Since 1971, the Community has granted trade preferences to developing countries, in the framework of its scheme of generalised tariff preferences.
The Community's common commercial policy is to be consistent with and consolidate the objectives of development policy, in particular the eradication of poverty and the promotion of sustainable development and good governance in the developing countries. It is to comply with the WTO requirements, and in particular with the GATT Enabling clause of 1979 (3).
A communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee of 7 July 2004 entitled 'Developing countries, international trade and sustainable development: the function of the Community's generalised system of preferences (GSP) for the ten-year period from 2006 to 2015' sets out the guidelines for the application of the scheme of generalised tariff preferences for the period 2006 to 2015.
This Regulation is the first Regulation implementing those guidelines. It should apply until 31 December 2008.
The scheme of generalised tariff preferences (hereinafter referred to as 'the scheme') should consist of a general arrangement granted to all the beneficiary countries and territories and two special arrangements taking into account the various development needs of similar-situated developing countries.
The general arrangement should be granted to all beneficiary countries unless they are classified by the World Bank as a high-income country and where they are not sufficiently diversified in their exports.
The special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance is based on an integral concept of sustainable development as recognized by international conventions and instruments such as the UN Declaration on the Right to Development of 1986, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development of 1992, the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work of 1998, the UN Millennium Declaration of 2000 and the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development of 2002. Consequently, developing countries which due to a lack of diversification and insufficient integration into the international trading system are vulnerable while assuming special burdens and responsibilities due to the ratification and effective implementation of core international conventions on human and labour rights, environmental protection and good governance should benefit from additional tariff preferences. These preferences are designed to promote further economic growth and thereby to respond positively to the need for sustainable development. Under this arrangement ad valorem tariffs are therefore suspended for the beneficiary countries, as well as specific duties (unless combined with an ad valorem duty). The special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance should exceptionally apply before the entry into force of the whole Regulation to conform with the WTO ruling on the special arrangements to combat drug production and trafficking.
Developing countries which already fulfil the criteria under the special arrangement for sustainable development and good governance at the time of entry into force of this Regulation should benefit from this arrangement as quickly as possible. They should therefore be provisionally listed as beneficiary countries. They should continue to benefit from the preferences if upon their application the Commission confirms their qualification by 15 December 2005.
The Commission should monitor the effective implementation of the international conventions in accordance with the respective mechanisms thereunder and should assess the relationship between additional tariff preferences and the promotion of sustainable development.
The special arrangement for the least developed countries should continue to grant duty-free access to products originating in the least developed countries, as recognised and classified by the United Nations. For a country no longer classified by the United Nations as a least developed country a transitional period should be established to alleviate any adverse effects caused by removal of the tariff preferences granted under this arrangement.
Preferences should continue to be differentiated according to the sensitivity of products, differentiating between non-sensitive and sensitive products, to take into account the situation of the sectors manufacturing the same products in the Community.
Tariff duties on non-sensitive products should continue to be suspended, while duties on sensitive products should enjoy a tariff reduction to ensure a satisfactory utilisation rate while at the same time taking into account the situation of the respective Community industries.
Such reduction should be sufficiently attractive in order to motivate traders to use the opportunities offered by the scheme. As far as ad valorem duties are concerned, the reduction should therefore be a flat rate of 3,5 percentage points of the most favoured nation (MFN) duty rate. Specific duties should be reduced by 30 %. Where duties specify a minimum duty, that minimum duty should not apply.
Duties should be totally suspended where preferential treatment for an individual import declaration results in ad valorem duties of 1 % or less or in specific duties of EUR 2 or less as the cost of collecting such duties might be higher than the revenue gained.
For the sake of coherence of the Community commercial policy, a beneficiary country should not benefit from both the Community's scheme and a free trade agreement, if that agreement covers at least all the preferences provided by the present scheme for that country.
Graduation should be based on criteria related to sections of the Common Customs Tariff. The graduation of a section for a beneficiary country should be applied when the section meets the criteria for graduation during three consecutive years, to increase predictability and fairness of graduation by eliminating the effect of large and exceptional variations in the import statistics.
The rules of origin, concerning the definition of the concept of originating products, the procedures and the methods of administrative cooperation related thereto, laid down in Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 of 2 July 1993 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code (4), apply to tariff preferences provided for by this Regulation to ensure that the benefit of this scheme goes only to those whom the scheme is intended to benefit.
The reasons for temporary withdrawal should include serious and systematic violations of the principles laid down in the conventions listed in Annex III so as to promote the objectives of those conventions and to ensure that no beneficiary receives unfair advantage through continuous violation of those conventions.
Due to the political situation in Myanmar, temporary withdrawal of all tariff preferences in respect of imports of products originating in Myanmar should remain in force.
