Search Results for: World Trade Organisation

Keith Nuthall
DIPLOMATS will try this month to resolve a dispute over the authority of a planned global register of geographical indications for wine and spirits, such as Champagne or Scotch. Meeting at the Council for Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights at the World Trade Organisation on September 19-21, they will debate whether entries on register should merely be informative or whether they should entail legal protection.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation has launched an urgent appeal for US$2.9 million, to fund a mass immunisation campaign fighting a potentially disastrous yellow fever outbreak in Abidjan, the Ivory Coast. The WHO is preparing to deliver vaccine from an international stockpile as soon as possible, but will need to secure more medicines.…

Keith Nuthall
URGENT action to boost airport security in the wake of the destruction of New York’s World Trade Centre has been ordered by the European Union Council of Ministers for transport.

In an emergency session held days after the tragedy, EU Member States agreed to implement “all the key measures in Document 30 of the European Civil Aviation Conference and said that even “these measures should be reviewed in the light of recent events.”…

Keith Nuthall
SIR RICHARD Branson, speaking as chairman of the Internet car sales company VirginCars, has called for the end of the block exemption in car distribution in the EU, saying this would led to an average 5 per cent cut in new car prices and give “greater leverage to the consumer.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation has recommended the composition of a influenza vaccine for the 2002 southern hemisphere flu season. It has concluded that the medicine should include an A/Moscow/10/99(H3N2)-like virus, an A/New Caledonia/20/99(H1N1)-like virus and a B/Sichuan/379/99-like virus.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Intellectual Property Organisation, (WIPO), has released a plan for the fighting of abusive registration of Internet sites involving International Non-proprietary Names, (INN’s), the generic, unique and distinctive names of pharmaceutical substances, selected by the World Health Organisation, (WHO).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FURTHER details have been revealed about the concessions that have been made by China in its successful bid to secure membership of the World Trade Organisation.

According to an EU briefing paper, China has promised to remove all of its import quotas for industrial goods, which restrict the amount of cargo that can be imported, by 2005.…

BY RICHARD HURST
THE SOUTH African government is reported to be considering a proposal by Zimbabwe and Mauritius for the removal of clothing and textile tariffs to be brought forward from the year 2006 to 2004.

The two countries have also asked the Department of Trade and Industry in Pretoria to amend its rules of origin, to speed up the implementation of the existing Southern African Development Community, (SADC), agreement.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
FRANCE has been stingingly rebuffed by a judge of the European Court of Justice over her refusal to let British beef back in after the export ban was lifted by the European Commission in 1999. An Advocate General of the Court – or adviser – says France was in the wrong.…

Keith Nuthall
BACKGROUND

IN traditional ‘old economy’ sectors the malpractice of ‘passing off’ is usually pretty tough to achieve. Setting up a shop or restaurant that looks similar to an established chain can entail a lot of expense and could end in a lawsuit preventing any trading going ahead, and maybe leading to a compensation order.…