Search Results for: World Trade Organisation

BY ALAN OSBORN
CIGARETTES have changed a great deal in recent years though not all smokers may realise by just how much. Once it was commonplace to roll your own, using local tobaccos. Today the market is dominated by filters and international brands, many of them ranking among the world’s best-known consumer products.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN footwear industry has been encouraged to take advantage of the new Euro 16.2 billion European Union Sixth Framework Programme for research, to develop high added value products and exploit new information technologies in a bid to defend its hard-pressed position on world markets.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE COUNCIL of the International Civil Aviation Organisation has agreed to set up a non-profit service, offering airports, ground handlers and airlines third-party war risk liability insurance cover from US$50 million per insured, should the commercial market continue to withdraw such protection.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation has launched a comprehensive research programme to unmask mysteries surrounding the contraction of venous thrombosis by air passengers, including epidemiological, pathophysiological and clinical studies.

Scientists will aim to determine the frequency and causes of travellers’ thrombosis, to identify who is at greatest risk and what may be done to prevent the condition.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
TALKS held between the USA and India over a complaint regarding American rules of origin legislation for clothing and textile products have failed, with New Delhi formally requesting that a World Trade Organisation disputes panel be established to settle the row; the Indian government claims that they unfairly favour the US and European Union textile industries.…

Keith Nuthall
CHINA has sought to bury grumbling amongst its fellow World Trade Organisation member countries that it has been slow to implement promises made on joining the institution to liberalise its imports, by fulfilling a promise to publish quotas under its Agreement on Textiles and Clothing commitments.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Maritime Organisation is considering changes to global oil tanker standards, which would insist that each space within the cargo area has permanent access to enable overall and close-up inspections and thickness measurements of ship structures. The reform has been framed because of the Erika disaster.…

KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPE’S retail businesses and associations have been asked to comment on detailed plans released by the European Commission for a broad ‘framework’ directive on fair trading; the legislation may for instance, ban “business from engaging in commercial practices that are misleading or likely to mislead the consumer.”…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
THE PRODUCTION of confectionary ingredients sugar and milk is more subsidised in rich developed countries than almost any other foodstuff, says a report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. It says that handouts accounted in 2001 for more than half of farm receipts for these commodities amongst its member countries, which include the EU, the US, Norway and Canada.…

KEITH NUTHALL
WATER companies may be able to help the European Union and its Member States improve standards in the sector within developing countries, as part of an initiative to be launched by Brussels at the oncoming World Summit on Sustainable Development, in Johannesburg, this August and September.…