1. The Community scheme of generalised tariff preferences (hereinafter referred to as 'the scheme') shall, from the date of entry into force of this Regulation until 31 December 2008, apply in accordance with this Regulation.
a special arrangement for least developed countries.
The beneficiary countries of the arrangements referred to in Article 1(2) are listed in Annex I.
1. A beneficiary country shall be removed from the scheme when it has been classified by the World Bank as a high-income country during three consecutive years, and when the value of imports for the five largest sections of its GSP-covered imports to the Community represent less than 75 % of the total GSP-covered imports of the beneficiary country to the Community.
2. When a beneficiary country benefits from a preferential commercial agreement with the Community which covers at least all the preferences provided by the present scheme for that country, it shall be removed from the list of beneficiary countries in Annex I.
3. The Commission shall notify a beneficiary country of its removal from the list of beneficiary countries in Annex I.
The products included in the arrangements referred to in points (a) and (b) of Article 1(2) are listed in Annex II.
1. The tariff preferences provided for by this Regulation shall apply to imports of products included in the arrangements enjoyed by the beneficiary country in which they originate.
2. For the purposes of the arrangements referred to in Article 1(2), the rules of origin, concerning the definition of the concept of originating products, the procedures and the methods of administrative cooperation related thereto, are laid down in Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93.
3. Regional cumulation within the meaning of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 shall also apply where a product used in further manufacture in a country belonging to a regional group originates in another country of the group, which does not benefit from the arrangements applying to the final product, provided that both countries benefit from regional cumulation for that group.
'Committee' means the Committee referred to in Article 28.
1. Common Customs Tariff duties on products listed in Annex II as non-sensitive products shall be entirely suspended, except for agricultural components.
2. Common Customs Tariff ad valorem duties on products listed in Annex II as sensitive products shall be reduced by 3,5 percentage points. For products of sections XI(a) and XI(b), this reduction shall be 20 %.
3. Where preferential duty rates, calculated in accordance with Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 2501/2001 (7) on Common Customs Tariff ad valorem duties applicable on the day before the entry into force of this Regulation, provide a tariff reduction, for the products referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, of more than 3,5 percentage points, those preferential duty rates shall apply.
4. Common Customs Tariff specific duties other than minimum or maximum duties on products listed in Annex II as sensitive products shall be reduced by 30 %.
5. Where Common Customs Tariff duties on products listed in Annex II as sensitive products include ad valorem duties and specific duties, the specific duties shall not be reduced.
7. The tariff preferences referred to in paragraphs 1 to 4 shall not apply to products of sections in respect of which those tariff preferences have been removed, for the country of origin concerned, according to Article 14, Article 21(8) and column C of Annex I.
1. Common Customs Tariff ad valorem duties on all products listed in Annex II which originate in a country included in the special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance shall be suspended.
2. Common Customs Tariff specific duties on products referred to in paragraph 1 shall be entirely suspended, except for products for which Common Customs Tariff duties also include ad valorem duties. For products of CN codes 1704 10 91 and 1704 10 99, the specific duty shall be limited to 16 % of the customs value.
3. For a beneficiary country the special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance shall not include products of the sections for which these tariff preferences have been withdrawn according to column C of Annex I.
is considered as a vulnerable country as defined in paragraph 3.
in case of an incompatibility with its Constitution, the country concerned has formally committed itself to sign and ratify any missing Convention no later than 31 December 2006.
Before the end of 2006, the Commission shall report to the Council on the compliance by a country concerned with the above-mentioned commitments. The granting of the special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance to this country beyond 1 January 2007 is subject to a Council decision. As appropriate, and on the basis of the abovementioned report, the Commission shall propose to the Council such a continuation.
whose GSP-covered imports to the Community represent less than 1 % in value of total GSP-covered imports to the Community.
The data to be used are those available on 1 September 2004, as an average over three consecutive years.
4. The Commission shall keep under review the status of ratification and effective implementation of the conventions listed in Annex III. Before the end of the period of application of this Regulation and in time for the discussion on the next Regulation, the Commission shall present to the Council a report concerning the status of ratification of such conventions, including recommendations by monitoring bodies.
an examination of the request shows that the requesting country fulfils the conditions laid down in Article 9(1), (2) and (3).
2. The requesting country shall submit its request to the Commission in writing and shall provide comprehensive information concerning ratification of the conventions referred to in Annex III, the legislation and measures to effectively implement the provisions of the conventions and its commitment to accept and fully comply with the monitoring and review mechanism envisaged in the relevant conventions and related instruments.
3. Those countries that are granted provisionally the special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance from the date of entry into force of this Regulation shall also submit a request according to paragraphs 1 and 2 by 31 October 2005. The Commission shall assess the request according to Article 11.
1. Where the Commission receives a request accompanied by the information referred to in Article 10, the Commission shall examine the request. The examination shall take into account the findings of the relevant international organisations and agencies. It may ask the requesting country any questions which it considers relevant and may verify the information received with the requesting country or any other relevant sources.
