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.
CERAMIC EXPORTERS
BY ALAN OSBORN
SIGNIFICANT opportunities for British and other ceramic exporters have opened up in China following Beijing’s agreement to the terms of its accession to the World Trade Organisation. Under the deal, China has agreed to reduce tariffs on 11 key ceramics products from between 24.5 and 35 per cent to between 10 and 15 per cent by 2005, including ceramic and porcelain tiles and ceramic tableware.…
PLASTIC FILM RAID
BY ALAN OSBORN
SIX European producers of plastic film are being investigated for possible price-fixing, the European Commission announced today Friday. “Dawn raids” on companies in Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden and the UK, were carried out by competition officials from Brussels, and the national governments on August 22nd announced a spokesman for Mario Monti, EU competition commissioner.…
BASF FUNGICIDE
BY MONICA DOBIE
BASF Agricultural Products has developed a new fungicide with an active ingredient that targets speciality crops such as grapes, fruits, vegetables and turf, as well as the oilseed rape and other field crops usually targeted by such products.…
PENTA BDE
BY ALAN OSBORN
EU ministers have unanimously agreed that for safety reasons the flame-retardant pentabromodiphenyl ether (Penta BDE) (PH) should be banned from sale in the 15 member countries. This “political agreement” will be ratified shortly and the ban will begin “as soon as possible.”…
BY ALAN OSBORN
POTENTIALLY significant export and investment opportunities for British and other EU chemical companies in one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing markets have been opened up by an agreement revealed today (Wednesday) on the terms for China to join the World Trade Organisation.…
FERTILISER DIRECTIVE
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has put forward a new single regulation to simplify and bring under one heading the 18 fertiliser directives in the EU which it says have become too complex and diverse. Brussels says the new regulation will ensure the free circulation of fertilisers by clarifying their characteristics, including composition, labelling and packaging.…
PENTA BDE VOTE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has tightened proposed restrictions on the use of pentaBDE, (pentabromodiphenyl ether), because of concerns that the flame retardant used to make fire-proof furniture and upholstery harms human health and the environment and has been found in increasing quantities in breast milk.…
REPRODUCTION BANKNOTES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Central Bank has ordered that non-currency reproductions of Euro banknotes should in future be one-sided only, countermanding earlier rules that allowed double-sides copies to be made. The permitted size of specimen copes will remain at 125 per cent or larger or 75 per cent or smaller of the relevant notes and any material can be used for their reproduction.…
TRIPS LATEST
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DEVELOPING countries have banded together at the World Trade Organisation to call for its Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPs) to be interpreted as allowing their governments to take any steps “to protect public health,” including the authorisation of generic production of medicines under patent.…