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.
OLAF REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FIGHT against cigarette smuggling was a key priority of EU anti-fraud organisation OLAF in 2000-2001, says its new annual report. Its officers have tracked the routes and means of transport used to move illicit cigarettes in ex-Yugoslavian countries and established the final destination of contraband cigarettes and staging post warehouses.…
ROTHMANS PROFITS
BY MONICA DOBIE
ROTHMANS Inc., (Canada), has reported increased year-on-year profits of 34.6 per cent to CAN$24.1 million or CAN$0.73 per share for the second quarter which ended on September 30, compared with $17.9 million or 54 cents per share in the same period last year.…
PREMIUMS AND GUARANTEE THRESHOLDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has published new proposals for tobacco growing subsidies for the 2002, 2003 and 2004 harvests; they underline Brussels’ policies to phase out the cultivation of unpopular leaf varieties and also to channel money into helping growers abandon the industry.…
EXCISE COMPUTERISATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EU ministers have been asked to approve a formal plan to computerise and coordinate the European Union’s customs procedures controlling the movement and surveillance of excisable products, such as tobacco. The EU Decision establishes a Euro 35 million budget to set up the system within five years.…
SPORTS SMOKING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation has announced that it has struck an agreement with international sports governing bodies to launch an anti-tobacco campaign; it would aim at persuading sports participants and spectators to abandon smoking, (including in stadiums, and block tobacco advertising, promotion and marketing.…
WORD TOBACCO
BY ALAN OSBORN
The European Commission has announced a significantly tougher regime for EU tobacco growers for the period 2002 to 2004, openly admitting that the revised scheme “sets the scene for allowing the phasing out of subsidies.” EU leaders agreed at their summit meeting in Gothenberg in June that the subsidies should be brought to an end in parallel with measures to develop alternative sources of income for tobacco workers and growers.…
DOHA SUMMIT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CLOTHING importers should witness an acceleration in the scrapping of quotas restricting cargoes they can purchase abroad, because of an agreement struck at the recent summit of the World Trade Organisation, in Qatar. Ministers agreed that the implementation of the WTO Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, (which will scrap most quotas by 2005), should be speeded up, especially for small suppliers.…
SRI LANKAN RANGE
BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE, in Columbo
KEY Sri Lankan footwear player D. Samson & Sons Ltd has launched a cosmopolitan range of ladies footwear, “Personality Walk,” through its exclusive outlets in the country. The company is hoping that the range will persuade Sri Lankan consumers to abandon their taste for imported shoes.…
RULES OF ORIGIN
Keith Nuthall
TECHNICAL specialists on the manufacture of shoes, hats and umbrellas have struck, or are nearing, agreement, on the establishment of international rules of origin for these fashion accessories; these would state the degree of processing required for their components to be collectively considered a new product.…
EGYPT AND LAOS
Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has authorised the European Commission to open negotiations on renewing two international textile trade agreements. These are the existing textile commerce accord with Laos and also the memorandum of agreement on textile products with Egypt.…