2. The Commission shall decide, in accordance with the examination referred to in paragraph 1 and the procedure referred to in Article 28(4), whether to grant a requesting country the special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance as of 1 January 2006.
3. The Commission shall notify a requesting country of a decision taken in accordance with paragraph 2. Where a country is granted the special incentive arrangement, it shall be informed of the date on which that decision enters into force. The Commission shall by 15 December 2005 publish a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union, listing the countries benefiting from the special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance.
4. Where a requesting country is not granted the special incentive arrangement, the Commission shall explain the reasons if that country so requests.
5. The Commission shall conduct all relations with a requesting country concerning the request in close coordination with the Committee acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 28(4).
1. Without prejudice to paragraphs 2, 3 and 4, Common Customs Tariff duties on all products of Chapters 1 to 97 of the Harmonized System except those of Chapter 93 thereof, originating in a country that according to Annex I benefits from the special arrangement for least developed countries, shall be entirely suspended.
2. Common Customs Tariff duties on the products of tariff heading 1006 shall be reduced by 20 % on 1 September 2006, by 50 % on 1 September 2007 and by 80 % on 1 September 2008. They shall be entirely suspended as from 1 September 2009.
3. Common Customs Tariff duties on the products of CN code 0803 00 19 shall be reduced by 20 % annually as from 1 January 2002. They shall be entirely suspended as from 1 January 2006.
4. Common Customs Tariff duties on the products of tariff heading 1701 shall be reduced by 20 % on 1 July 2006, by 50 % on 1 July 2007 and by 80 % on 1 July 2008. They shall be entirely suspended as from 1 July 2009.
5. Until Common Customs Tariff duties are entirely suspended in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 4, a global tariff quota at zero duty shall be opened for every marketing year for products of tariff heading 1006 and subheading 1701 11 10 respectively, originating in the countries benefiting from this special arrangement. The initial tariff quotas for the marketing year 2001/2002 shall be equal to 2 517 tonnes, husked rice equivalent, for products of tariff heading 1006, and 74 185 tonnes, white sugar equivalent, for products of subheading 1701 11 10. For each of the following marketing years, the quotas shall be increased by 15 % over the quotas of the previous marketing year.
6. The Commission shall adopt detailed rules governing the opening and administration of the quotas referred to in paragraph 5, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 28(4). In opening and administrating these quotas, the Commission shall be assisted by the management committees for the relevant common market organisations.
7. When a country is excluded by the United Nations from the list of the least developed countries, it is withdrawn from the list of the beneficiaries of this arrangement. The removal of a country from the arrangement and the establishment of a transitional period of at least three years shall be decided by the Commission, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 28(4).
Article 12(4) and provisions of Article 12(5) referring to products of tariff subheading 1701 11 10 shall not apply to products originating in countries benefiting from the preferences referred to in this section and released for free circulation in the French overseas departments.
1. The tariff preferences referred to in Articles 7 and 8 shall be removed in respect of products originating in a beneficiary country of a section, when the average value of Community imports from that country of products included in the section concerned and covered by the arrangement enjoyed by that country exceeds 15 % of the value of Community imports of the same products from all countries and territories listed in Annex I over three consecutive years, on the basis of the most recent data available on 1 September 2004. For each of the sections XI(a) and XI(b) the threshold shall be 12,5 %.
2. The sections removed in accordance with paragraph 1 are listed in Annex I, column C.
3. The removal of sections from this scheme shall apply as from 1 January 2006 until 31 December 2008.
4. The Commission shall notify a beneficiary country of the removal of a section.
5. Paragraph 1 does not apply to a beneficiary country in respect of any section which represents more than 50 % in value of all GSP-covered imports to the Community originating from the country in question.
6. The statistical source used for the purpose of this Article shall be the COMEXT statistics.
1. Where the rate of an ad valorem duty for an individual import declaration reduced in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter is 1 % or less, that duty shall be entirely suspended.
2. Where the rate of a specific duty for an individual import declaration reduced in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter is EUR 2 or less per individual euro amount, that duty shall be entirely suspended.
3. Subject to paragraphs 1 and 2, the final rate of preferential duty calculated in accordance with this Regulation shall be rounded down to the first decimal place.
serious and systematic infringements of the objectives of regional fishery organizations or arrangements to which the Community is a member concerning the conservation and management of fishery resources.
2. Without prejudice to paragraph 1, the special incentive arrangement referred to in Section 2 of Chapter II may be temporarily withdrawn, in respect of all or certain products included in this arrangement, originating in a beneficiary country, in particular if the national legislation no longer incorporates those conventions referred to in Annex III which have been ratified in fulfilment of the requirements of Article 9(1) and (2) or if that legislation is not effectively implemented.
