Archive - Jun 3, 2009

Constitutional Court Justice Albie Sachs today handed down judgment in the Biowatch case. Calling the case “a matter of great interest to the legal profession, the general public, and bodies concerned with public interest litigation”, Justice Sachs set aside the costs order awarded against Biowatch in favour of Monsanto and further awarded legal costs in the High Court hearings in favour of Biowatch and against the state. The bench of eleven judges was unanimous in its decision.

It will send shockwaves through boardrooms if the predictions of the executed campaigner are proved right in a US court

World Trade Organization director-general Pascal Lamy said May 26 that WTO members should consider a two-track approach towards concluding the troubled Doha Round of trade talks, an idea already floated by the United States for breaking the deadlock in the negotiations.

Trade ministers and other leaders will have a number of opportunities in the coming months to negotiate the Doha round on the sidelines of a series of international meetings.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) commends the Department of Trade and Industry for opposing the current Doha texts on agriculture and industrial goods. In a statement released on 22 May 2009, it said that SA would not rush for an imperfect Doha deal.

The WTO Council for Trade in Goods on Tuesday approved a 10-year extension to a WTO waiver allowing developing countries to provide preferential treatment to the products of least developed countries (LDCs) without being required to extend the same tariff treatment to other members.

The UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) should reaffirm the need, not only to increase food production, but to re-orient agro-food systems and the regulations that influence them at national and international levels, towards sustainability and the progressive realization of the right to food.

A visit by U.S. trade chief Ron Kirk this month to the World Trade Organization has transformed the political atmosphere of long-running global commerce talks, kick-starting the negotiations, trade sources said on Wednesday.

Key steps identified to shift course and create a just and sustainable global food system