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WIPO Committee: Countries Divided on Need for and Scope of Legal System to Protect TK
WIPO Committee: countries divided on need for and scope of legal system to protect TK Potentially the most far-reaching topic at the third meeting of the WIPO [World Intellectual Property Organization] Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore on 13 - 21 June in Geneva, Switzerland, concerned possible elements of an…
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WTO Environment Committee Stalls on MEA Observership, TRIPs-CBD
WTO Environment Committee stalls on MEA observership, TRIPs-CBD The WTO Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) held its second regular session for 2002 on 13-14 June, including an information session with multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). Focusing on the CTE mandate from the Doha Declaration, Members addressed a wide variety of submissions on areas, including the MEA-WTO…
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European Regulations on Cosmetics and GMOs Under Scrutiny at WTO
European regulations on cosmetics and GMOs under scrutiny at WTO Much attention at the formal meeting of the WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) on 20-21 June focused on various forthcoming labelling schemes of the EC, including for cosmetics tested on animals and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Discussion on the European and Chinese GMO…
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Civil Society Groups Stress Primacy of Food Sovereignty over Trade at Food Summit
Civil society groups stress primacy of food sovereignty over trade at food summit Described by one press source as a “low-impact conference”, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) World Food Summit: five years later (WFS-FYL; 10-13 June, Rome, Italy) ended with delegates emphasising the key role of trade as well as the potential of biotechnology…
- In Brief
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Norway to Re-commence Trade in Minke Whale Products
Norway has announced that it will resume exports of whale meat and whale blubber for the first time since 1988. Norway intends to export 10-15 tonnes of frozen minke whale meat and blubber to Iceland. In order to be able to resume the export and import of whale products, Norway had asked Reykjavik to set…
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‘Little to Celebrate’ on Environment Since Earth Summit, Brazil Says
As government officials and civil society groups met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 23-26 June for a symbolic handover of the torch of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to South Africa, many were sceptical regarding environmental achievements since Rio and the difference that the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) can make. Officials from…
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Zimbabwe Concerned that GM Food Aid Might Jeopardise Beef Exports to EU
An official from Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement said earlier this month that Zimbabwe’s decision to rejected several shipments of food aid, which had not been certified as free of genetically modified organisms (GMO), had been based on concerns that accepting the food donation of whole-grain maize might have a significant impact…
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Ivory and Whale Products Likely to be Controversial at CITES Meeting
Member states of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) will discuss and decide over 54 submitted proposals on relaxing or strengthening the current restriction of trade in threatened plant and animal species. The two most controversial proposals submitted by the June deadline included a proposal by four…
- Events
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Events
For a more comprehensive list of events in trade and sustainable development, please refer to ICTSD’s web calendar. For further information on WTO events, contact the WTO Information and Media Relations Division, Geneva; tel: (41-22) 739- 5007; fax: 739-5458; email: enquiries@wto.org. Please bear in mind that dates and times of WTO meetings are often changed,…
- Resources
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Resources
If you have a relevant resource (books, papers, bulletins, etc.) you would like to see announced in this section, please forward a copy or review by the BRIDGES staff to Heike Baumüller. Submissions of publications to ICTSD’s documentation centre would also be welcome (contact Matteo Rizzolli). FROM RIO TO JOHANNESBURG AND BEYOND: GLOBALIZING PRECAUTION FOR GENETICALLY…