3. The preferential arrangements provided for in this Regulation shall not be withdrawn pursuant to paragraph 1(d) in respect of products which are subject to anti-dumping or countervailing measures under Regulations (EC) No 384/96 (8) or (EC) No 2026/97 (9), for the reasons which justify those measures.
1. The preferential arrangements provided for in this Regulation may be temporarily withdrawn, in respect of all or of certain products, originating in a beneficiary country, in cases of fraud, irregularities or systematic failure to comply or to ensure compliance with the rules of origin of products and the procedures related thereto, and to provide the administrative cooperation as required for the implementation and the control of the respect of the arrangements referred to in Article 1(2).
assist the Community in the verification of conduct where there is a presumption of origin-related fraud. The existence of fraud may be presumed where imports of products under the preferential regimes granted under this Regulation massively exceed the usual levels of exports of the beneficiary country.
published a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union stating that there are grounds for reasonable doubts about the application of the preferential arrangements and/or compliance by the beneficiary country with its obligations, which may call into question its right to continue enjoying the benefits granted by this Regulation.
The Commission shall inform the beneficiary country concerned of any decision taken in accordance with this paragraph, before it becomes effective. The Commission shall also notify the Committee thereof.
4. Any Member State may refer a decision taken in accordance with paragraph 3 to the Council within 1 month. The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a different decision within 1 month.
5. The period of suspension shall not exceed 6 months. On conclusion of the period, the Commission shall decide either to terminate the suspension after informing the Committee or to extend the period of suspension in accordance with the procedure referred to in paragraph 3.
6. Member States shall communicate to the Commission all relevant information that may justify suspension of preferences or its extension.
1. Where the Commission or a Member State receives information that may justify temporary withdrawal and where the Commission or a Member State considers that there are sufficient grounds for an investigation, it shall inform the Committee and request consultations, which should take place within one month.
2. Following the consultations, the Commission may decide, within 1 month and in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 28(5), to initiate an investigation.
1. Where the Commission decides to initiate an investigation, it shall publish a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union announcing the investigation, and notify the beneficiary country concerned thereof. The notice shall provide a summary of the information received and state that any relevant information should be sent to the Commission. It shall specify the period, which may not exceed four months as from the date of publication of the notice, within which interested parties may make their views known in writing.
2. The Commission shall provide the beneficiary country concerned with every opportunity to cooperate in the investigation.
3. The Commission shall seek all information it considers necessary including the available assessments, comments, decisions, recommendations and conclusions of the relevant supervisory bodies of the UN, the ILO and other competent international organisations. These shall serve as the point of departure for the investigation as to whether temporary withdrawal is justified for the reason referred to in point (a) of Article 16(1). The Commission may verify the information received with economic operators and the beneficiary country concerned.
4. The Commission may be assisted by officials of the Member State on whose territory verification might be sought, if that Member State so requests.
5. Where information requested by the Commission is not provided within the period specified in the notice announcing the investigation, or the investigation is significantly impeded, findings may be made on the basis of the facts available.
6. The investigation should be completed within a year. The Commission may extend this period, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 28(5).
1. The Commission shall submit a report on its findings to the Committee.
2. Where the Commission considers that the findings do not justify temporary withdrawal, it shall decide, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 28(5), to terminate the investigation. In that case, the Commission shall publish a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union, announcing the termination of the investigation and setting out its main conclusions.
3. Where the Commission considers that the findings justify temporary withdrawal for the reason referred to in point (a) of Article 16(1), it shall decide, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 28(5), to monitor and evaluate the situation in the beneficiary country concerned for a period of six months. The Commission shall notify the beneficiary country concerned of this decision and shall publish a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union, announcing that it intends to submit a proposal to the Council for temporary withdrawal, unless, before the end of the period, the beneficiary country concerned makes a commitment to take the measures necessary to conform, in a reasonable period of time, with the conventions referred to in Part A of Annex III.
4. Where the Commission considers temporary withdrawal to be necessary, it shall submit an appropriate proposal to the Council, which shall decide within 1 month by a qualified majority. In cases referred to in paragraph 3, the Commission shall submit its proposal at the end of the period referred to in that paragraph.
5. Where the Council decides on temporary withdrawal, such decision shall enter into force 6 months after it was taken, unless it is decided before then that the reasons justifying it no longer prevail.
1. Where a product originating in a beneficiary country is imported on terms which cause, or threaten to cause, serious difficulties to a Community producer of like or directly competing products, normal Common Customs Tariff duties on that product may be reintroduced at any time at the request of a Member State or on the Commission's initiative.
2. The Commission shall take a formal decision to initiate an investigation within a reasonable period of time. Where the Commission decides to initiate an investigation, it shall publish a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union announcing the investigation. The notice shall provide a summary of the information received and state that any relevant information should be sent to the Commission. It shall specify the period, which shall not exceed 4 months from the date of publication of the notice, within which interested parties may make their views known in writing.
