BRUSSELS — July 2, 2019 — EURATEX, the European Apparel and Textile Confederation, welcomes the conclusion of negotiations for a comprehensive and ambitious Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay).

EURATEX has been actively engaged in the negotiation process to ensure an agreement fit for textile and clothing companies, also preserving social and environmental standards in the manufacturing of high-quality products. “Despite a challenging trade environment, we are glad rules-based trade has prevailed” stated Alberto Paccanelli, EURATEX president.

The EU-Mercosur FTA is the largest trade agreement ever concluded by the European Union, covering a population of 780 million. According to the EU, this agreement will save European companies over 4 billion euros in duties. For the textile and clothing industry in particular tariffs have been very high, reaching 35% in Brazil.

“In 2018 EU exports of textile and clothing products to Mercosur were 460 million euros and the elimination of tariffs will open further business opportunities for our sector” added Paccanelli, “We look forward to a swift approval by the European Council and the European Parliament.”

Posted July 2, 2019

Source: EURATEX, the European Apparel and Textile Confederation

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — July 2, 2019 — Interest in Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification from infection prevention personnel working in long-term care settings has quadrupled in the past two years—judging by their interest in the certification’s exhibit at the recent Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Prevention (APIC) conference.

The prototypical APIC visitor to the Hygienically Clean displays has been an infection preventionist based in a hospital (acute care/inpatient) or healthcare chain providing acute and ambulatory care services. In 2017, this group accounted for almost 60% of such visitors; this year, that figure dropped below 50%. Who’s filling that gap? The most impressive gain has been from long-term care, increasing from 2% to 9%, factoring out this facility type’s acute-care segment.

The tripling of that figure in the past year (3% to 9%) is likely due to the industry’s deadline to implement key provisions of Phase 3 of the 2016 update of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Requirements of Participation for Long-Term Care Facilities, the first comprehensive revision to the regulations since they were issued in 1991. Implementation of these provisions is required on November 19.

Two-thirds of the 27 (18) Hygienically Clean Healthcare exhibit visitors from long-term care (including acute) since 2017 described their primary role as IP. Less than one-fourth (six) indicated they were in nursing roles, such as RN or associate/assistant nursing director. (At each of the past three APIC conferences, 150 to 200 attendees have visited the TRSA exhibit, with demographics captured on 123 to 165.)

The interest of the long-term care industry in Hygienically Clean coincided with the June conclusion of TRSA’s 2019 advertising and direct marketing campaign aimed at building the industry’s interest in closing their on-premises laundries (OPLs) and outsourcing their laundry work. The TRSA effort comes at a time when long-term care providers’ concern for the viability of their revenue sources is increasing, given the industry’s growing reliance on shrinking public-pay sources (Medicaid and Medicare) and decreasing private pay. Such concern is prompting long-term care providers to increase scrutiny of all expense line items, not just the most costly line items, but a variety of others that could be decreased without compromising patient care, such as laundry.

TRSA’s APIC exhibit, June 12-14 in Philadelphia, also featured distribution on a flash drive of Six C’s of Handling Clean Linen in a Healthcare Environment, a video for training healthcare facility teams developed by TRSA’s Healthcare Committee and funded by Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification fees.

Six C’s emphasizes controlling access to clean linen and safely circulating it. The video advises that proper handling includes effective inventory management, which begins with effective accounting for textiles when received from linen services:

Right type and quantity available for patient care

Delivered bundle sizes are correct

Invoice accurately reflects delivery

Key facets of access control described include managing storage properly and keeping clean linen in designated areas with access. Hallways are depicted as not preferable; they’re high-traffic areas, prone to higher contamination risk. The role of storage in cleanliness is highlighted because when shelves and carts are placed properly, cleaning linen rooms and carts is easier; and circulating linen at the same time these rooms are restocked can reduce dust and dirt buildup.

This Six C’s video can be viewed at no charge with the companion Six C’s for Handling Soiled Linen in a Healthcare Environment in the recording of TRSA’s June 7 webinar.

Posted July 2, 2019

Source: TRSA

WASHINGTON — June 29, 2019 — The National Retail Federation today expressed hope that progress made during talks between President Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in Japan will lead to the end of the two countries’ trade war.

“We welcome the progress made during this meeting and hope it will result in a constructive approach to working with China to deliver significant reforms rather than one that punishes American consumers and threatens U.S. jobs through tariffs,” NRF Senior Vice President for Government Relations David French. “Pulling back from the brink of further tariff escalation is a good sign for retailers and their customers, and we look forward to continued progress in the talks with China so that further tariffs can be avoided and existing ones lifted.”

Tariffs of 25 percent have already been imposed on $250 billion in goods from China, and the Trump administration has been considering expanding the tariffs to virtually all Chinese imports by imposing the same levy on another $300 billion. But Trump said in a news conference after the meeting with Xi that negotiations between the two countries are “back on track” and that he would hold off on new tariffs on China as the talks resume.

NRF testified at a hearing held last week by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, asking the administration to reevaluate its strategy for dealing with China. A new report prepared for NRF found the proposed new round of tariffs would cost Americans $4.4 billion each year for apparel, $3.7 billion for toys, $2.5 billion for footwear and $1.6 billion for household appliances.

NRF has been a leading opponent of tariffs, saying they are a tax on imports that drive up prices of consumer merchandise purchased by American families while increasing the cost of parts and materials used by U.S. companies to manufacture domestic products, ultimately costing many U.S. workers their jobs.

Posted July 1, 2019

Source: The National Retail Federation (NRF)