Search Results for: World Trade Organisation

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Agency for Reconstruction, the EU organisation funding the rehabilitation of former war zones in the Balkans, is spending Euro 550,000 on rebuilding five traditional stone tower houses in Kosovo. Called kullas, they were constructed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and are all in a state of disrepair because of war damage and lack of maintenance.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A CLINICAL trials programme aimed at uniting EU and developing country research teams in creating medicines to treat AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in the third world was to be launched this month. The European Commission wants to dedicate Euro 200 million to the European-Developing Countries Clinical Trials Programme in the next Sixth Framework Programme for research.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
SLOWLY but surely, the world is becoming a little more open and honest in its business transactions. Bribery and corruption have existed as long as people have traded with each other and in some parts of the world remain as matter-of-fact as ever.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations has highlighted how some member countries have been using their money laundering laws to criminalise corruption, while employing bribery or corruption laws to outlaw money laundering. A report by the UN Secretary General’s department on how the organisation’s 1996 declaration against Corruption and Bribery in International Commercial Transactions has lead to national laws being tightened regarding these crimes lists a number of case studies.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Agency for Safety and Health at Work has released a public appeal for project proposals tapping a Euro 4 million funding scheme to encourage higher safety and health standards in small and medium-sized businesses. The agency will provide co-financing grants of between Euro 25,000 and Euro 200,000, with applications being accepted from businesses themselves, as well as commerce organisations and public sector groups.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers (transport) has approved the latest European Commission airport noise directive, accepting European Parliament technical amendments that would make the legislation tougher than originally proposed.

MEP’s had voted for changes time-limiting for 10 years an exemption allowing the noisiest aircraft registered in developing countries to continue operating in Europe, adding that these aeroplanes must be prevented from moving to new routes in the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DATABASE providing information about workplace smoking issues has been set up by the International Labour Organisation. It includes descriptions of relevant legislation, journal articles, books, government documents, reports, kits, case law, training materials, and analysis, including notes on productivity costs caused by tobacco usage.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CHINA has been rapped for delaying the establishment of import quotas allowing European Union clothing exporters to sell into this huge emerging market. Under the terms of China’s accession to the World Trade Organisation, quotas should have been created by January.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has begun a “vast computer project” designed to shorten the time spent on translating judgements and other legal documents into each of the European Union’s 11 official languages.

At present an author’s judicial text is analysed by a lawyer linguist who identifies terminological or legal references and inserts them in all the languages as hyperlinks.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PRACTICE of allowing companies to deduct bribes paid to secure contracts overseas from their domestic tax bills is still widespread, with a United Nations report saying it was allowed in 50 per cent of countries surveyed. The paper on how the organisation’s 1996 declaration against Corruption and Bribery in International Commercial Transactions said that it was however banned in Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Iceland, Nigeria, Norway, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.…