3. The Commission shall seek all information it deems necessary and may verify the information received with the beneficiary country concerned and any other relevant source. It may be assisted by officials of the Member State on whose territory verification might be sought, if that Member State so requests.
5. The investigation shall be completed within 6 months after the publication of the notice referred to in paragraph 2. The Commission may, in case of exceptional circumstances and after consultation of the Committee, extend this period in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 28(5).
6. The Commission shall take a decision within 1 month, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 28(5). Such decision shall enter into force within 1 month as from its publication.
7. Where exceptional circumstances requiring immediate action make an investigation impossible, the Commission may, after informing the Committee, take any preventive measure which is strictly necessary.
the Commission, on the 1st of January of every year during the period of application of this Regulation, on its own initiative or at the request of a Member State and after informing the Committee, shall remove the preferences referred to in Articles 7 and 8 with respect to products from section XI(b). This provision shall not apply to countries benefiting from the special arrangement for least developed countries referred to in Article 12 and to countries whose share of imports into the Community as defined in Article 14(1) do not exceed 8 %. The Commission shall notify a beneficiary country of the removal of the preferences. The removal of the preferences shall take effect two months after the publication of the Commission's decision to this effect in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Where imports of products included in Annex I to the Treaty cause, or threaten to cause, serious disturbance to Community markets, in particular to one or more of the outermost regions, or these markets' regulatory mechanisms, the Commission, on request of a Member State or on its own initiative, may suspend the preferential arrangements in respect of the products concerned after consulting the management committee for the relevant common market organisation.
1. The Commission shall inform the beneficiary country concerned as soon as possible of any decision taken in accordance with Article 21 or 22 before it becomes effective. The Commission shall also notify the Council and the Member States thereof.
2. Any Member State may refer a decision taken in accordance with Article 21 or 22 to the Council within 1 month. The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may adopt a different decision within 1 month.
Products in Chapters 1 to 24 originating in beneficiary countries may be subject to a special surveillance mechanism in order to avoid disturbances in the Community market. The Commission, on its own initiative or on the request of a Member State, shall decide the products on which this surveillance list shall be applied.
when imports of products in Chapters 1 to 24 under the preferential regimes granted under this Regulation massively exceed the usual levels of exports of the beneficiary country.
Nothing in this Chapter shall affect the application of safeguard clauses adopted as part of the Common Agricultural Policy under Article 37 of the Treaty, or as part of the Common Trade Policy under Article 133 of the Treaty, or any other safeguard clauses which may be applied.
for the establishment of the final list of beneficiary countries by 15 December 2005 at the latest in accordance with Article 11.
1. Within six weeks of the end of each quarter, Member States shall send the Statistical Office of the European Communities their statistical data on products placed under the customs procedure of free circulation during that quarter under the tariff preferences provided for in this Regulation. These data, supplied by reference to Combined Nomenclature codes and, where applicable, TARIC codes, shall show, by country of origin, values, quantities and any supplementary units required in accordance with the definitions in Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 (10) and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1917/2000 (11).
2. In accordance with Article 308d of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93, Member States shall forward to the Commission, at its request, details of the quantities of products admitted for free circulation under the tariff preferences provided for in this Regulation, during the previous months. These data shall include the products referred to in paragraph 3.
3. The Commission shall, in close cooperation with Member States, monitor the imports of products of CN code 0803 00 19, of tariff headings 0603, 1006, 1701, 1704 and 6403 and of CN codes 1604 14, 1604 19 31, 1604 19 39, 1604 20 70, 2002 90 and 2103 20 in order to determine whether the conditions referred to in Articles 21 and 22 are fulfilled.
1. In implementing this Regulation, the Commission shall be assisted by a Generalised Preferences Committee (hereinafter referred to as 'the Committee').
2. The Committee may examine any matter relating to the application of this Regulation raised by the Commission or on the request of a Member State.
3. The Committee shall examine the effects of the scheme, on the basis of a report from the Commission covering the period from 1 January 2006. This report shall cover all preferential arrangements referred to in Article 1(2) and be presented in time for the discussion on the next Regulation.
5. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 3 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply.
6. The Committee shall adopt its Rules of Procedure.
Council Regulation (EC) No 552/97 (12), which refers to Council Regulations (EC) No 3281/94 (13) and (EC) No 1256/96 (14), shall be considered to refer to the corresponding provisions of this Regulation. Commission Regulations (EC) No 1381/2002 (15) and (EC) No 1401/2002 (16), which refer to Regulation (EC) No 2501/2001, shall be considered to refer to the corresponding provisions of this Regulation.
