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Search Results for: South Africa

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ASIAN PAINT REGULATORY ROUND UP – INDONESIAN EXTERIOR PAINT STILL USES LEAD, WARNS WORLD BANK 

A World Bank study released in October revealed that 58% of Indonesian households with visible interior paint still use products containing lead, posing significant health risks, especially to children under five. An estimated 10.2 million young Indonesian children live in homes with lead-based paint, with 14% of them at heightened risk from deteriorating paint conditions, according to the report.

It said 77% of popular paint brands on sale in Indonesia exceed safe lead levels, contributing to long-term health issues such as reduced IQ, neurological disorders, and cardiovascular problems. 
 
The country’s industry ministry denied the report’s claims, stating that Indonesia’s decorative paints meet national standards, which limit lead content to below 90 parts per million (ppm), in line with World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations. 
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ASIAN PAINT REGULATORY ROUND UP – CHINA CRITICISES EUROPEAN TITANIUM DIOXIDE ANTI-DUMPING DUTY

The China National Coatings Industry Association has complained that a European Union (EU) anti-dumping investigation into Chinese exports of titanium dioxide have sparked anti-dumping tariff rates far higher than expected. The provisional anti-dumping rates announced by the European Commission in July were 39.7% for the Longbai Group, 14.4% for Anhui Jinxing Titanium Dioxide Group, 35% for other responding companies, and 39.7% for other non-responding companies.

The China Coatings Industry Association warned that if this tax rate is implemented, it will seriously affect the exports of Chinese titanium dioxide companies and the future development of the industry. 
 
*The Indonesian Paint Manufacturers Association (APCI – Asosiasi Produsen Cat di Indonesia) has worked with the government to launch a high school programme, promoting and explaining paint technology.  
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ASIAN PAINT REGULATORY ROUND UP – VIETNAM EXPANDS IMPORT SAFETY CONTROLS TO ALL CHEMICAL INPUTS 

Vietnam’s ministry of industry and trade (MOIT) has released a draft amendment to the country’s Law on Chemicals. The draft amendment stipulates that all chemicals, including paint and coating ingredients, must be declared when imported through Vietnam’s National Single Window Information Portal.

Under current regulations, only certain chemicals must be declared when imported, leading to the possibility of many dangerous and toxic chemicals imported into Vietnam. The MOIT explained that this weakness was especially relevant for new chemicals imported into Vietnam for the first time, impeding the government’s ability to update the list of chemicals that must be declared, hindering the identification of new chemicals, needed to apply management and safety procedures. 
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UNESCO-BACKED DEBATE AT COP-28 TOLD UNIVERSITIES SHOULD PURSUE CLEAR AND TARGETED SUSTAINABILITY POLICIES



Practical programmes and strategies that enable universities and colleges to drive forward sustainable practices and knowledge to fight and manage climate change are increasingly needed, a UNESCO-sponsored workshop heard this week in Dubai.

Staged on Wednesday (December 6) as the United Arab Emirates hosts the COP28 conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) this month, HE experts stressed such work needs to extend to less economically developed countries.…

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EUROPEAN TEXTILE MANUFACTURERS CALL FOR COMPETITIVENESS TEST TO KEEP INDUSTRY CREATIVE



European textile companies increasingly overburdened by regulation say each new piece of European Union (EU) regulation they face should be assessed on the grounds of how it helps industry succeed in an increasingly competitive market. They say more should be done to boost a sector that employs 1.3 million workers in 192,000 companies and provides more than EUR67 billion’s worth of exports to the 27-country bloc, according to the European Apparel and Textile Confederation (Euratex).…

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VIETNAMESE GARMENT SECTOR UNDER GROWING PRESSURE TO BECOME MORE SUSTAINABLE



Vietnam’s businesses in export-focused garments and footwear manufacturing are facing up to the challenge of becoming greener. This realisation comes even as the country benefits from free trade agreements (FTA), such as the 2019 European Union (EU)-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the 2020 UK–Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA).…

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ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT, ANALYSTS PESSIMISTIC ABOUT COUNTRY’S REINSTATEMENT INTO AGOA IN 2024



Ethiopia government and analysists are both pessimistic that the US government will soon reinstate the Horn of Africa country into the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). America suspended Ethiopia from the free trade act in late December 2021, because of the ongoing civil war with the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).…

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DRUGS BRINGING IN AS MUCH MONEY AS LEGITIMATE BUSINESSES SAYS UN



Cross-border drug and migrant trafficking is booming with billions of dollars being earned by crime networks, according to a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report. The report ‘Crime-related illicit financial flows: latest progress’ (1) is based on estimates of dirty money flows from nine countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Colombia, Ecuador, Maldives, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal and Peru.…

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CAMEROON PUSHES AHEAD WITH MAJOR 420MW HYDRO PROJECT – DIVERSIFYING IMPORTANT AFRICAN POWER MARKET



In most urbanised industrialised economies, the current focus on renewable energy growth is on wind and solar. Lacking untapped river resources, major hydro-electric projects are rare. However, in larger and more rural countries, especially those still industrialising, large-scale hydro is still an option.…

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INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – ICCO WARNS OF ONGOING GLOBAL COCOA SUPPLY DEFICITS



The International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) has predicted that the chocolate industry will continue to face cocoa supply deficits, with its latest quarterly assessment predicting that for 2022/3, there will be 99,000 tonnes more grindings than cocoa production. As a result, global stocks will fall to 1.744 million tonnes, amidst declines in output from key production hubs Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.…

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