On December 12, Vietnam notified the WTO that it had ratified its membership agreement, which previously had been approved by the WTO General Council on November 7. Vietnam will become the WTO’s 150th member state on January 11, 2007. For more details on the Vietnam accession and the membership agreement, see here: http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/a1_vietnam_e.htm
Upon depositing its instrument of accession at WIPO on December 12, 2006, Malta became the 134th contracting state of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The Treaty will enter into force for Malta on March 1, 2007. The PCT allows for the filing of a single “international†patent treaty with an effect as if a national patent application had been filed with the national patent office of each contracting state, eliminating the need for applicants to file separate patent applications for each individual country.
For further information: http://www.wipo.int/edocs/prdocs/en/2006/wipo_upd_2006_283.html
The EBRD is lending Bulgaria’s PostBank €15 million to help local industries to become more energy efficient. The loan helps private businesses to cut energy wastes and stimulates the investment in alternative powers using renewable energy. The EBRD is now the largest investor in Bulgaria with more than €1.3 billion committed to projects across the country. Working with its many partners, the Bank has mobilised more than €5.4 billion for projects in Bulgaria.
For a press release, see http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2006/173Dec06.htm
On December 8, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe denounced the continuing failure of the Russian Federation and Moldova to comply with a 2004 European Court of Human Rights decision ordering the states to cease the arbitrary imprisonment of two men detained for thirteen years in the Moldovan Republic of Transdniestria. For more information see here.
In its December 7 decision in the case Linkov v. the Czech Republic, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) announced that the Czech Republic had violated the European Convention on Human Rights by denying the applicant freedom of assembly and association. In 2000, the Czech Republic had refused to register a political party founded by the applicant. According to the ECtHR, however, there was insufficient evidence that the party’s proclaimed goal of “breaking the legal continuity with totalitarian regimes†was designed to undermine the democracy of the country; as such, the administration could not justify its refusal to register the party. Fore more information see here.
Upon returning from visits to Argentina and Uruguay this week, Ricardo Seitenfus, adviser to Brazilian president Lula da Silva and consultant to the Organization of American States, described what he saw as critical and pressing problems facing Mercosur. Among the many, he said, are worsening relations between Argentina and Uruguay; the inadequacy of Mercosur’s judicial bodies in resolving their dispute; a skewed balance of power among member nations; and the recent addition of Venezuela and Hugo Chavez’s controversial politics. Nonetheless, Seitenfus is guardedly optimistic about the proposed regional parliament.
http://www.falkland-malvinas.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=9405&Palabra=mercosur
