Search Results for: World Trade Organisation

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A TASK force of the world’s food standards body, Codex Alimentarius, has agreed detailed draft guidelines on how to assess the safety of genetically modified foodstuffs and on how to trace and remove from sale any product that is subsequently shown to pose a hazard to human health.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
THE INDIAN government has announced that it intends to upgrade standards at the country’s international airports at Delhi, Bombay (Mumbai), Madras (Chennai) and Calcutta (Kolkata), raising them to a “world class” level by introducing private sector management and investment through long term leasing systems.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union has proposed reforms to the World Trade Organisation’s trade related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) agreement that would enable developing countries with no domestic drug production to gain access to essential medicines. At a meeting of TRIPS council, Brussels proposed an amendment allowing the importing council to licence manufacture of medicines in another country, in case of an emergency.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE, in Sydney
AN AUSTRALIAN early warning device that monitors water quality in tuna cages and phones its information back to shore is proving to be a lifesaver for aquaculture fish stocks; the slightest change in conditions can wipe out millions of dollars worth of marine stocks and cripple sectors of the industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MORE than 300 environmental experts at a World Health Organisation-supported meeting in Thailand have called for Asian governments to quickly restrict and ban leaded petrol. Researchers from Thailand’s Mahidol University released research on lower lead blood contamination in Bangkok children after the introduction of unleaded petrol.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE INDONESIAN government is to launch a campaign to revitalise the country’s footwear industry and dramatically increase its capacity. Under the plan, the industry, which employs around 389,000 people at present, is expected to expand by a further 100,000 or so workers in the next few years as the government pushes to boost exports of domestic products.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CZECH Republic has launched a trade investigation which may lead it to impose safeguard duties on imports of citric acid, which Prague claims have been booming, threatening domestic producers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ITALY is being taken to the European Court of Justice by the European Commission for insisting that special sports foods be authorised for sale by its national health authorities, even if they are legally sold elsewhere in the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CHINA has attacked a ban by the EU on certain Chinese food imports on health grounds as ‘unacceptable’ and warned it could seriously affect bilateral trade. The European Commission voted to ban honey, poultry and rabbit meat, plus shrimps and prawns, following the discovery of “serious deficiencies” in China’s medical residue control system and “problems related to the use of banned substances in the veterinary field.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States has released details of the talks held with the European Union over its threatened safeguard duties on certain steel imports into America. Washington said that it had responded to questions about the US International Trade Commission’s timeframe for identifying and defining like products; the establishment of a causal link between increased imports and serious injury to US producers; and the methodology for selecting a safeguard measure, among other issues.…