Search Results for: International law

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PURCHASE of adequate accident coverage for all passenger ships operating in European Union waters is to become mandatory under European law, under new proposed EU legislation from the European Commission; it implements last year’s updating of the International Maritime Organisation’s Athens convention on passenger ferries, which limits the liability of a carrier for death or injury involving a traveller to around US$325,000 per passenger.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE FIRST meeting of the world’s five largest sugar exporters has agreed to co-ordinate efforts to boost prices in the commodity’s international market from current record lows. Meeting in Bangkok, representatives of Thailand, Australia, Brazil, South Africa and Guatemala agreed to speed up co-operation and seek to lift world prices without raising domestic retail prices.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ALTHOUGH an investigation by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency did not discover another case of BSE, following the lone outbreak that has devastated Canada’s beef exports, further instances may well follow, a member of the International Committee on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy has warned.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
FORGET all those stories you used to hear about weak regulation and cosy financial set-ups in Britain’s offshore dependencies such as the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and the crown colony of Gibraltar. They may once have been good places to launder money but not any more they aren’t.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A HUGE increase in international compensation for oil spill victims will be made available via a new International Maritime Organisation coordinated fund. National membership will be voluntary, but will probably apply in Europe, as the plan was an EU initiative.…

BY MARK ROWE
THAILAND’S wine industry, which could charitably be described as embryonic, has been given a significant boost after the country’s government announced it would start issuing quality assurance kite marks for producers.

The move is designed to help the best of Thailand’s wine makers compete in the international market by enabling them to promote their wines using kite marks which can be recognised and understood by international consumers and wholesalers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union is to sign a controversial extradition agreement with the US, with the deal being approved by the EU justice and home affairs council, despite concerns raised by the European Parliament. Its text should be initialled at the EU-US summit on June 25 in Washington.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has offered to enshrine in international law, the right of non-European Union retailers to enjoy the same rights to set up supermarkets, hypermarkets and departments stores across Europe, as local retail companies.

Its offer comes in the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Development Round, where negotiations on services are the most advanced of all its talks on liberalising global commerce.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
REFORMS to the European Union’s company law regime have been approved by the EU Council of Ministers, that take account of the development of electronic communications. The changes require Member States to permit – from 2007 – the filing of official documents electronically.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE INSTITUTIONS of the European Union (EU) have invited applications for about 375 lawyer posts to help meet the demands imposed by next year’s enlargement of the EU from 15 to 25 countries which will add 75 million to the EU population.…