Search Results for: Singapore

BY MONICA DOBIE

LEAD manufacturers may be able to increase sales by offering their product to paint companies in developing countries without restrictions on consumer paint production, US researchers have indicated.

The University of Cincinnati analysed 80 consumer paint samples of various colours and brands from India, Malaysia, China and Singapore to determine the amount of lead and compare them with the US’s stringent standards.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

AMERICAN researchers say paint manufacturers continue to produce and sell consumer paints with dangerously high levels of lead in countries with weak environmental health controls. A University of Cincinnati study found 75% of all tested paint in India, China and Malaysia contained high levels of lead, with more than 50% of samples 30 times higher than the permitted US standard.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has approved linking the European Union’s (EU) design protection system to that run globally by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). This will formally tie the EU’s design protection regulation to WIPO’s Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement concerning the international registration of industrial designs.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, in New Delhi

India – US$692 billion economy, 10th largest in the world and growing at 8% annually – has finally put an official anti-money laundering public organisation in place. Its Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), as required by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act-2002 (PMLA), which came into force in July 2005, has become fully operational.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON, in London

THE POLITICAL institutions of the European Union (EU) are debating how to join an international system that would protect EU manufacturers’ design rights across a wide range of non-European countries in one simple operation. In an initiative that could help auto manufacturers secure the creative aspects of their vehicle design from plagiarism, the European Commission wants to link the EU’s existing Community Design system, (which protects manufacturers’ designs within the 25 EU member states), to a global design registration system run by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), a UN agency.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

NEW tough fuel and road transport pollution standards have been proposed for the European Union (EU) by the European Commission, removing a loophole enabling sports utility vehicles (SUVs) to be covered by looser emission limits currently allowed for commercial vans.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD Trade Organisation’s (WTO) general council has permanently amended the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement to make permanent a 2003 waiver helping poor countries obtain generic medicines during health emergencies. The TRIPS amendment enables any WTO member country to export generic pharmaceuticals made under a compulsory licence to assist countries lacking their own manufacturing capacity and whose nurses and doctors would otherwise be unable to deal with a serious disease problem.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has warned “bottlenecks in Indian and Pakistan airspace” are being caused by “route and level restrictions and limitations within the Kabul FIR”, in Afghanistan. The problem has caused traffic intended for the Kabul-controlled area to be diverted via Iran.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ASSOCIATION of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed how its member governments should cooperate in the event of a major disaster, such as another Tsunami or earthquake. The international organisation, which includes such major countries as Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, has approved a comprehensive deal that lays down how they should mitigate disaster damage, reducing the insurer payouts in a region increasingly interested in insurance.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MINERALS and mines ministers of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed wide-ranging cooperation plans to promote their respective mining sectors. At the first of a series of ministerial meetings, (in Sarawak, Malaysia), an ASEAN Minerals Cooperation Action Plan (AMCAP) 2005-2010, containing 19 actions was approved.…