Search Results for: United Nations

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ALL but one of the commonly used forms of asbestos have been added to a United Nations blacklist, enabling countries to block further imports without being challenged in global tribunals such as the World Trade Organisation. Amosite, actinolite, anthophyllite and tremolite were added to the Rotterdam Convention Prior Informed Consent (PIC) list by an intergovernmental negotiating committee, meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has lost patience with the United States and has moved to impose retaliatory duties on a wide range of US textile and clothing industry exports over a row about American foreign sales corporations, which have been deemed illegal by the World Trade Organisation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INNOVATIVE nanotechnology technology has been trialled in the United States, effectively spraying a protective crystal crust on a New Mexico mountainside that had been left exposed to erosion by a fire. Its flames destroyed 5,000 acres of land considered sacred by the Taos Pueblo Native Indian group.…

BY PHILIP FINE

THE GOVERNMENTS of 34 countries from the Americas will be struggling today (Wed19/11) to come to a draft trade agreement, much of which centres on agricultural subsidies. The Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting being held in Miami has seen two competing camps vying for control.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) has come into force. The 1998 protocol focuses on 16 substances: 11 pesticides, 2 industrial chemicals and 3 by-products/contaminants and tells signatory countries to eliminate any discharges, emissions and losses of these POPs, which are thought to cause birth defects and reduce male sperm counts.…

BY PHILIP FINE

DESPITE protests from a coalition of the major food associations, the US Department of Agriculture has laid out the specifics for its mandatory country of origin labelling (COOL) programme. The proposed rule identifies what products fall under the law and who is responsible for fulfilling them, with most cuts of meat and variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts and dairy products required to carry a "United States country of origin" declaration at the retail level.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SCANDINAVIA dominates the top rankings of a new International Telecommunication Union (ITU) global index on information and communication technology (ICT) access, with Sweden, Denmark and Iceland scoring the highest marks. The ITU says that the league table distinguishes itself from other indices by including new variables, such as education and affordability.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE, in Columbo
THE UNITED States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) will provide technical assistance to Sri Lanka so it can comply with the rules of the US Container Security Initiative. The agency has asked US company Aerospace

Services International Inc.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN AGREEMENT has been negotiated between the European Commission and the United States that should create common pre-shipment clearance shipments for goods shipped between the European Union (EU) and the US. If EU ministers agree, it would tell European and American exporters to provide sufficient information about goods to allow “sophisticated targeting” of security checks, prior to shipping.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the European Union (EU) are to introduce a new manufacturing standard in Europe, reducing the flammability of materials – including textiles – used inside cars. The draft UNECE regulation (which the EU is expected to support) covers “the burning behaviour of materials…ensuring a high level of safety and environmental protection.”…