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The European Union (EU) is currently considering reforming its excise duty rules for tobacco products, with the tobacco industry and commentators seeing the negotiation on the integration of e-cigarettes being one of the hottest topics. Today, e-cigarettes in the EU are treated just like any other product, falling under EU VAT rules, and are not subject to EU-excise laws that apply for conventional tobacco products or spirits for instance.…

WHILE the imposition of age limits on the consumption of tobacco and other nicotine products remains very much a national, and in some cases sub-national jurisdiction decision, there is no doubt that the general trend worldwide is for tighter restrictions on younger consumers, even if they are often tough to enforce.…

INTRODUCTION

Financial crime is a minefield for the international textile and clothing industry. With extended international supply chains extending into jurisdictions where the rule of law and a reliable independent judiciary may have a weak hold, if they exist at all, textile and clothing brands and manufacturers must take care.…

INTRODUCTION

Without doubt, the world’s clothing and textile sector is undertaking a technical upgrade that is unprecedented in decades, with new digital systems offering automation and efficient internal controls. As these are worked into the businesses of brands, manufacturers and their suppliers, a new potential emerges, and that is linking these digital systems in a way that could revolutionise efficiencies within the supply chain.…

The home textile sector is a strong growth segment for digital investments within the industry and the amount of innovation indicates this expansion has some way to go. There are good reasons why this segment is well suited to digitalisation. One is the rectangular form of most bed sheets, curtains and tablecloths – which aids fully automated cutting and sewing.…

Aviation has always been regarded as a tougher sector to convert to low carbon fuels than road transport, because of the high intensity burn required to power planes – which traditionally been supplied by fossil-based kerosene. And a lot is burned.…

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has broadened the potential impact from European Union (EU) protected designations of origin (PDOs) by ruling national courts can decide they have been breached if a trading name “evokes” an association with a protected drink (or food).…

A MALTESE notary has become the latest victim of increased zeal in Malta by regulators to punish breaches of this European Union (EU) member state’s AML/CFT legislation.

Dr Roderick Caruana has been fined EUR61,573 by the Malta Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) and ordered to demonstrate future compliance with Maltese AML/CFT laws, or further punishments will follow.…

While the estimation of sources of laundered money is made imprecise by its inherent covert nature, the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC) has estimated that the amount of criminal proceeds processed annually is 2%-5% of global GDP, or USD800 billion to USD2 trillion.…

There is much about the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies that may seem obscure to the uninitiated, but the recent growth in the market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in particular has perplexed many onlookers: Why, for example, would anyone spend USD69 million on a jpeg collage featuring, among other artworks, an image of Tom Hanks beating up an anthropomorphic coronavirus?…