Archive

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is investigating whether Brazil has failed to stick to a promise to scrap a minumum-price regime on certain textile products, which had restricted the amount of EU exports that could enter its market.

World Trade Organisation disputes proceedings had been launched by Brussels because of the problem, which especially affected ‘home textiles,’ such as mattress ticking, carpets and rugs, with Belgian and Spanish producers being the hardest hit.…

KEITH NUTHALL
FRANCE has been ordered by the European Commission to recover 100 million French Francs, (Euro 15.2 million), which it paid to ailing textile and clothing company Manufacture Corre(E IS ACUTE)zienne de Ve(E HAS CIRCUMFLEX)tements Ve(E HAS CIRCUMFLEX)tements (MCV).

Brussels had not been notified about the payments, which it says broke EU state aid rules, because they did not promote effective investment in the company which would have allowed it to become self-sufficient.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE MONGOLIAN government has told the World Trade Organisation that it has removed all restrictions on the import of textile and clothing products, abiding by article 3.1of the WTO Agreement on Textile and Clothing.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE, in Columbo
THE FOOTWEAR group Floresheim has ended its leather contract with India, warning that it would not renew a purchase deal unless the Government in New Delhi takes measures to improve treatment of animals, the Press Trust of India has reported.…

Keith Nuthall
A REPORT from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) calling for liberalisation is a little like a report from the Pope suggesting more prayer, but the world’s premier international think tank has refined its arguments regarding utilities in a recent formal recommendation to its member governments.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced that it will review European Union legislation on the shipment of radioactive waste, with a view to making them simpler to understand and operate. Officials are to identify provisions that are “burdensome and costly for users,” which can be scrapped without compromising the overall objectives of the relevant EU laws.…

KEITH NUTHALL
WATER has no great value in itself. It is it what it helps create that counts. And for every improvement in efficiency in water use, communities and companies get richer and consume less water when doing so. It is what economists call a virtuous circle.…

KEITH NUTHALL
IN the world’s continually growing urban communities, household consumption of water accounts for the bulk of demand, and as such, has to be the target of conservation strategies, for them to maximise their effectiveness.

However, a rather gloomy report from the European Environment Agency has claimed that high prices and lack of information are preventing many households from using devices that can substantially cut their water consumption.…

BY KATE REW
ONE of the catalysts, which sparked the drafting of the American Constitution, was a long-running and sometimes bloody dispute between the states of Maryland and Virginia, over the use and control of the Potomac River. Although the battle is no longer bloody, wrangling continues between the two US states, with the Maryland State Court this month came down in favour of Virginia over the proposed construction of a 725 foot water pipeline in to the river, which

Maryland objected to on environmental grounds.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
EXPERTS from 54 countries and five international organisations are considering the results of a simulated nuclear accident at the French reactor at Gravelines, near the border with Belgium, across the English Channel. The exercise, which was carried out on May 22-23rd, was to test national and international procedures following a nuclear emergency, the co-ordination of information, and the effectiveness of advisory and decision-making mechanisms.…