Search Results for: World Trade Organisation

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 ALAN OSBORN
WILL there come a day when a genuine European market in health care takes its place among the other landmark achievements of the European Union?

In terms of economic efficiency and the functioning of the internal market, does it make much sense for a million patients in Britain, say, to have to wait sometimes for a year or more for important operations while people in France or Luxembourg can book them for the next day and some German hospitals have barely half their beds filled?…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PRICE of exported Canadian milk and butter could rise after a World Trade Organisation appellate body ruled that the organisation of a dairy market where produce is collected and sold at a higher price on the home market than abroad, can break WTO rules.…

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.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
EUROPE’S clothing industry is “too big to be squeezed into niche markets,” says a report produced by experts on the sector at the European Commission. EU clothing manufacturers “need a sufficiently broad economic base to generate the turnover and economies of scale necessary to finance research and innovation,” says the report which is not binding on the Commission but will form the basis of future actions by Brussels in the sector.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank has announced that it is lending US$80 million to Philips Semiconductors Philippines Inc., (PSPI), a subsidiary of the Dutch electronics giant Philips, which will guarantee the loan. The money will help the Asian operation construct a second integrated circuits assembly and test facility in Calamba, Philippines.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DIPLOMATS are working hard to lay the groundwork for the launch of a new general round of trade talks at the World Trade Organisation, when the international commerce body holds its biennial ruling ministerial meeting this November.

By the time trade ministers congregate in Doha, Qatar, it is hoped that the bulk of a deal will have been stitched up behind the scenes, allowing governments to rubber stamp a move into negotiations mirroring the depth and breadth of the Uruguay Round that set up the WTO in 1994.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has unveiled its latest call for research proposals to develop e-learning which will attract EU funding; Euro 7.5 million has been made available for projects promoting ideals such as setting up virtual universities.

This money is part of the Commission’s e-learning initiative.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed a change in the organisation of the EU wine market aimed at encouraging young people into wine growing. Brussels said that some Member States had been pursuing active policies of generational replacement and these had proved their worth, “particularly in the wine sector where there is a great need to attract younger growers.”…

BY ALAN OSBORN
In a test of national and international procedures to be followed after a nuclear accident, a simulated emergency has been carried out at the French reactor at Gravelines, near the border with Belgium across the English Channel. The test, which took place on May 22-23, involved “small plume of radioactivity being vented from the reactor, covering an evacuation area of 10 kilometres radius,” said David Kyd, spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency.…