1. The special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance of Section 2 of Chapter II of this Regulation as well as the provisions applied in conjunction with that arrangement shall enter into force on 1 July 2005. That arrangement repeals with effect from its entry into force the special arrangements to combat drug production and trafficking of Title IV of Regulation (EC) No 2501/2001 and the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 2501/2001 applied in conjunction with those arrangements. The other provisions of this Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 2006 and repeal with effect from that date those provisions of Regulation (EC) No 2501/2001 then still in force.
2. This Regulation shall apply until 31 December 2008. However, this date shall not apply to the special arrangements for least developed countries, nor, to the extent that they are applied in conjunction with those arrangements, to any other provisions of this Regulation.
Done at Luxembourg, 27 June 2005.
(1) Opinion delivered on 9 March 2005 (not yet published in the Official Journal).
(2) Opinion delivered on 9 February 2005 (not yet published in the Official Journal).
(3) 'Differential and More Favourable Treatment, Reciprocity and Fuller Participation of Developing Countries', GATT Decision of 28 November 1979 (L/4903).
(4) OJ L 253, 11.10.1993, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 837/2005 (OJ L 139, 2.6.2005, p. 1).
(6) OJ L 256, 7.9.1987, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 493/2005 (OJ L 82, 31.3.2005, p. 1).
(7) Council Regulation (EC) No 2501/2001 of 10 December 2001 applying a scheme of generalised tariff preferences for the period from 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2004 (OJ L 346, 31.12.2001, p. 1). Regulation as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1828/2004 (OJ L 321, 22.10.2004, p. 23).
(8) Council Regulation (EC) No 384/96 of 22 December 1995 on protection against imports from countries not members of the European Community (OJ L 56, 6.3.1996, p. 1). Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 461/2004 (OJ L 77, 13.3.2004, p. 12).
(9) Council Regulation (EC) No 2026/97 of 6 October 1997 on protection against subsidised imports from countries not members of the European Community (OJ L 288, 21.10.1997, p. 1). Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 461/2004.
(10) Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 of 22 May 1995 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods by the Community and its Member States with non-member countries (OJ L 118, 25.5.1995, p. 10). Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and the Council (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1).
(11) Commission Regulation (EC) No 1917/2000 of 7 September 2000 laying down certain provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 as regards statistics on external trade (OJ L 229, 9.9.2000, p. 14). Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 179/2005 (OJ L 30, 3.2.2005, p. 6).
(12) Council Regulation (EC) No 552/97 of 24 March 1997 temporarily withdrawing access to generalised tariff preferences from the Union of Myanmar (OJ L 85, 27.3.1997, p. 8).
(13) Council Regulation (EC) No 3281/94 of 19 December 1994 applying a four-year scheme of generalized tariff preferences (1995 to 1998) in respect of certain industrial products originating in developing countries (OJ L 348, 31.12.1994, p. 1). Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2820/98 (OJ L 357, 30.12.1998, p. 1).
(14) Council Regulation (EC) No 1256/96 of 20 June 1996 applying multiannual schemes of generalised tariff preferences from 1 July 1996 to 30 June 1999 in respect of certain agricultural products originating in developing countries (OJ L 160, 29.6.1996, p. 1). Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 602/98 (OJ L 80, 18.3.1998, p. 1).
(15) Commission Regulation (EC) No 1381/2002 of 29 July 2002 laying down detailed rules for opening and administration of the tariff quotas for raw cane sugar for refining, originating in the least developed countries, for the marketing years 2002/03 to 2005/06 (OJ L 200, 30.7.2002, p. 14).
(16) Commission Regulation (EC) No 1401/2002 of 31 July 2002 laying down detailed rules for the opening and administration of the tariff quotas for rice, originating in the least developed countries, for the marketing years 2002/03 to 2008/09 (OJ L 203, 1.8.2002, p. 42).
S-IV Prepared foodstuffs; beverages, spirits and vinegar; tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes.
S-IX Wood and articles of wood; wood charcoal; cork and articles of cork; manufactures of straw, of esparto or of other plaiting materials; basketware and wickerwork.
S-VI Products of the chemical or allied industries.
S-VII Plastics and articles thereof; rubber and articles thereof.
S-VIII Raw hides and skins, leather, furskins and articles thereof; saddlery and harness; travel goods, handbags and similar containers; articles of animal gut (other than silkworm gut).
S-X Pulp of wood or of other fibrous cellulosic material; recovered (waste and scarp) paper or paperboard; paper and paperboard and articles thereof.
S-XI(a) Textiles; S-XI(b) Textile articles.
S-XII Footwear, headgear, umbrellas, sun umbrellas, walking sticks, seat-sticks, whips, riding-crops and parts thereof; prepared feathers and articles made therewith; artificial flowers; articles of human hair.
S-XIII Articles of stone, plaster, cement, asbestos, mica or similar materials; ceramic products; glass and glassware.
