Member states voted to impose a 15-per-cent import duty on plastic bags brought into the EU from the two countries, starting in September and lasting at least five years.

Imposing the tax will provide no conceivable benefits to bag manufacturers within the EU and consumers will ultimately have to pick up the bill.

 "The implementation of this duty is nonsense," said Kevin Hawkins, director-general of the British Retail Consortium. "The cost it will impose on retailers is immense, the benefits to the environment and domestic manufacturers non-existent and the entire decision-making process behind its adoption highly questionable. Ultimately consumers will be the ones who lose out."

Daewoo in Vietnam : Factory exports parts to Thailand

Vietnam Daewoo Motor Co Ltd has exported two containers of automobile petrol tanks to Thailand, said a company executive, adding that the shipment was part of its plan to export spare parts worth US$6 million (Bt228 million) this year.

According to Vietnam New Agency, Vietnam Daewoo, a South-Korean-owned carmaker, has set revenue of $10 million from the export of automobile spare parts to Asean-member states by next year and more than $20 million by 2008, said general director Jung In Kim.

Vietnam Daewoo has invited four of its spare-parts suppliers from the South Korea to build manufacturing facilities in Vietnam, with a view to helping it increase the proportion of local content and fulfil its export plans, he said.

He added that apart from exporting spare parts, the company was planning to export cars to countries in the region.