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.
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU Council of Ministers has added wool to the list of possible products that can be protected by EU geographical indication legislation, that provides protection to names marketing traditionally made agricultural products from defined regions in Europe.…
BED LINEN REVERSAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INDIAN government has been celebrating an unexpected victory in the long running bed linen dispute with the European Union, after a World Trade Organisation appellate body overturned a ruling that the EU had complied with an earlier order to review its anti-dumping duties on imports of the product from India.…
BED LINEN APPEAL COMMENT
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission is claiming partial victory in its dispute with India at the World Trade Organisation over the EU decision to impose anti-dumping duties on sales of Indian bed linen, despite Geneva’s declaration that Brussels had suffered a reversal at the hands of the WTO appellate body.…
UZBEKISTAN - EBRD
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the OPEC Fund are teaming up to lend US$13 million and US$5 million respectively to finance the construction of a textile plant in Chirchik, Uzbekistan, to manufacture high-quality knitted cotton garments (underwear, nightgowns and t-shirts) for export.…
VIETNAM DEAL
KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States Trade Representative office has published the details of the unconfirmed textile trade agreement that the USA has negotiated with Vietnam. It is available on the Internet at
http://www.ustr.gov/regions/asia-pacific/2003-04-25-Vietnam-textiles-summary.pdf…
EU ENLARGEMENT
KEITH NUTHALL
EASTERN European countries looking to join the European Union need to make efficiency improvements to their textile industries, so that they can face the challenge of membership and the impending abolition of quotas under the World Trade Organisations Agreement in Textiles and Clothing.…
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
BY ALAN OSBORN
WOOL is to be added to the list of products that can be protected by the European Union’s (EU) geographical indication legislation, agriculture ministers have agreed in Brussels. These laws safeguard traditional marketing descriptions for wool and woollen products based on geographical names such as Scotland, the Shetlands, Yorkshire, Wales, Witney, Otterburn etc.…
SPAIN - ECJ TANNERY CASE
BY ALAN OSBORN
SPAIN is facing legal action at the hands of the European Commission over its failure to respond to a request for information on how it has applied the EU’s environmental Impact Assessment Directive with regard to a waste-water treatment plant serving tanneries at Lorca in Murcia.…
ECJ VAT CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A BRITISH footwear importer has won a case at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which should lead it to hold onto GBPounds 38,085 in import duties repaid by the UK Customs and Excise, with judges saying customs officials could not reverse their earlier decision to return the money.…
LIIKANEN SPEECH
Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to launch a joint review with the European Union’s (EU) footwear industry of EU policies and programmes designed to promote innovation and competition in the sector.
EU enterprise Commissioner Erkki Liikanen told the World Footwear Congress, in Brussels, that his officials and business representatives would “take a close look to these issues in the footwear industry of the enlarged EU,” which will include eastern European countries from 2005.…