S-XIV Natural or cultured pearls, precious or semi-precious stones, precious metals, metals clad with precious metal, and articles thereof; imitation jewellery; coins.
S-XV Base metals and articles of base metal.
S-XVI Machinery and mechanical appliances; electrical equipment; parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts and accessories of such articles.
S-XVII Vehicles, aircraft, vessels and associated transport equipment.
S-XVIII Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; clocks and watches; musical instruments; parts and accessories thereof.
S-III Animal or vegetable fats and oils and their cleavage products; prepared edible fats; animal or vegetable waxes.
(1) The list may include countries which are temporarily suspended from the EU GSP or have not complied with the administrative cooperation requirements, which are a pre-condition for goods to be granted the benefit of tariff preferences. The Commission or the competent authorities of the country concerned will be able to provide an updated list.
Notwithstanding the rules for the interpretation of the Combined Nomenclature, the description of products is to be considered as indicative, the tariff preferences being determined by the CN codes. Where ex CN codes are indicated, the tariff preferences are to be determined by the CN code and the description together. Entry of products marked with an asterisk is subject to the conditions laid down in the relevant Community provisions.
The column 'Sensitivity/Non-Sensitivity' comprises the products included in the general arrangement (Article 7) and in the special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance (Article 8). These products are listed either NS (non-sensitive in the meaning of Article 7(1)) or S (sensitive in the meaning of Article 7(2)). For reasons of simplification, products are listed in groups. These may include products for which Common Customs Tariff duties are exempted or suspended.
(1) For these products, the arrangement referred to in Section 1 of Chapter II does not apply.
(2) For products of CN code 0306 13, the duty shall be 3,6 % under the special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance.
(3) For the products of CN codes 0710 80 85, the arrangement referred to in Section 1 of Chapter II does not apply.
(4) For the products of CN code 0811 10 and 0811 20, the arrangement referred to in Section 1 of Chapter II does not apply.
(5) For products of CN codes 1704 10 91 and 1704 10 99, the specific duty shall be limited to 16 % of the customs value under the special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance.
International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid.
United Nations Convention against Corruption (Mexico).


text:
Laker Performance
MS Activities
PLHS
Turf calendar
School Records Fall As Lakers End Up In Middle
05/22/2019, 5:00pm CDT
By Tom Schardin
Junior Parker Ellis and sophomore Gabe Smit set some new standards for the Prior Lake boys track team May 17.
Both broke school records in their respective events at the Class 3A State True Team in Stillwater, helping the Lakers finish sixth out of 12 teams with 853.5 points.
Hopkins claimed the crown with 1,243 points, followed by Wayzata (1,180.5), Mounds View (1,093.5), Rosemount (1,051.5) and Blaine (956.5). Stillwater was seventh (827.5), followed by Lakeville South (734.5), Alexandria (718), Cambridge-Isanti (698.5), White Bear Lake (678) and Elk River (528).
The Lakers were making their fifth straight appearance at the state competition. It's the fourth time the team has finished sixth, also doing so in 2018, 2016 and 2015. Prior Lake was fifth in 2015.
The South Suburban Conference Championships are next for the Lakers. The prelims are May 22 and the finals are May 23 and the venue for both days is Rosemount High School.
At the state true team, Ellis won the long jump with a leap of 23-2 3/4. That broke his own school record of 22-5 1/2 that he set last year. Ellis won the Class AA state title in the long jump last year with a mark of 22 1 1/2.
Ellis also finished sixth in the triple jump with a leap of 43 2 1/2. He was fifth in that event at state last year and he also holds the school record (44 4 3/4) in that event as well.
Smit broke the school record in the 1,600 at the state true team, finishing sixth with a time of 4:19.50. Smit was 11th in that event at Class AA state meet last year (4:21.41).
Senior Michael Wu had a strong showing for the Lakers in the 400 at the state true team, taking second (50.35). Brett Ringer of Blaine edged Wu for the top spot by 0.02.
Junior Braeden Ericsson was eighth in the 300 hurdles for the Lakers (40.95), while senior Antonio Vargiu was eighth in the high jump (6-0).
Senior Jarrod Henderson led the Lakers in throws, finishing fourth in the shot put (51-10), while senior Nick Norby was sixth (50-6 1/4). Senior Mathias Saad finished seventh in the discus (147-02), while Henderson was ninth (145-03) and senior Erik Thompson was 10th (145-02).
Other individual finishes for the Lakers came from senior Nicholas Mullins in the 200 (12th, 22.65), Smit in the 800 (14th, 2:01.51), junior John Brennan in the 3,200 (15th, 10:10.00), junior Taylor Flaata in the high jump (T13th, 5-10), junior Nate Raddatz in the long jump (14th, 20-6 1/2) and senior Thomas Gonser in the shot put (15th, 46-10).
