Archive

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has formally proposed stripping immunity from existing EU anti-dumping duties on imports of Polish pallets enjoyed by seven companies, who will henceforth, (assuming EU ministers agree the move), pay the tariffs. Six of the companies were found to have broken promises not to dump pallets on the EU market, while one is an associated company.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
ROTHMANS, Benson & Hedges Inc. has filed a lawsuit against the Saskatchewan provincial government, arguing that the province’s recent Tobacco Control Act, which bans the display in shops of tobacco products, is unconstitutional under Canadian federal law.

The case filed in the prairie province’s Court of Queen’s Bench, claims that the legislation that came into effect on March 11, 2002, violates Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms and federal tobacco legislation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN UNCHARACTERISTIC failure to be punctual is the reason why the German government lost a bid at the European Court of Justice to overturn last year’s European Union directive on tobacco manufacturing and labelling.

Berlin officials had until last October 11 to launch an appeal against the law, which had been published in the EU Official Journal on July 18.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN football association UEFA launched a joint-anti smoking campaign with the European Commission on the eve of the World Cup in Japan and South Korea. The two organisations booked television advertising space to broadcast their anti-tobacco message, using international footballers including French star Zinedine Zidane and Portugal’s Luis Figo.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
IMPERIAL Tobacco Canada has recently unveiled its new head office in central Montreal. The new CAN$32.7 million facility is located across from the company’s old headquarters. Construction was completed in 11months marking the latest phase of a modernisation programme in which the company invested CAN$300 million.…

BY MARK ROWE
FRENCH scientists may have found the first biological evidence that tobacco can make smokers less intelligent and more forgetful. Scientists at the Paris-based National Institute for Health and Medical Research found in tests on rats that the harmful nicotine in cigarettes destroys brain cells and impedes production of new ones.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE IRISH parliament, the Dail, has recently passed legislation giving ministers to the power to ban the advertising or display of tobacco products in shops. Ireland is the first state within the EU to agree such a regulation, a move which may encourage similar policies in other Member States.…

Keith Nuthall
FIBRE plant breeders can from June market their products in the European Union as broad categories of varieties and as hybrids of old species under changes to EU seed legislation approved by the Council of Ministers.…

BY RICHARD HURST, in Johannesburg
A TEXTILE manufacturer in Newcastle, South Africa, has been ordered by the South African Department of Labour to pay SA Rand 501,287 (around US$50,000) owing in back-pay to 87 workers. Pranton Textiles has been cited for disregarding the minimum wage regulations, along with the neighbouring Three Circle and Python textile companies, which have been told to stump up Rand 32,000 collectively.…

KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy has sought to counteract criticism that the EU is failing to sufficiently help small cotton producers in Africa. In a public statement, he has highlighted the ongoing liberalisation of import quotas, notably the duty free access for cotton from the ACP (Africa, Carabbean and Pacific) countries that have close links with Brussels.…