Search Results for: Brazil

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a series of legal proceedings against EU Member States, which it claims have broken oil-related directives.

It has decided to take Italy to the European Court of Justice over its special tax on engine lubrication oils, which Brussels claims contravenes EU excise duty laws.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRAZIL and the USA have struck a deal over the licensing of generic drugs, which should see an end to the looming World Trade Organisation dispute between the two countries, brought by the American government.

The Brazilian government have agreed to consult the US, if in the future it thinks that it might have to use its Article 68 law to a grant compulsory licence on patents held by US companies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE COLLAPSE in world cocoa prices, at a time when its national market has been liberalised, has left policy makers with the difficult task of reinventing financial protection for its producers, a UN World Commodity Survey 2000-2001 has concluded.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GROUP of developing countries has said that progress towards creating differential pricing arrangements for pharmaceuticals should not undermine the right of their governments to authorise the emergency production of drugs, as well as parallel imports of low cost lines.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has announced that it is lending US$40 million to Volkswagen Argentina S.A., a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, to support investment for the production of gearboxes for passenger cars in its plant located in Cordoba, Argentina.…

BY MONICA DOBIE, in Montreal
MOLSON shareholders were given good tidings at an annual shareholders meeting in Montreal, where it was reported that the Canadian beer giant made profits of CAN$133.9 million for the year ended in March, compared to a loss of CAN$44 million last year.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is investigating whether Brazil has failed to stick to a promise to scrap a minumum-price regime on certain textile products, which had restricted the amount of EU exports that could enter its market.

World Trade Organisation disputes proceedings had been launched by Brussels because of the problem, which especially affected ‘home textiles,’ such as mattress ticking, carpets and rugs, with Belgian and Spanish producers being the hardest hit.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL action plan to fight forest fires is being drawn up with the assistance of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation. Experts from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Ethiopia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, Turkey and USA have been discussing proposals for a system involving mutual assistance and coordinated approaches to forest fire management.…

BY KATE REW
S500 Mercedes ‘Guard’

Pluses: Unlike competitors it’s built from outset as armoured car – although

it doesn’t look like one.

Minuses: Are you really in enough danger to justify spending Pounds 130,000, (US$150K in the US), on this when you could be spending it on a yacht?…

BY MIKE FOX
AZURIX, the troubled water subsidiary of the giant energy company Enron, has confirmed that it would like to sell its north American water interests.

Azurix has a company policy of not commenting on its plans for acquisitions or divestments, but the potential sale of its north American subsidiary was revealed when it put in a bid to develop a US$150million water treatment plant that would eventually form part of a US$2billion distribution system in Houston Texas, home to the corporate headquarters of both companies.…