Search Results for: united nations

BY MARK ROWE
DISPUTES over who owns an idea and the right to stop others from stealing it probably date back to the cavemen who invented the wheel. It was most likely resolved by the application of a large club to the head.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
SYDNEY is the “defamation capital of the English-speaking world” according to a British legal expert working in Australia’s largest city. Based on his research, figures show that one writ is served for every 79,000 people in the state of New South Wales; a higher rate than England, (one writ per 121,000 people), and much higher than the United States, where the proportion us one writ per 2.3 million people.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to enter into swift negotiations over the so-called ‘open skies’ agreements with the United States and individual Member States, if, as expected, these bilateral air transport deals are soon ruled illegal.

Earlier this year, the European Court of Justice was advised by its advocate general Antonio Tizzano to strike down US deals made with eight European countries, in effect ordering them to be redrawn.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), of the United Nations, is promoting the use of so-called International Chemical Safety Cards, which are designed to reduce the risk of industrial accidents in companies using chemicals. Each card summarises essential health and safety information on chemicals for their use at work.*More…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
Japan’s Nissan Motor Ltd has begun exporting vehicles from plants in Thailand to Indonesia as part of a plan to make the south-east Asian kingdom its main supplier of vehicles in the region. Nissan plans to take advantage of the fact that the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is lowering duties on locally made vehicles to increase shipments in the region of passenger cars and pickup trucks from Thailand, and commercial vehicles from Indonesia.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States has delayed the establishment of a disputes panel at the WTO considering India’s complaint about American textile rules of origin. Washington opposed the move, forcing India to make a second application, which cannot be blocked.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MEXICO and the United States made pledges on several food industry issues during recent two-day talks. The countries have agreed to work together on sanitary policies, animal health, food safety, and research. US-Mexico agricultural trade has doubled since 1993 to US$13 billion in 2001.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States Farm Bill, which has passed through the US Congress, will not only potentially depress meat prices by boosting subsidies to American farmers, but also introduce mandatory rules of origin for meat products for the first time.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund is to help set up an Islamic Financial Services Board to regulate and lay down standards for financial transactions throughout the Islamic world. A key aim of the project is to incorporate the special insurance tenets that exist in the Islamic business world into the wider capitalist system.…

Keith Nuthall
FRANCE’S Loi Evin, which restricts the display of advertisements for alcoholic drinks, has come under attack from an unlikely source, a case at the European Court of Justice involving Newcastle United Football Club.

The team – locally known as the Magpies – is fighting legal action brought by Bacardi-Martini and Cellier des Dauphins.…