Search Results for: International business

European Union (EU) member states are failing to comply with the bloc’s 2019 whistleblower protection directive (1) and two – Estonia and Poland – have not implemented the legislation at all, according to a new report (2) from Transparency International. ‘How well do EU countries protect whistleblowers?…

The Portuguese automation machinery manufacturer ESI Robotics is working to launch in 2025 an innovative robot for sewing, which its co-founder Gil Sousa believes will be a game changer for the textile sector.
The firm, whose initials stand for ‘Engineering, Solutions and Innovation’ and which works on research and development, industrial automation, robotics and mechanical solutions, has 40 workers, and is based in the northern city of Vila Nova de Famalicão, a textile manufacturing hub.…

The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) private Al Ain University (AAU), located in the oasis city with the same name, is leading the way on sustainable development among local universities, through initiatives to boost quality education and global and national partnerships.
AAU, in Abu Dhabi emirate, on the Oman border, of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was considered the best UAE university in the 2023 Times Higher Education Impact Ranking (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/impactrankings#!/length/25/locations/ARE/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc…

The number of students at Portuguese higher education (HE) institutions may have peaked in the past academic year (September 2022 to July 2023), say the country’s HE officials, with proactive measures needed to ensure a projected future decline is not too steep. …

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU)’s proposed new intellectual property (IP) rules to safeguard inventions (https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2023/09/25/intellectual-property-council-adopts-two-positions-on-designs-protection-legislation/) will cut red tape and boost technology transfer, university research experts have told University World News (UWN). They praise the increased opportunity to protect new products.…

PACKAGING companies worldwide are increasingly choosing more environmentally friendly packaging, driven by tough laws, such as the European Union’s (EU) proposed packaging and packaging waste regulation (PPWR) (1). This is moving through the EU’s legislative decision-making system, ready for approval in 2024, with the European Parliament adopted its first reading report on November 22 – coordinated by French liberal MEP Frédérique Ries (2).…

Speakers at the Textile & Fashion Forum Helsinki 2023 have stressed the need to transform the textile sector from linear to circular economy principles, to achieve robust sustainable practices across the industry.

Leading textile and fashion professionals and experts stressed the need for green innovation at a two-day forum organised by Finland’s clothing and textile industry association Finnish Textile & Fashion and European industry organisation Euratex.…

FATF has released changes to its formal recommendations designed to push governments to ensure more money is seized and confiscated.

The global AML body will henceforth require governments to “establish asset recovery as a priority”, nationally and international in cooperation with other countries, periodically reviewing confiscation policies and programmes.…

FATF, Interpol and the Egmont Group have called on governments to undertake three priority reforms to combat the increasing amount of money laundering generated by cyber-enabled fraud. These attacks have mushroomed during and since the Covid-19 pandemic. The US FBI said in June (2023) that cyberattacks and cyber-enabled frauds in the USA cost more than USD10.2 billion in 2022, up from USD6.9 billion in 2021 (1)

In a new FATF/Interpol/Egmont Group report released this month (November) ‘Illicit Financial Flows from Cyber-Enabled Fraud’ [CEF], the three organisations call for better domestic co-ordination between regulators, law enforcement, AML reporters and other actors; more multilateral collaboration; and strengthened detection and prevention (2).…

Hong Kong-based shirtmaker Esquel has been through some tough times of late, but its vice-chairman has told Just Style that the company is optimistic about the future. Esquel has been fighting bad fortune since early 2020, when its operations in mainland China were hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.…