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BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Union is to remove all textile import quotas applied to Brazil under a

Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two sides this month (November). In return, Brazil will respect maximum tariff levels, refrain from applying non-tariff barriers to EU exports, and discontinue the application of an additional tax on textile and clothing imports.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank is lending US$30 million to Brazilian footwear producer Sao Paulo Alpargatas S.A. (SPASA), to finance its on-going investment programme, modernising production facilities and increasing capacity. The company has been identified by the IFC as a company that would effectively use such finance; since 1997, it has improved performance and market position by upgrading product quality and lowering costs, notably through new manufacturing technologies and relocating production facilities to the impoverished north-east of Brazil, an area which the World Bank wants to help develop.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union is toasting a victory over India at the World Trade Organisation in the long-running bed-linen anti-dumping duties case; a disputes panel rejected India’s claims that the EU had failed to implement an order made last year by another panel that it should reform its protection against Indian linen.…

BY PHILIP FINE, in Montreal, Canada

THE EFFECTS of September 11 have left their mark on the relationship between air traffic control national service providers (ANSPs) and their customers. The economic fall-out from the terrorist attacks now defines much of the dialogue between ANSPs, airlines and airports.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE THAI government has drawn up legislation to protect the traditional names in Thailand’s drinks market of goods such as French Champagne and Scotch whisky. The Geographical Indication Bill was drafted to meet Thailand’s obligations under the World Trade Organisation’s trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) agreement.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A RESTRICTED trade in wool from captured wild vicuna in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile has been approved by a conference of parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The United Nations (UN) convention’s members agreed in Santiago, Chile, to lift a ban in trading these small beasts “for the purpose of allowing international trade in wool sheared from live animals…bearing the label vicuna Argentina, Bolivia or Chile.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DIGITAL publishing is being promoted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to help unleash economic growth in developing countries, although it warns that these states need to improve their copyright protection. UNCTAD – which provides economic and technical advice to the developing world – has released an E-commerce and Development Report 2002 – suggesting ways of promoting digital publishing in countries lacking an efficient publishing industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union is considering a range of requests to liberalise its insurance sector under commitments it will make in a future World Trade Organisation (WTO) deal, following the ongoing so-called Doha Development Round.

These include calls for it to eliminate existing restrictions in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Portugal on the cross-border supply of maritime and air transport insurance.…

BY PHILIP FINE

A CONSULTANT for the California wine industry thinks the US will be prepared to cut a deal at next September’s World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico over European demands for a mandatory wine and spirits register of geographical indications.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EU ministers have given the European Commission a mandate to negotiate further liberalisation of trade between the existing EU and eastern and southern European countries wanting to become Member States.…