Search Results for: World Trade Organisation

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NORWEIGAN government is to conduct a three-year review of its subsidised shipping service providing a lifeline for 34 ports from Bergen to Kirkenes, in the far north, near the Russian border. The move follows an agreement struck with the surveillance authority of the European Free Trade Area, (EFTA), which polices the European Economic Area rules by which Norway must abide.…

KEITH NUTHALL
INDIA has triggered the first stage of World Trade Organisation disputes proceedings in a bid to force the United States to abolish changes made to its rules of origin legislation, that New Delhi claims favour the American and European Union textile industries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GLOBAL Forum on Food Safety Regulators has been staged by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation, (FAO), and the World Health Organisation, reflecting concern about recent food safety incidents, such as BSE, that the FAO claims have “caused serious turmoil in the world food markets and raised concern among consumers.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed a new directive on the authorisation of traditional herbal medicines, providing a simplified registration procedure for products in use for at least 30 years. Although the quality thresholds match those for standard medicines, the usual compulsory tests on safety and efficacy can be replaced by an assessment of information about their use in the past three decades, even if some data was gathered outside the European Union.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FUTURE of US tariff preferences for Cambodian clothing exports looks guaranteed for another year, after an International Labour Organisation gave the country another relatively clean bill of health regarding working standards in its garment industry. While stressing problems regarding wages, overtime and unions, the UN agency concluded improvements were made to working conditions in various factories following earlier reports.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MORATORIUM in the trade of illegally exploited Congolese minerals has been proposed by a panel of experts, which has examined how the stripping of resources by foreign military forces has prolonged the ongoing war in the country.…

Keith Nuthall
THE ATTACK on the World Trade Centre has put a new focus on the

provision of third party recovery contracts through which companies can

purchase back-up facilities in the event of disaster. Some 80 per cent of

all financial sector companies now have some kind of third party contract

giving them access to offices and other premises, computing and

communication facilities and processing resources that can make the

difference between going bust and carrying on business reasonably normally.…

Keith Nuthall
ONE of the more uplifting stories to emerge from the World Trade

Centre disaster was the way Merrill Lynch, the world’s largest stockbroker,

got its people back at work and its systems running again so quickly

afterwards. Ian Ross, business continuity manager at Merrill Lynch, told

delegates at this week’s 2-day contingency planning and disaster recovery

in financial services conference in London how it happened and what was

learnt.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has suspended anti-dumping duties on imports of cotton-type bed linen from Egypt, ahead of the February 28 date when they were due to lapse, signalling it is unlikely to press for their renewal.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL AND MARK ROWE
THE EUROPEAN Union has agreed a suspension of Chinese imports of molluscs, crustaceans, frozen shrimps and prawns because of concerns about contamination; it follows 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.”…