Search Results for: World Trade Organisation

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ORGANISATION for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Environment Agency (EEA) have developed a database containing information on environmental taxes, subsidies, tradable emission permits, and deposit refund systems in 43 countries. They want to help public authorities choose environmental policies by providing examples from around the world.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GLOBAL trade is being hampered by uncertainty amongst large companies over which national courts might hear a case regarding a contested contract, according to a International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) survey.

The world business group found that 40 per cent of 100 – unnamed – companies said that they had been “dissuaded from going ahead with international contracts” because of such concerns.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to launch a joint review with the European Union’s (EU) footwear industry of EU policies and programmes designed to promote innovation and competition in the sector.

EU enterprise Commissioner Erkki Liikanen told the World Footwear Congress, in Brussels, that his officials and business representatives would “take a close look to these issues in the footwear industry of the enlarged EU,” which will include eastern European countries from 2005.…

BY SIGRÚN DAVÍDSDOTTIR
THE FOUR Scandinavian language-speaking countries, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, all pass with flying colours on Transparency International’s Corruption Index when considering their exposure to money laundering. Though the use criminal proceeds is not a serious issue in this friendly part of the world, their vicinity to countries in the former communist eastern bloc and the increasingly pervasive nature of international terrorism means that no one can afford to be caught sleeping on the post, especially not after 9/11.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
Mr Willem de Ruiter (51), a Dutchman with a degree in civil engineering, has been appointed the first executive director of the European Maritime Safety Agency, which was created by EU governments last year and is in the process of being set up.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE TENDER for the construction of a new shelter for the remnants of Chernobyl’s reactor 4 may be issued this year, according to Vince Novak, director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s nuclear safety department. He was speaking after a meeting of the Chernobyl Shelter Fund (CSF) consortium, which is financing the US$768 million Shelter Implementation Plan.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
POLITICAL pressure is rising on negotiators at the WTO tasked with striking a deal over a geographical indication register for traditionally made wines and spirits. WTO members have long debated the issue and have not bridged the gap between countries such as the USA, which want a powerless register for guidance on protected terms and the EU and its allies, which want registration to grant compulsory worldwide protection.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE TENDER for the construction of a new 20,000 tonne steel shelter for the remnants of Chernobyl’s reactor 4 may be issued this year, according to Vince Novak, director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s nuclear safety department.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE PREMISES of five major European chemical companies have been raided by the European Commission’s antitrust services in a search for evidence of price-fixing in solvents, and a small list of other products. Brussels said the investigation was at a “preliminary stage” and could lead to no evidence of wrong-doing.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
COMPARED with the years of tortuous wrangling that slowed the adoption of the first – and legally abortive – European Union (EU) tobacco advertising directive, the EU Council of Ministers has speedily approved its replacement.

The council has accepted amendments tabled by the European Parliament and approved the legislation on its first reading, with Germany and Britain voting against.…