Search Results for: World Trade Organisation

Signatory universities of the Magna Charta Universitatum declaration are meeting in Poland to assess how research and teaching can help reconstruct cities harmed by war, environmental pressures and socio-economic change.

This conference chimes with the aims of the declaration, which highlights the value of academic freedom, institutional autonomy and community collaboration, and which has been signed by 960 universities from 94 countries worldwide.…

With the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimating that up to USD2 trillion of criminal proceeds are laundered worldwide annually, there is plenty of financial motivation for professional launderers to offer services that tap these funds. To avoid being caught by law enforcement, however, launderers develop psychological and tactical techniques that help them hide their criminality from law enforcement and honest contacts in the legitimate business world (1).…

The Great Lakes region in cenztral and eastern Africa is exceedingly resource rich, and being beset by instability and conflict, it is highly attractive for illicit trade and financial crime fuelling money laundering. A new European Union (EU) Great Lakes Strategy is trying to promote the rule of law in the region – notably Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – but faces major challenges.…

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has sparked an unprecedented level of international sanctions. However, it has also caused an unprecedented wave of sanctions evasion.

June’s (2023) plenary of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had a clear message for the global anti-money laundering community, which includes organisations fighting sanctions evasion: “FATF reiterates that all jurisdictions should be vigilant to current and emerging risks from the circumvention of measures taken against the Russian Federation in order to protect the international financial system.”…

With packaging manufacturers facing increasingly tight regulatory and industry standards, the role of inspection and detection technologies to ensure packaging meets industry requirements is becoming ever more important.

Different products have to adhere to different standards – for example, the International Featured Standard (IFS), a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmarked standard, applies to food packaging; packaging for pharmaceuticals and veterinary products has to conform to nationally-set pharmacopoeia standards and World Health Organisation guidelines (1); and cosmetics packaging must conform to specific ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standards (2); and, in the European Union (EU), rules set out in the EU Cosmetics Regulation (3).…

The push to secure a better environment is at the forefront of the UK paint and coating sector’s current growth trajectory. From groundbreaking innovations that incorporate plastic waste into coating products, to new ways of minimising paint waste and creating aesthetics, the industry is taking sustainability seriously.…

As artificial intelligence (AI) systems advance, detection of trade-based-money laundering (TBML) should improve, but there are major drawbacks to widespread implementation, notably though a dearth of available trade data, and poor statistical harmonisation worldwide. Paul Cochrane reports.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-based learning has been used for the past decade by financial institutions to sift through vast amounts of data to spot anomalies as well as verify information.…

Anti-harassment committees in Bangladesh’s apparel industry charged with helping female workers avoid and prevent unwanted attention and approaches from male colleagues and managers rare failing to carry out their responsibilities, a recent study for the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) has claimed.…

In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has forced 6.2 million people from the country (UN figures) (1) and caused more than USD151 billion in infrastructure damage, says the Kiev Schol of Economics (2), Ukraine’s fashion retail market has been transformed.

Climate change, coupled with a greater post-Brexit UK government emphasis on schemes such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive, which includes payments support the sustainable management of soils, means the need for high-quality soil analysis, utilisation and innovation is greater than ever.…