Search Results for: World Trade Organisation

BY ALAN OSBORN
NEW rules changing the place of taxation for VAT purposes of natural gas and electricity have been proposed by the European Commission “so as to facilitate the functioning of the single market for energy.” Brussels said the proposal would eliminate the current problems of double taxation and non-taxation and distortions of competition between traders by changing the place of taxation of natural gas in pipelines and of electricity from the place of supply to the place of consumption.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Maritime Organisation will next week (9-13 Dec) stage a Diplomatic Conference that should agree a new International Code for the Security of Ships and Port Facilities. This is to be attached as an annexe to this United Nations (UN) agency’s International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), and should come into force by next June, assuming there are no significant objections from any of the 146 IMO member countries which have already accepted SOLAS.…

BY PHILIP FINE

THE AMERICAN Textile Manufacturers Institute (ATMI) is voicing its opposition to the Bush administration’s recent tariff-slashing proposal for the ongoing World Trade Organisation Doha Development Round, saying the trade plan will further open the market to China and wipe out US$13 billion worth of US business.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) is predicting the extinction of the virulent cattle disease rinderpest by a UN deadline of 2010. It is trying to eradicate the last traces of the virus in northeast Kenya and southern Somalia.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation has launched a livestock census in Afghanistan, a key part of its plan to rehabilitate the country’s meat production sector. FAO officials will visit more than 30,000 villages and farming communities over the coming months to collate detailed information on animal numbers and livestock production practices.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DISPUTES Settlement Body (DSB) of the World Trade Organisation has extended the time for the United States to implement its rulings on the case involving antidumping measures on certain hot-rolled steel products from Japan, a move that has upset Tokyo.…

KEITH NUTHALL
SWITZERLAND has donated US$2.5 million to a new international BioTrade Facilitation Programme which will fund the development of export industries in poor countries based on under-exploited natural resources, notably fibre plants. The scheme will be run by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and its International Trade Centre joint venture with the World Trade Organisation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE MOVE of the secretariat of the International Cocoa Organisation to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, from London, has been postponed because of the political and military turmoil in the country. The decision to go ahead with the move had only been taken this May.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A RESTRICTED trade in knitted products from wool culled from captured wild vicuna in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile has been approved by a conference of parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GOOD practice guidelines of how to reduce a company’s exposure to HIV/AIDS in the workplace have been released by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank. Its note provides companies with advice on designing and implementing HIV/AIDS prevention and care programmes for employees.…