Search Results for: International business

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has welcomed the deal struck between the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to harmonise their systems by 2005, because it strengthens EU legislation requiring the use of IAS.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE MOVE of the secretariat of the International Cocoa Organisation to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, from London, has been postponed because of the political and military turmoil in the country. The decision to go ahead with the move had only been taken this May.…

BY PHILIP FINE

HEINZ did something this year that its rival large USA-based food producers seem to be shying away from. They put their own name on an organic product.

One would think other US companies would have, by now, employed the same strategy as Heinz: use organic-friendly Europe as a test-market for an eventual US launch of an organic product, but the idea seems to be slow in catching on.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Maritime Organisation (IMO) is drawing up detailed guidelines on the recycling of ship scrap, which should be approved at the United Nations (UN) agency’s assembly next year. IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee has noted that while the principle of ship recycling may be sound, working practices and environmental standards in yards “often leave much to be desired.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE US government’s determination to maintain anti-dumping duties against Argentine exports of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) is being challenged at the World Trade Organisation by Buenos Aires, which has launched formal consultations on the row. This is the first stage in disputes proceedings; if the talks fail, then Argentina can demand that a WTO panel adjudicates over the duties.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SECRETARIAT for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has released a report advising nurseries and customs officers about the world’s illegal trade in wild rare plants; the World Wildlife Fund says annual volumes are in the 100,000’s even millions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FUTURE of US tariff preferences for Cambodian clothing exports looks guaranteed for another year, after an International Labour Organisation gave the country another relatively clean bill of health regarding working standards in its garment industry. While stressing problems regarding wages, overtime and unions, the UN agency concluded improvements were made to working conditions in various factories following earlier reports.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SECRETARIAT for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has released a report advising nurseries and customs officers about the world’s illegal trade in wild rare plants.

Said the CITES report: “This illegal trade can involve trade without documents and documents issued for different specimens and, very frequently, can involve fraudulent claims of artificial propagation that can be difficult for the non-specialist to detect.”…

Keith Nuthall
EMPLOYERS will have to monitor changes to national workplace data protection regulations expected across the EU because of a wide-ranging and detailed public consultation launched by the European Commission.

Brussels has already concluded that there is a need to harmonise the widely divergent rules and practices amongst Member States, so legislation will inevitably be tabled.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EMPLOYER liability insurance policies will have to take account of changes to national workplace data protection regulations expected across the EU because of a wide-ranging and detailed public consultation launched by the European Commission.

Brussels has already concluded that there is a need to harmonise the widely divergent rules and practices amongst Member States, so legislation will inevitably be tabled.…