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BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to intensify cooperation with the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT), maybe extending existing collaboration to radio spectrum numbering, naming and addressing issues. The CEPT is already carrying out preparatory work for the Commission on harmonising radio spectrum usage in Europe, and a new joint memorandum of understanding now binds them to exchange information, identify contact points and participate in each other’s relevant meetings.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU has demanded a disputes panel be established at the WTO to hear its complaint that Australian quarantine rules against food products are so tough, they break world trade laws. Brussels says the import of tomatoes, fresh citrus fruit, apples, peaches, nectarines, cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, apricots, edible eggs and egg products, uncooked pigmeat and uncooked poultry meat is unfairly restricted.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
ONCE again significant recovery of coal mining in Kosovo has been frustrated by unforeseen natural disasters – in this case the collapse last November of the coal face in the Bardh coal mine after very heavy rain, causing serious damage to equipment.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE WEST African countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali have tabled an ambitious plan for the swift dismantling of developed country cotton subsidies; it will be examined at the World Trade Organisation’s ministerial summit in Cancun, Mexico, which opened today (Sept 10).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has formally proposed the plan announced at the inconclusive World Trade Organisation summit in Cancun, Mexico, to decouple cotton grower aid payments from production rates, converting them into direct payments. Although Brussels has shied from complete decoupling, its stated aim is to remove incentives for growers to over-produce cotton.…

BY PHILIP FINE

WITH profits down and a flooded chicken market, America’s Tyson Foods, the world’s largest meat producer, is planning to sack more than a third of its Arkansas plant workforce. The company says it will be outsourcing the work of the 600 dismissed unionised workers, who mainly removed bones from chicken carcasses.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union has moved to exploit this week’s (Sep 10-13) World Trade Organisation summit in Cancun to press the protection of geographical names of traditionally made European drinks. It has formally proposed that WTO member governments agree a global list of protected products and has identified 22 European lines for inclusion, such Bordeaux, Cognac, Sherry and Port, but not Scotch.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BULGARIA has informed the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that it has dropped its plans to impose a temporary safeguard duty on imports of flat-rolled products of non-alloy steel plus iron or steel bars and rods. The decision follows an investigation staged by the Bulgarian government.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has published a comprehensive analysis of the world’s forest products industry and markets. With the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation, it has released Forest Products Annual Market Analysis, 2002-2004. It covers forest products market and policy developments in Europe, north America and the former Soviet Union.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s new Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) is developing guidelines on the secondary trading of frequency allocations, affecting EU telecommunications companies, broadcasters, and others. It is to agree guidelines by November 2004 and will consult spectrum users in the meantime, organising public hearings and working groups.…