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.
POLAND - CHINA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE POLISH government has withdrawn its complaint against China at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that an increase in imports of Chinese footwear was of such a level to break China’s WTO’s accession agreement. It means scheduled formal talks will not take place in Geneva.…
POLAND - LOW DUTY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
POLAND has formally asked the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers if it can lower the VAT rate it charges on shoe repairs, taking advantage of a right extended to all member states, following its accession to the EU on May 1.…
OLYMPIC GAMES SHOES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has called on the organisers of this year’s Olympic Games in Greece to ensure that any sports footwear used by athletes has been manufactured under International Labour Organisation (ILO) codes, especially those banning the use of child labour.…
WTO QUOTAS - EU IMPACT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WHEN the European Union (EU) signed up to an Agreement on Textiles and Clothing at the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) last Uruguay Round that foresaw the scrapping of import quotas at the start of 2005, it is hard to imagine it viewing the deal as a way to boost production in knitted products.…
CAP REFORM - COTTON
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE MAJORITY of cotton growing subsidies in the European Union (EU) will from 2006 be de-linked from production – mostly paid as single direct payments to growers – the EU Council of Ministers has decided at a special meeting on Common Agricultural Policy reform.…
UZBEK LOANS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FUTURE provision of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) loans to large textile product producers in Uzbekistan is in doubt, following a decision to concentrate future funding on private sector initiatives. Publicly owned textile businesses in the country’s state-dominated economy would only get money for cross-border initiatives involving neighbouring countries.…
EU COUNTERFEITING PIRACY
Keith Nuthall
THE TEXTILE and clothing industry should benefit from a newly approved directive on fighting counterfeiting, the European Commission has claimed. The legislation widens powers available to EU customs and trading officials to seize fake goods and also for rights holders to secure the destruction and recall of illegal goods, plus financial compensation, injunctions and damages.*…
IMF SAFETY NET
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a new Trade Integration Mechanism (TIM) financial facility, which will allow it to help countries meeting balance of payments shortfalls resulting from multilateral trade liberalisation, especially the end of textile trade quotas this December.…
SHEET RECALL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE GERMAN government has warned the European Commission’s consumer product safety service RAPEX of a voluntary product recall by bedding supplier Espalma, because of the use of the toxin pentachlorophenol in some of its bed linen, duvet covers and pillows.…
TURKEY CONCERNS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
TURKISH textile and clothing producers have “come under intense imports pressure” following the third stage of liberalisation under the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, Turkey has claimed. A letter to the WTO Textiles Monitoring Body said: “Especially knitwear, preparation and spinning of textile fibres, leather, fur, yarn, woven and the clothing industry as a whole have been negatively affected.”…