Search Results for: Swiss

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) and the UK are building a new energy trading relationship after striking the Christmas Eve EU-UK trade agreement that underpinned Britain’s final and full withdrawal from the EU on January 1.

This deal has extensive energy provisions, with the goal of ensuring EU electricity and gas suppliers can still export to the UK, and vice versa, through existing interconnectors.…

The international gold trade is worth over USD6 trillion a year, according to the World Gold Council (WGC), but oversight of the supply chain is considered weak by many critics, relying on self-regulation, making it vulnerable to money laundering.

Gold remains scarce and hence valuable: from antiquity until 2019, just 197,576 tonnes has been mined – equivalent to a 21.7 metre cube, according to the World Gold Council.…

SWITZERLAND’S federal government has passed a new law that will finally prevent Swiss companies and individuals from tax deducting bribes as investment or business development costs, even though such graft has been illegal since July 2017.

That was the date that a revised criminal code outlawing bribery in Switzerland and overseas of public and private partners came into force, but Swiss tax law has not kept pace.…

EUROPEAN Commission plans for new European Union (EU) chemicals regulations could lead to tighter rules on the formulation of can coatings used or made in the EU, which are used to prevent corrosion and extend shelf life.

The Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS), published October 14, says the Commission intends to eliminate from food contact materials (FCMs) -which would include cans and their coatings – carcinogenic, mutagenic, reprotoxic and endocrine-disrupting substances, as well as those that persist and accumulate in the environment or the body.(1)…

AUSTRALIA’S digital textile finishing market is small and therefore challenging compared to markets in Asia, Europe or the US. Australian fashion and fabric manufacturers usually outsource finishing to partners in Asia, notably in China or India, but use local digital print companies for smaller runs and sampling, said Romeo Sanuri, general manager Next Printing, which offers digital printing services to textile customers from Sydney.…

International efforts are stepping up to scope and map what it will take to wean chemical manufacturing off its high dependence on oil and gas feedstock for chemicals that are then used to make plastics, fertilisers and other important products.

Options include using building-block raw materials from biomass instead of fossil-fuel feedstock; boosting the yield of chemicals for a given quantity of feedstock; and, applying advanced recovery and recycling technologies in circular economy approaches.…

Switzerland may be a small country of 8.5 million people, with an area of 41,285 km², 60% of which is mountainous, but its paint and varnish industry is substantial and growing, despite the Covid-19 pandemic. Of course, it helps that Switzerland is rich.…

THE WORLD has become used to large leaks of confidential data from intelligence services and banks, but the latest dump, from the files of the USA’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) may have impacts beyond the unveiling of wrongdoing. Keith Nuthall explains.…

Swiss pharmaceuticals giant, Novartis AG, plus a former subsidiary Alcon Pte and its current Greek wing, are together to pay out USD345.9 million in fines to American regulators because of corrupt practices. The penalties follow admissions that staff bribed public and private healthcare providers in Greece and Vietnam to choose Novartis products in breach of the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).…

An Egyptian state-owned holding group is to build the world’s largest spinning factory, set to open in 2022, a key part of the country’s drive to modernise its textile and garment industry.

“It will have 182,000 spindles under one roof. Daily capacity will be 30 tonnes of fine yarn from Egyptian cotton, with average thread count 116 and a maximum count of 200,” Dr Ahmed Mostafa, chairman of the Holding Company for Cotton, Spinning, Weaving and Garments, told just-style.…