Search Results for: Australia

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union and Norway have divided up common stocks within the North Sea for 2006, overcoming difficult conservation problems, especially regarding cod. Brussels and Oslo have agreed on a long-term management plan for cod, to come into effect when the stock has returned to safe biological levels.…

BY TAMARA VANTROYEN, in Hong Kong

CHINA looks to be a likely candidate for the first country in the world to approve genetically modified rice, despite the fact that the State Agricultural GM Crop Biosafety Committee, a technical body which evaluates GM rice for research, did not approve the idea at its three-day meeting in Beijing, December 10-12, 2005.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
AUSTRALIA’S paint and coatings industry has been enjoying a period of stability and steady prosperity of late, as a mature sector that is generally growing at the same rate as the country’s robust economy. Despite suffering the effects of the general downturn in the Asian economy after SARS and terrorism fears, the industry has remained highly competitive throughout the five-year period to 2003-2004.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has updated a list of gold coins that can be imported into the European Union (EU) as investment gold, and hence be exempt from VAT for 2006. Only named coins with a gold purity of less than 900 thousandths will attract VAT, furthermore, if a gold importer can prove an unlisted coin has sufficient gold purity and will be used for investment, not jewellery or manufacturing, that too can escape VAT.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PHARMACEUTICAL sector is a key element of a free trade agreement recently struck between the USA and Australia, although some onlookers claim Washington failed to achieve many of its aims regarding the industry. Nonetheless, the US Trade Representative’s office lauded the fact that Australia would make product-listing procedures within its pharmaceuticals benefits scheme more transparent, notably through the creation of an independent review process.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WTO expected is to find against the EU in a dispute over geographical indications. The US and Australia argue EU laws reserving the use of certain geographical terms for products made traditionally within these regions are unlawful, because they do not similarly protect high quality products made outside the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) could extend its current protection for the geographic names of traditional EU products such as Champagne and Scotch whisky to quality drinks made outside Europe. European Commission officials said they would be prepared to “clarify” EU legislation this way after a draft World Trade Organisation (WTO) disputes ruling on the issue was leaked by American diplomats.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AUSTRALIA has made a formal bid for an extension of its jurisdiction over its submarine continental shelf, taking it beyond the standard 200 nautical miles from its coasts, granting exclusive rights over potentially lucrative non-ferrous metal seabed deposits.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) could extend its current protection for the geographic names of traditional EU meat products such as Parma ham and Scotch beef to quality meats made outside Europe. European Commission officials said they would be prepared to “clarify” EU legislation after a draft World Trade Organisation (WTO) disputes ruling on the issue was leaked by American diplomats.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE USA and Australia have been challenging the European Union’s (EU) classification of its wine production subsidies as ‘green box’ measures under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules as having no significant effect and hence being unlimited. The New World producers say these payments do distort the market and so should be considered ‘amber box’ measures, subject to limits.…