Search Results for: World Trade Organisation

Keith Nuthall
THE US government is likely to be upset by the decision of the European Union Council of Ministers (finance) to approve its proposed new VAT regime for digital products downloaded from the Internet; this system allows EU exporters to sell their goods without charging sales tax, but penalises importers, notably American companies.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE
THE NEW Tokyo International Airport Authority has proposed raising landing fees at Narita Airport during negotiations launched recently with the International Air Transportation Association (IATA). The Shipping and Trade News has reported that the authority wants to raise its fees by Yen 200 per tonne to Yen 2,600, (US$20.84), when a new runway opens next April, citing increased labour costs.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MEMBER countries of the World Trade Organisation have sought to exploit the deal struck in Doha, Qatar, to strive for more comprehensive liberalisation in the ongoing agricultural round than has so far been discussed. At an informal meeting of the food trade talks, meat exporter Australia has been calling for an end to trade preferences favouring exports from developing countries, claiming that they encourage them to be dependent on a small range of uncompetitive products.…

Keith Nuthall
NICARAGUA has announced its third stage of quota liberalisation under the World Trade Organisation’s Agreement on Textile and Clothing.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
The following communication, dated 6 December 2001, from the Permanent Mission of Thailand to the Chairman of the Dispute Settlement Body, is circulated pursuant to Article 21.6 of the DSU.

Status Report on the Implementation of the Recommendations and Rulings in the Dispute “Thailand – Anti-Dumping Duties on Angles, Shapes and Sections of Iron or Non-Alloy Steel and H-Beams from Poland” (WT/DS122) On 5 April 2001, the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) adopted1 the Appellate Body Report and the Panel Report, as modified by the Appellate Body Report, (the Reports) in the dispute Thailand – Anti-Dumping Duties on Angles, Shapes and Sections of Iron or Non-Alloy Steel and H-Beams from Poland (WT/DS122), recommending that the DSB request that Thailand bring its anti-dumping measure found in the Reports to be inconsistent with the Agreement on the Implementation of Article VI of the GATT 1994 (Anti-Dumping Agreement), into conformity with its obligations under that Agreement.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EU transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio has launched an aggressive rebuttal of claims by French trade union’s that the European Commission’s single sky initiative is an effective privatisation of air traffic management that will compromise safety standards.

The conservative Spanish commissioner said: “Let there be no misunderstanding: the purpose of the Single Sky is not to boost competition or privatise air traffic control.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Intellectual Property Organisation’s digital copyright treaty is to come into force on March 6, next year, after Gabon became the 30th country to ratify its provisions, the minimum number required to make it international law.

This convention safeguards the rights of authors whose works are published on the Internet and in other digital media, protecting literary and artistic works, including online books, computer programs, music, art, and films.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
TECHNICAL specialists are approaching agreement on international rules of origin for industrial minerals; these would state the degree of processing required for a raw material to be considered a new product.

The decisions would mean that worldwide, such products would in future be affected by duties, quotas and other import and export regulations relating to the country where they were processed, rather than where they were mined.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ANTI-DUMPING duties imposed by Thailand on imports from Poland of angles, shapes and sections of iron or non-alloy steel and H-beams are to be maintained, despite Bangkok losing a World Trade Organisation disputes appeal earlier this year.

It had stated that Thailand should amend its duties, finding their imposition to be “inconsistent” with the rules of the WTO anti-dumping agreement.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE JOINT European Torus (JET), the world’s largest nuclear fusion machine, is to restart operations after eight months of improvements by the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to upgrade its power as a research tool. It is the only machine capable of using the fuel mixture which will power a commercial fusion station.…