Search Results for: United Nations

BY KEITH NUTHALL

VIETNAM will be hoping that the approval this week of its accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will improve the access to overseas markets enjoyed by its clothing and textile exporters. Membership means that Vietnam and its trading partners have promised to keep their mutual clothing and textile trades unimpeded by restrictive quotas.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) has exempted from its standard free trade rules for a further six years countries involved in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme combating ‘blood diamond’ sales.

Its current waiver was to expire December 31 and protects trade restrictions undertaken by participating countries preventing rough diamonds being exported to non-signatory states.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has reported a fall in seizures of counterfeit goods by European Union (EU) customs authorities, with the number of articles seized in 2005 being 73% over 2004 numbers, although the final 2005 tally was still 75 million.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

VIETNAM will hope its November approval of accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will improve the access to overseas markets enjoyed by its clothing and textile exporters. Membership means that Vietnam and its trading partners have promised to keep their mutual clothing and textile trades unimpeded by restrictive quotas.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WITH global trade ever increasing, and the power of brands to generate massive profits made starkly clear with every company report, the counterfeiting of goods is one of international organised crime’s major boom areas.

It is a serious problem for legitimate business, especially those based in developed countries with tough piracy controls, who are seeking to export to poorer countries where intellectual property crimes are a low priority.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has warned of a continued surge in counterfeits of perfumes and cosmetics entering the European Union (EU), with 694,633 fake products seized by customs officials last year. That said, this actually represents a fall in numbers from 2004, being 89% of the number seized in that year.…

BY MARK ROWE

A T-SHIRT that that dramatically reduces the impact of body odours with the aid of nanotechnology has been produced by the Thai company United Textile Mills. Silver nanoparticles are embedded in the fabric of the garment and are so small that they allow silver atoms to penetrate the fabric and attach strongly to the fibres, whereupon they suppress the ability of microbial cells to transfer odours.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has warned of a continued boom in counterfeits of clothing and accessory products entering the European Union (EU), with more than 10.9 million fake items seized by customs officials last year. This is 140% more than the numbers of seizures in 2004.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE BRITISH government has been censured by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over its failure to submit to the European Commission timely data on demersal and pelagic catches from 1999 to 2005. The court has ruled that Britain has failed to comply with European Union regulation 2847/93, as amended by regulation 1954/2003 on Common Fisheries Policy controls.…

BY WESLEY GIBBINGS, in Port of Spain

TIME-WAS that food production in the Caribbean was dominated by commodities, with sugar and bananas being king and queen of island economies. Protected from the rigours of world markets by age-old ties to current or former colonial markets, these cash crop supplies remained largely unchanged for centuries.…