Untitled Document

Business

Intellectual Property act
Protection sought for Ceylon tea, cinnamon, blue sapphires
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce has urged the government to ensure adequate protection for key exports like Ceylon tea, cinnamon and blue sapphires in the proposed Draft Intellectual Property Act.

These products have a distinct quality and other characteristics that are solely attributable to their place of origin, the chamber has pointed out in a letter to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Ravi Karunanayake.

Protection offered under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, which is limited to wines and spirits, is discriminatory and inequitable and must be extended to other products of interest to developing countries, the chamber said. Sri Lanka is seeking to extend protection given under "geographical indications" of the WTO agreement for wines and spirits to products such as tea, cinnamon and blue sapphires.
Under the proposed Draft Intellectual Property Act, the same discrimination referred to in the WTO rules is sustained in Section 148(1)(iii), the chamber has said. It wants the government to amend the draft act.

"We submit that it is in the national interest that the additional level of protection extended to wines and spirits should be accorded to the geographical indications for products inclusive of tea, cinnamon and blue sapphires which in our country have a distinctiveness of quality and other characteristics which is solely attributable to its place of origin," the chamber said.

A geographical indication is defined in Section 102 of the Draft Act as " an indication which identifies a good as originating in the territory of a country or a region or locality in that territory where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the goods is essentially attributable to its geographical origin."

The chamber has said that certain member states of the WTO have tried to interpret the definition of a geographical indication to exclude certain geographical terms used by other members of the WTO to identify products of interest to those members.
"It is important that as a matter of national policy, we recognise and protect those geographical indications that are of importance to our country through legislative means, not only as a means of protecting the use of such geographical indications internally but also internationally," it said.

Reckitt teams up with People International
Reckitt Benckiser (Lanka) Ltd, a major consumer products company, recently teamed up with People Potential International (Pvt) Ltd, management development arm of HR consulting practice People Power International (Pvt) Ltd), to develop the mastery of "Emotionally Competent Leadership" within the organisation.

The first of a proposed series of workshops was held last week at the Golden Sun Hotel at Wadduwa, at which the members of the operations committee of Reckitt participated. It was facilitated by Dr. Suresh and Ms. Sreeja Marcandan of People Potential International (Pvt) Ltd.

Ravi Fernando, MD of Reckitt Benckiser, reiterated the company's global strategy saying, "While our strategy positions us well, what makes us truly unique is the quality of our people, their attitudes and the incentives we provide them to focus on the right priorities.

Combining their commitment and motivation, and the culture and processes that we have put in place to enable them to give their best, creates a very powerful management team."

Sri Lankan tyres start rolling to India under FTA
Associated CEAT (Pvt) Ltd, the Sri Lanka-India joint venture tyre manufacturer, has started the export of locally manufactured commercial tyres to India under concessionary duties in the Indo- Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
The process began recently with the first consignment of six tons of truck and light truck tyres manufactured for Indian markets at the Associated CEAT factory in Kalutara, a company statement said.

Rohan Fernando, Executive Director in charge of exports of the joint venture company, said the viability of exporting to India under the Free Trade Agreement is expected to be a major contributor to capacity utilisation of not only Associated CEAT but also of CEAT Kelani International Tyres (Pvt) Ltd (CKITL) and will provide an impetus to growth for both companies.

"This is a landmark in the history of Associated CEAT, a pioneer Indo-Lanka manufacturing venture now in its 9th year. We anticipate a happy situation where 20 percent of our total production would be exported by 2003," he said. The first consignment of exports under the Free Trade Agreement comprised 150 tyres in two sizes, 8.25 -20 Fleet Master and 9.00 - 20 X-1, a new product yet to be launched in Sri Lanka.

The tyres conform to CEAT's international standards, and the local quality management process is ISO 9002 certified. "We can now compete with tyres made in India not only in terms of quality but also on price," Associated CEAT's General Manager Sales and Marketing Ashwin Padukone said.

"Moreover, the opening up of the northern province has resulted in a rapid increase in local road transportation needs which will boost domestic demand for our tyres."
Both Associated CEAT (Pvt) Ltd, (ACPL) and CEAT Kelani International Tyres (Pvt) Ltd, (CKITL) have exported significant volumes of locally manufactured tyres in the past to countries in the SAARC region as well as to Dubai, Singapore, USA, Philippines, Uganda and Nigeria.

Emirates presents SkyChain to freight industry here
SkyChain, Emirates SkyCargo's innovative and comprehensive electronic cargo logistics management system was formally presented to freight companies in Colombo recently.

More than 100 representatives from the industry attended a series of four workshops organised jointly by Emirates and the airline's equity partner SriLankan, which also offers its cargo customers the SkyChain facility, an Emirates statement said.
Niranjan Navaratnarajah, Cargo Systems and Revenue Planning Manager at Emirates in Dubai provided participants with a step-by-step demonstration of the system, which was the first electronic reservations system for airfreight when it was launched by Emirates in 1998.

Participants were shown how SkyChain works as a seamless electronic pipeline connecting everybody in the supply chain, and providing a door-to-door, 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week facility to extract, update and share information.

Totally transparent to all users, SkyChain allows users to check flight schedules, availability of space, make bookings, print barcode labels and air waybills from origin or destination, check status of consignments, track the movement of their cargo, make claims and monitor their status and communicate with others in the supply chain using mobile phones, fax or email.

SLT launches project to develop Mannar telecom
Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) is launching a 257-million telecommunication infrastructure development project titled "Project Bridge" in Mannar. It will add 2,000 new lines to the already existing 1,000 telephone lines in Mannar. In order to cater to the new demand and improve the quality of service a new host telephone exchange will be installed in Mannar, SLT said in a statement. This telephone exchange will be supported by remote telephone exchanges expected to be installed in Pesali, Murunkan, Erukkulampiddy and Vankalai. Project Bridge includes establishing a high capacity radio transmission link to Talaimannar from Colombo via Chilaw, Puttalam and Mannar. This route will also serve as an alternative route for telephone traffic to Mannar and Jaffna.

SLT CEO Shuhei Anan observed, "On completion of these projects, customers in the area will be able to enjoy not only voice service but also Internet protocol based value added services with world class standards".

Back to Business