Search Results for: World Trade Organisation

BY KEITH NUTHALL
POLAND has announced that it intends to impose retaliatory restrictions on Slovakian food exports, in response to the safeguard duties imposed on imports of sugar by its east European neighbour, which Warsaw claims were erected in a way that breaks world trade laws.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has dismissed a bid by a Spanish garden trade company to overturn a decision by the European Commission to refuse to pay an agreed grant, because of allegations that the firm had been involved in fraud.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union is pressing for the ongoing World Trade Organisation round in agricultural goods to lead to a reduction in export credits for food products, that are currently unregulated by world trade rules.

EU chief negotiator David Roberts has offered to maybe trim Europe’s export subsidies under a new WTO Agreement on Agriculture, if other countries – notably the USA – consider reducing loans such as export credits.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has been active recently, using its unique powers within international law to bring EU Member States to heel for failing to implement European legislation promoting health and safety.

Unlike any other international court, the ECJ has the power to fine sovereign states, which ignore its rulings.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU Council of Ministers has approved a textiles trade agreement signed with Estonia, which will widen import quotas, especially for Estonian exporters. The deal includes a double-checking system to check for surges in imports of a particular product and to ensure that textiles declared as Estonian were made in that country.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRAZIL and the USA have struck a deal over the licensing of generic drugs, which should see an end to the looming World Trade Organisation dispute between the two countries, brought by the American government.

The Brazilian government have agreed to consult the US, if in the future it thinks that it might have to use its Article 68 law to a grant compulsory licence on patents held by US companies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DRAFT model law for electronic signatures has been adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, (UNCITRAL), which will be a legislative guide for the many member countries who are grappling with the difficulties of framing national legislation on the subject.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SIMPLICITY is not one the virtues that is readily associated with the institutions of the European Union, so it is refreshing to note that the European Parliament has recently taken a straightforward step to boost its accountability to the citizens of the continent that it serves.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A SLEW of new measures tightening up the labelling and composition of soaps, detergents and possibly the perfumes used in them, has been suggested by the European Commission. Its ideas are only at the “working document” stage, but are being put up for consultation with the industry, consumers associations and others and could form the basis for legislation later in the year.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE DISMANTLING of the Indonesian price regulator APKINDO and short-termist over-production in the south east Asian country has been blamed by the United Nations as the source of continual instability in world markets for this key timber product. Since the abolition of the organisation, said the new 2000-2001 World Commodity Survey from the UN Conference on Trade and Development, (UNCTAD), “the plywood market has witnessed extremely volatile prices.”…