Search Results for: International law

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.…

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.…

Keith Nuthall
THE INTERNATIONAL Maritime Bureau is warning cargo owners to beware of two growing threats posed by pirates, to small tankers and barge-towing tugs. The IMB has warned of an increase in attacks on tugs and barges, reporting two hijackings of these vessels in Indonesian waters alone since early September.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
BELGIUM has been told by the European Commission to change its “discriminatory” laws covering inheritance and registration taxes or face legal action. Belgian law says that non-profit associations, mutual societies, trade unions and international scientific associations must be established in Belgium to qualify for tax relief on gifts or legacies.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE WORLD is a very long way from establishing a global system for air traffic management, but at least some of the building blocks are now being put into place. We know that neither global regulation nor global management of air traffic is a realistic concept unless preceded by a number of fundamental changes in the way the two are handled institutionally in many countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) anti-fraud unit OLAF has claimed cigarette smugglers have developed sophisticated tactics to evade growing law enforcement cooperation between the EU and non-EU countries. OLAF’s latest annual report said: “Because of the sizeable profits….it is no hardship to fraudsters to move containers of cigarettes through several countries, and unload and reload the cigarettes several times.”…

Keith Nuthall
SIGNIFICANT progress has been made in preparing a comprehensive shipping and port security code, which is to be agreed by the International Maritime Organisation this December. The second meeting of the UN agency’s security working group developed detailed guidelines on how governments, national agencies, local administrations and shipping and port authorities should detect security threats and take preventive measures against them.…

BY RICHARD HURST, in Johannesburg
FOUR consortia have pre-qualified onto a short-list in a bid to modernise the main airport of Mozambique, namely Maputo International Airport. The project is estimated to be valued at US$13.6 million and will include an upgrade of passenger check in, cargo handling and the ground assistance to the aircraft.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has taken the first step towards legal action against Spain and Italy over legislation in those countries to control the voting rights of investments by foreign state companies in the energy sector. Brussels says the laws “may unduly restrict free movement of capital as enshrined in European Union (EU) treaty rules.”…

BY PHILIP FINE

THE AMERICAN Bakers Association has been told that its members can now employ the words ‘fresh bread’ on their products. Since 1993, the ABA has had to settle for ‘freshly baked’ thanks to the preservative calcium propionate, which the US Food and Drug Administration said disqualified bread from being called ‘fresh.’…