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Last Roll Of The Dice For The Doha Round?
Trade diplomats from around the world have returned to the bargaining table after a month-long holiday in an attempt to salvage a compromise in the Doha Round of global trade talks. Prospects for a WTO accord remain dim, with officials pointing to wide gaps on tariff and subsidy cuts compounded by an inauspicious political climate…
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EU Appeals WTO Ruling In Retreaded Tyre Dispute With Brazil
The EU has formally appealed a WTO ruling against Brazil’s import restrictions on retreaded tyres, taking the unusual step of challenging a decision in which it was nominally victorious. Brussels is complaining that the dispute panel "disregarded the actual facts in Brazil and went against established WTO law," and that as a result, the ruling is…
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Novartis Patent Challenge Dismissed In India
Pharmaceutical giant Novartis saw its challenge to Indian patent law dismissed in the Chennai High Court on 6 August. The multinational had filed the suit after the Indian authorities denied it a patent on Glivec, a cancer medicine, in January 2006, thus allowing the production of cheap generic copies of the drug to continue freely. The…
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Revised WHO Plan For Pharmaceutical R&D Called A 'Reasonable Place To Start'
The World Health Organization has released an updated version of a potential plan to spur innovation aimed at developing affordable treatments for diseases that disproportionately affect poor countries. The forty-one page document, dated 31 July, contains a wide range of ideas for how to identify research needs, ramp up pharmaceutical development and innovative capacity, and improve…
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Dispute Panel Created In China Subsidy Case, As US Ratchets Up Pressure
The US is turning up the heat on China at the WTO, pushing separate cases against Chinese tax and intellectual property policies. A WTO dispute panel was created on 31 August to investigate allegations by the US and Mexico that Beijing offers a series of illegal tax refunds, reductions, and exemptions that discriminate against imports while…
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VACANCY
The World Trade Institute (WTI), a joint center of the Swiss universities of Berne, Fribourg and Neuchâtel, with an interdisciplinary focus on the field of international trade regulation, is seeking to fill the position of Director of Studies (100%). For a full job description please see the vacancies section of the WTI’s website at http://www.wti.org.…
- In Brief
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In Brief
EU SET TO KEEP EXTRA DUTIES ON ENERGY-SAVING LIGHT BULBS FROM CHINA A divided European Commission decided last week to retain heavy anti-dumping duties on energy-saving light bulbs from China for an additional year, angering environmental groups who argue that the move will impede efforts to curb climate change. The EU’s executive body on 29 August announced…
- 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 at: http://www.ictsd.org/cal/index.htm. If you would like to submit an event, please email events@ictsd.ch. Coming Up: 6-12 September 3-14 September, Madrid, Spain. EIGHTH SESSION OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE UN CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATON (COP-8). This session…
- Resources
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Resources
MARKET MECHANISMS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: HOW DO THEY FIT IN THE VARIOUS POST-2012 CLIMATE EFFORTS? International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), July 2007. This report examines how a future market mechanism that supports sustainable development could fit in the various scenarios being considered for the post-2012 period (when the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period expires).…