Search Results for: World Trade Organisation

BY KEITH NUTHALL AND PHILIP FINE

IN the aftermath of the September 11 tragedy, the shocking images of two planes slamming into two of the most famous buildings in the world fuelled a strong desire tighten up security systems around the world, especially in civil aviation.…

KEITH NUTHALL
APPLICATIONS made by Nicaragua and Germany for the trade in two hardwoods to be controlled under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) have been supported by the CITES secretariat. The species are big-leaf mahogany (Brazilian mahogany) and tree-of-life (pockwood or sonora guaiacum).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRANCE is being threatened with legal action by the European Commission because of its failure to scrap a law insisting that labels on foodstuffs imported into France must be written in the French language. Brussels says this breaks EU free trade rules.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NATIONAL laws within the European Union insisting that life-assurance policies or proposals warn customers about the potential for losing returns, should they cancel or reduce their policy to take out new cover, break EU freedom of trade rules, the European Court of Justice has ruled.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IN unkind moments, critics of the insurance industry might say that the sector revels in misfortune, making money out of pessimism and encouraging its clients to prepare for the worst. Of course, like most unconditional statements about business, the truth is far off and is a lot more murky.…

Keith Nuthall
FINLAND’S tough levy on non-reusable beverage packaging is under attack from the European Commission, which is claiming that the charge could be a disguised and illegal trade restriction. Brussels is threatening to take the Finnish government to the European Court of Justice over the matter, which could order it to reform the system.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON
THE ROMANO Prodi-led European Commission has received a mid-term report from senior environmental groups within the European Union and it contains a mixture of bouquets and brickbats. It written by the Green 8, a coalition that includes the European Environmental Bureau, the European Federation for Transport and Environment and Friends of the Earth Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SWITZERLAND has complained to a key World Trade Organisation committee that its beef imports are being unfairly restricted by the USA because of concerns that they are contaminated with BSE. It has claimed at the WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Committee that the US should not, for example, be insisting on the onsite inspection of Swiss meat plants, because the Office International des Épizooties has classified Switzerland as having a low incidence the disease.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Bank is lending US$108.2 million to a project improving the management of tropical hardwood forests in Andhra Pradesh, India. This investment will be focused in 14 of the poorest districts of the state, covering 3.86 million hectares of forest.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Trade Organisation’s general council has been asked to approve global trading regulations stating that where shapes and parts previously knitted or crocheted into shape are assembled into clothing, they should generally be considered a new product.…