Archive

Keith Nuthall
MEMBER governments of the World Trade Organisation have agreed to embark on two-phase talks to meet the 2003 deadline for completing negotiations on a multilateral registration system for geographical indications of wines and spirits.

The WTO’s TRIPS (trade related aspects of intellectual property rights) council has broadly agreed that a single draft document should be written by early next year, even if this included alternative options.…

Keith Nuthall
MEMBER governments of the World Trade Organisation have agreed to embark on two-phase talks to meet the 2003 deadline for completing negotiations on a multilateral registration system for geographical indications of wines and spirits.

The WTO’s TRIPS (trade related aspects of intellectual property rights) council has broadly agreed that a single draft document should be written by early next year, even if this included alternative options.…

Keith Nuthall
BEER, cider and perry producers from outside the European Union will be able to oppose the registration of EU-made products on a Brussels register of geographical indications, under reforms to the system tabled by EU agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler.…

BY RICHARD HURST
SOUTH African exporters of low value items, notably coal and steel, are reported to be negotiating with the country’s National Ports Authority (NPA) for reductions in the cargo dues that have resulted from recent tariff increases. Nigel Stevens managing director of Richard’s Bay Coal terminal said that the added terminal and wharfage costs of roughly Rand 1.9 billion a year could seriously damage the coal mining industry in South Africa.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NATIONAL regulatory authorities in the European Union have the power to decide whether the cross-border transport of waste to infill a disused mine is, in effect, underground landfilling, and so should be subject to tight EU rules regulating such shipments.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
CANADIAN Tobacco growers are still waiting for their country’s cigarette companies, such as Imperial Tobacco, to stump up their share of an CAN $80 million programme, initiated by the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers Marketing Board, to retrofit kilns to destroy nitrosamine, a substance Health Canada declared toxic two years ago, by introducing indirect heat to the curing process.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
ONTARIO’S tobacco auctions have been wrapped up for the 2001 crop, which has proved to be a successful year for growers in the key Canadian province, being blessed with a very dry summer.

A tally of 117,094,080 pounds of tobacco was sold at an average price of CAN$1.79 per pound, up two cents from last year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PRICE of tobacco products fell in developing countries from 1990-2000, according to the World Health Organisation, which has concluded that they are now “sometimes even cheaper than bread or rice.” By contrast, the WHO tobacco price trends study assessing more than 80 countries concluded that cigarettes have become more expensive in most industrialised countries, such as Norway, Australia and Hong Kong.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has accused the European Commission of putting the cart before the horse by attempting to begin a phasing out of tobacco growing subsidies, before a long term review on whether they should survive has taken place.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has refused to abandon its American lawsuit against Phillip Morris, Japan Tobacco and R.J. Reynolds Nabisco, despite its case being thrown out by the New York District Court. Brussels has announced that it will not only appeal, but will prepare a new case focusing on money laundering allegations.…