PR Resource – Muarateweh.net

Blinds Chalet’s EnviroFusion Roman Shades with cordless lift are in compliance with the provisional update of the American National Standard for Safety of Corded Window Covering products. Blinds Chalet been working closely with all their manufacturers as well as following standards set forth by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the American National Standard for Safety of Corded Window Covering Products to ensure the products sold at Blinds Chalet meet the standards of window blinds safety. (continue reading…)

In the first program of its type, Israel, two auto companies, and an electric vehicle startup on Jan. 21 announced they will roll out a system for enabling mass use of electric vehicles in Israel. Renault and Nissan NSANY will convert conventional cars to run on electric motors and the startup, Better Place, will sell the cars and operate a network of charging locations and battery replacement stations. The technology and business model face long odds in replacing the gasoline engine. But the project will draw lots of attention, given the hundreds of millions of dollars and high-powered partners behind it.

The partners are expected to begin test operations late this year or early next year, and organizers hope to have tens of thousands of electric cars operating in Israel in 2011. They hope that once the program is running smoothly, the total costs of owning one of these cars will be as much as 50% less than for owning a comparable gasoline-powered car. (continue reading…)

A new online textile export license system began operation in China on Tuesday, just days before a quota system for shipments to the European Union (EU) is to expire, sources in the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) told Xinhua.

The online application system “is one of a series of measures taken by China to better regulate the textile export market and avoid a surge of Chinese clothing exports to the EU like the one in 2005,” Zhao Qiuyan, a senior analyst with the China Trade Remedy Information web site, under the MOC, told Xinhua.

After international textile quotas expired in January 2005, Europe was swamped by low-priced imports from China. That surge led Chinese and EU authorities to sign the Memorandum of Understanding on China-EU Textile Trade, which renewed quotas on China’s textile exports to the EU in June 2005. But that pact expires at the end of 2007.

The two sides agreed this September to set up a bilateral system to monitor Chinese exports of T-shirts, pullovers, men’s trousers, blouses, dresses, bras, bed linens and flax yarn after the quotas end. Monitoring is to continue until the end of 2008, without quantity restrictions.

Under the system, these eight categories will be tracked on the Chinese side through export licenses and will be monitored when they enter the EU, which is watching for signs of another surge in textile goods from China.

The MOC and the General Customs Administration issued a circular on European-oriented textile exporters’ management earlier this month, in which they stipulated that only qualified textile makers could apply to local MOC branches for export licenses, either electronically or on paper.

The China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles, China National Textile and Apparel Council and China Association of Enterprises With Foreign Investment established the standards in November for domestic exporters and formed a joint assessment group.

The standards require exporters to have a minimum registered capital of 500,000 yuan (68,250 U.S. dollars), at least two years of export operation experience and no violations of intellectual property or environmental protection laws.

“The bilateral monitoring system could eliminate the practice of quota trading between some export companies,” Zhao said.

The MOC didn’t reveal how many qualified exporters had applied under the online system. But experts believe that exporters’ quality assessment and license application and approval systems are expected to help reduce the often vicious competition among domestic enterprises.

“China has surplus production capabilities the in textile industry and competition is fierce, so we cannot guarantee that Chinese textile exports to the EU wouldn’t surge again,” Zhao Yumin, a research fellow with the Trade and Economic Cooperation Institute of the MOC, told Xinhua.

Commenting on the possibility of “Made in China” products flooding the EU, Zhao Qiuyan said that besides government efforts, domestic exporters should exercise restraint, since the EU might adopt tightening measures if there was a new surge of Chinese goods.

Under paragraph 2Ȋ in the “Report of the Working Party on China’s Accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO)”, if there is market disruption caused by a surge of textile exports from China, other WTO members are permitted to resume curbs.

This past October, MOC vice minister Gao Hucheng urged Chinese textile makers to develop more in-house brands, streamline their product structure and narrow disparities with international competitors through exchanges and cooperation.

Industry watchers said if the bilateral monitoring system functioned smoothly, it would serve as a good example for dealing with the Sino-U.S. textile quota system, which is set to expire by the end of 2008.

Source: Xinhua

HONG KONG & BEIJING & WESTBOROUGH, Mass.–(Muara Teweh — BUSINESS WIRE)–Applix, Inc. (Nasdaq: APLX), a global leader in performance management applications, and UFIDA (SSE: 600588), China’s largest software company, today announced a partnership to enhance strategic business analytics functionality in UFIDA’s U8 Management Solution. As part of its strategy to significantly enhance its presence in China, Applix has opened a new business office in Hong Kong.

Under the agreement, UFIDA will integrate the Applix business analysis and reporting application —powered by the core TM1 analytics engine — as the Business Performance Management (BPM) engine of UFIDA ERP U8. UFIDA ERP U8, a comprehensive ERP solution for small and medium-sized enterprises, will incorporate new BPM features and functionality, including reporting and analytics. Applix’s and UFIDA’s products can be seamlessly implemented together to meet the demands of agile, rapidly growing companies by delivering an easy-to-use, fully-featured, highly scaleable BPM/ERP platform for synchronizing front and back office business management functions. (continue reading…)