Search Results for: World Trade Organisation⊂mit=Search

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy has said the European Commission will investigate the risk posed to EU textile producers by the imposition of quotas on Chinese exports into the USA market of knitted fabrics, bras, dressing gowns, and robes.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation, of the World Bank, is lending US$12 million to China’s Southern Aluminium Industry Company (SAIC) to partially finance the installation of an aluminium hot rolling mill and improve the operation of SAIC’s existing cold rolling and foil mills.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations (UN) has framed a new anti-corruption convention and its established convention against organised crime is now coming into force. Keith Nuthall examines what this will mean for businesses, banks and governments.

THE COMMERCIAL world is often doubtful about the value of international conventions fighting crime, but their texts do at least reflect a global consensus amongst concerned governments.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL conference is being staged in Brussels this week, which will examine how to create realistic risk perceptions about controversial subjects, where public concern can significantly influence democratic government policies. The European Commission organised event will especially focus on food safety, where fears about biotechnology – especially on genetically modified foodstuffs – have forced European Union (EU) institutions and governments to take a very cautious stance.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a formal investigation into two state aid schemes operated by the Italian government in favour of the publishing industry in Italy. The Commission is concerned that the subsidies, which are in the form of tax credits and loan interest payments, may put Italian publishers, such as de Agostini, Electra, Federico Motta Editore, Rizzoli and Messagerie Italiane, at an unfair advantage in the European book market, compared with competitors in other European Union (EU) countries.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A MEAT purchase tax imposed by the French government on meat retailers is illegal under European state aid law, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. It said the tax, which funds the free disposal of carcasses and slaughterhouse waste, is a subsidy that places French meat producers at an unfair advantage in the European Union (EU) export market against competitors from other Member States.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN AGREEMENT has been negotiated between the European Commission and the United States that should create common pre-shipment clearance shipments for goods shipped between the European Union (EU) and the US. If EU ministers agree, it would tell European and American exporters to provide sufficient information about goods to allow “sophisticated targeting” of security checks, prior to shipping.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
OPPORTUNITIES for lawyers to handle varied and potentially lucrative liability claims against international organisations could arise from debates now being held at the United Nations (UN). Its legal committee is discussing whether they should be responsible for failing to achieve their formal objectives.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INCREASE in EU sugar trade fraud has been reported by EU anti-fraud office OLAF, which investigated “a massive increase” in exports into the EU from the Balkans, traditionally net sugar importers prior to a 2000 regulation giving them preferential EU market access.…

BY PHILIP FINE

THE ISSUE of the erection by the US government of restrictive quotas on Chinese knitted fabrics, bras, dressing gowns, and robes has divided the US textile and apparel lobbies. The American Apparel & Footwear Association says instead of appeasing vocal textile manufacturers by reimposing quotas on imported from China, the Bush Administration would be better off fostering trade pacts.…