Search Results for: World Trade Organisation

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WITH negotiators failing this Monday to agree liberalisation targets for the World Trade Organisation’s three years old agricultural talks – missing a March 31 deadline – member governments are facing a stiff challenge.

They have until the WTO’s next ministerial summit at Cancun, Mexico, in September, to strike a deal or face potential chaos at this meeting.…

BY PHILIP FINE

US organic producers are urging legislators to repeal a section of a new

law that waters down the definition of organic meat. The 2003 Omnibus

Appropriations Bill exempts those raising organic livestock from purchasing

organic feed if it costs twice as much as conventionally produced feed.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONTRACT standards that can be applied to e-commerce are being drawn up by the Europe-based UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT). Jointly prepared by e-business consortia RosettaNet, telecoms and IT e-commerce forum EDIFICE and ESIA/EECA, (European Semi Conductor Industry Association/European Electronic Component Manufacturers Association), representing more than 500 high tech companies, this deal would lay the foundations for standardised global contracts covering Internet business exchanges, (whether machine to person or machine to machine).…

BY ALAN OSBORN
LIFE isn’t going to get any easier for hill and mountain farmers if Dr Franz Fischler, EU farm commissioner, has his way. He wants to “de-couple” payments from production for farmers generally and introduce direct fixed supports based on farm size, past output and acceptance of environmental and other standards.…

BY RICHARD HURST
THE WORLD Bank and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) have agreed to fund a US$55.77 million environmental management programme in Zambia’s copper mining region; the decision should tackle concerns that the bank – which has long been suggesting the programme – has been dragging its feet over releasing funding.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN sugar industry has promised to abide by high ethical standards in future, including its dealings with developing countries. CEFS (Comité Européen des Fatricants de Sucre) and EFFAT (European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions) have signed a joint code of conduct on corporate social responsibility.…

BY ALAN OSBORN, in Nottingham
INTRODUCTION

REPETITIVE Strain Injury (RSI) is still by and large an unacknowledged problem for many employers. The complaint is formally defined as “work-related upper limb disorders” and its most common symptoms are pain, fatigue and weakness, most often associated these days with sitting a long time in front of a computer screen.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A PROPOSED European Union (EU) directive forcing car manufacturers to re-design cars so that pedestrians and cyclists suffer less severe injuries in collisions with vehicles has been generally welcomed by the insurance industry, though with some reservations. The planned legislation would, among other things, compel manufacturers to bring in new bonnet and bumper designs aimed at significantly reducing the severity of injury in accidents with motor vehicles at speeds up to 40 kph (about 25 mph).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FARMERS may know them as the high priests of capitalism and expect them to preach against agricultural subsidies, but a recent report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has laid bare doubts that a truly effective farm support system has yet been invented, let alone implemented.…

BY PHILIP FINE

AMERICA is experiencing a rash of mould-related lawsuits. Recent cases have included a US$14 million judgment in Florida against a contractor for alleged toxic mould-related construction defects at a courthouse and a US$65 million lawsuit against a New York community college by one of its former employees for injuries and damages allegedly caused by mould exposure.…