelines for extractive industries will probably see future loans being tied to good governance and environmental safeguards. A proposal released by the bank’s board for public consultation says that the bank should use “explicit good governance indicators in assessing and designing projects” in the industrial mineral, oil, gas, metal ore and sold fuel sectors.…