Search Results for: World Trade Organisation

MARK ROWE
MALAYSIA is calling for a review of plans to cut tariffs across south-east Asia, claiming that lower tariffs will affect its car production, particular the Proton series. The south-east Asian country has been given until 2005 to bring tariffs on imported cars down to between zero and five per cent, two years later than other key members of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA).…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
Japan’s Nissan Motor Ltd has begun exporting vehicles from plants in Thailand to Indonesia as part of a plan to make the south-east Asian kingdom its main supplier of vehicles in the region. Nissan plans to take advantage of the fact that the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is lowering duties on locally made vehicles to increase shipments in the region of passenger cars and pickup trucks from Thailand, and commercial vehicles from Indonesia.…

BY 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
THE EUROPEAN Union has welcomed the announcement from Argentina that it has complied with last year’s ruling of the World Trade Organisation and lifted anti-dumping duties that it has been imposing on imports of ceramic tiles from Italy.…

BY MARK ROWE
DISPUTES over who owns an idea and the right to stop others from stealing it probably date back to the cavemen who invented the wheel. It was most likely resolved by the application of a large club to the head.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States Farm Bill, which has passed through the US Congress, will not only potentially depress meat prices by boosting subsidies to American farmers, but also introduce mandatory rules of origin for meat products for the first time.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A REPORT on the international conventions and European and national laws controlling the use of cannabis as a medicine, has been released by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. The paper offers a legal analysis of the options and limitations of using medicinal cannabis and its derivatives in the EU, as well as noting current practice.…

KEITH NUTHALL
INDIA has formally requested the creation of a disputes panel at the World Trade Organisation, which is has asked to rule that the EU broke global trading rules when reimposing anti-dumping duties on Indian exports of cotton-type bed linen.…

Keith Nuthall
THE BULGARIAN government is to stem a boom in imports of white tinplate crown corks; Sofia is imposing temporary safeguard duties to protect Bulgaria’s production of this key drinks packaging product, used to seal glass bottles. It told the World Trade Organisation that imports in 1999 increased by 673 per cent compared to 1998, and by 874 per cent in 2000, which “contributed significantly to domestic products’ price decline and to reduced profitability.”…

BY MARK ROWE
THE CHAIRMAN of General Motors China has warned that neighbouring south-east Asia’s home grown car industry will in future find itself squeezed by stiff competition from the emerging giant next door. China’s expanding middle class, robust economic growth and low rates of vehicle ownership means that car makers in south-east Asian countries such as Thailand will be hard pressed to compete in the growing Chinese market, according to Phil Murtaugh, chairman of General Motors China.…