Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
BRAZIL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States has launched disputes proceedings against Brazil at the World Trade Organisation, complaining that the Latin American country’s patent laws allow local drug companies to copy US-patented pharmaceuticals, in contravention of the Agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).…
ALTERNATIVE MEDICINES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commissioner for enterprise and the information society Erkki Liikanen has told the European Parliament that his officials are drawing up a new proposed directive on alternative medicines and have been working on the legislation since last year.…
CHINA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CHINA has agreed to stop its pharmaceutical manufacturers from copying medicines patented in Austria, Finland and Sweden, extending ‘administrative protection’ enjoyed by the rest of the European Union to these countries.
Beijing has been refusing to grant these rights – which are a form of patent protection – because when it agreed to stop its citizens copying European Union patented pharmaceuticals, neither Austria, Sweden nor Finland were EU members.…
FRANCE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is threatening France with legal action at the European Court of Justice over its alleged failure to recognise pharmacist diplomas from other EU Member States. Under European law, a special alternative recognition procedure is in place for Member States to assess and, where necessary, recognise some pharmacist diplomas whuch do not meet minimum training requirements under EU Directive 85/433/EEC.…
MILAN AIRPORTS
Keith Nuthall
AN END to the row over slot distribution in Milan’s two international airports may be in sight, although European Commission officials have told Airports International that they are still waiting for details of an Italian government plan so that they can formally and finally settle the dispute.…
SOUTH KOREA
Keith Nuthall
THE FIRST customs-free zone in South Korea is to be launched at New Inchon International Airport, the country’s Ministry of Construction and Transportation has announced. It is part of a plan to develop the airport as a distribution hub for east Asia.…
LEATHER HANDBAGS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has reversed a decision that led to a German company paying DM 1.45 million in anti-dumping duties on imported leather handbags from China, which it should never have incurred and which it can now reclaim.…
CALCUTTA COMPLEX
BY SWINEETHA WICKRAMANAYAKE
CONTROVERSY is holding up the development of a 1,000 acre industrial estate devoted to tanning in the Indian city of Calcutta, with industry sources airing concerns that the site’s wetland geography might not provide firm enough foundations for the their heavy equipment to be installed.…
OIE SCRAPIE/BSE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE OFFICE International des Épizooties (OIE), the world animal health organisation, has warned that atypical cases of BSE and scrapie have been discovered in France and specialists are conducting follow-up studies. The six unusual BSE cases and three scrapie cases were discovered in seven départements across the country during routine checks by the French Agency for Food Safety.…
EU FOOD SAFETY RESEARCH
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched three projects, drawing Euro 43 million from its Sixth Framework Programme for research developing food safety expertise. They are ‘Safe Foods’ on risk analysis in food safety; ‘NuGO’ on creating a network of specialists in genomics, nutrition and health; and ‘Welfare Quality’ on animal welfare in food production.…