The Lakers' best relay finish came from the 4x200 team, which took fourth (1:31.05). The 4x100 team was sixth (43.50), while the 4x400 team was seventh (3:30.15) and the 4x800 team took ninth (8:40.53). Relay names have not been made available.
The Section 3AA meet follows the SSC Championships. The prelims are May 29 and the finals are May 31 and both days are at Prior Lake High School.
Prior Lake has won the Section 3AA crown the last three years. Last year, the team sent 14 athletes to state, which helped the team finish a program-best sixth in the team standings.
This year's state competition is June 7-8 at Hamline University in St. Paul. Wayzata is the defending team champion.
Tag(s): HOME Boys Track and Field
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Beijing's toxic air is literally off the charts
Hung Chung Chih
Climate + Cities
No matter what desperate steps the Chinese government takes — banning coal-burning plants within the city limits, shuttering more than 300 factories, wiping out old vehicles and boilers, forcing heavy trucking to go nocturnal — this just keeps happening: Beijing's smog has yet again soared off the charts.
On Thursday local time, Beijing measured "beyond index" levels of the dangerous airborne particulate matter known as PM2.5 — considered hazardous to human health because the tiny particles can embed deep in a person's respiratory system. Those sky-high levels have been measured several times since the U.S. began measuring the city's air using a device installed atop its embassy in Beijing in 2008, most notably during a "crazy bad" incident in 2010, and 2013's "airpocalypse."
Thursday's levels indicated the concentration of PM2.5 exceeded 500 on an "Air Quality Index" (AQI) measured from the embassy. The Beijing municipal government maintains its own index, always notably lower than the U.S. readings, which reported an AQI of 430 — still hazardous. (Anything above 150 is considered unhealthy for the general population). Thursday's levels are generally regarded as more than 20 times the limit recommended by the World Health Organization.
[tweet https://twitter.com/peterschloss/status/555606954442100736]
[tweet https://twitter.com/NicholasXPM/status/555610804918439937]
[tweet https://twitter.com/comradewong/status/555611575088717824]
[tweet https://twitter.com/ianbremmer/status/555735704266104833]
Despite the frigid mass of putrid air, this week's levels don't come close to records set in 2013, when the AQI surged to over 755. Then, expats gave it a nickname: "airpocalypse." It covered 1 million square miles (2.7 million square kilometers) of the country with a pall of smog that impacted more than 600 million people. I made this chart then to show what exactly was in Beijing's air, a lethal combination of particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ozone. It also gives you a sense of how the Air Quality Index works:
One reason it's so hard to control the air quality in Beijing is that the smog problem sweeps in from neighboring provinces, known as the "black triangle" — Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia. Prevailing wind patterns in that area of China pick up the pollution from at least 38 coal-fired power plants and send it straight into Beijing, which is landlocked and tends to trap the smog.
As I've reported previously, the smog is the main thing driving so much of China's push to tackle climate change (reducing CO2 emissions will also cut pollution) and its exploration of natural gas through a major fracking push in the southwestern province of Sichuan. It's worth noting that China continues to be the world's biggest investor in clean energy technologies.
But so long as smog continues to blanket cities like Beijing, home to 21 million people, the government will continue to face mounting political pressure amongst an uneasy population that was promised, along with economic prosperity and greater freedoms associated with opening up to the rest of the world, a better quality of life.
This story was produced as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
Quick, go visit the ocean one last time before it dies
Amelia Urry Culture
In Michigan, a new housing project shows that sustainable development isn't only for the rich
Jena Brooker
In an East Coast first, New Jersey will phase out diesel trucks
This coastal town needs federal aid for climate adaptation. Instead it'll get a military truck.
Adam Mahoney
December's tornadoes show a country desperately in need of disaster reform


I am thrilled to report that we have just completed the Rochers de Naye run for 2007.
Last year I bought a pair of rather heavy Salomon boots and managed to run the whole way in them. I did meet the guy who came 3rd in the whole race and he told me to use standard running shoes. So today equipped with my trusty Asics Gel Kayano XIII we tried again.
The first 5km is a damp or slightly muddy course following a mountain stream. This was a bit slippery but in the shade. After that the route goes to tarmac and after a short dip down it is now up up and up until the end.
Both Agata and I were carrying food and MP3 players. There were a great number of refreshment stops, so in fact our food was hardly necessary. After 5Km we split, with Agata running just a little bit more slowly. Marcus continued trying to catch people up. From Km 9 I caught up about 50 people and was overtaken by 2. So if we attempt this next year probably I should run faster from the start.
So it is now time to take the rest of Sunday off, we are thrilled with our exercise weekend, but for the rest of the day our sights are set on Pasta and chilled wine.
The rough plot is that you assemble at Chalet a Gobet early on Saturday June 23rd. Unlike last year the forecast was good weather and I am happy to report a dry day.
In about 5.5 hours we abled up and down hills to complete our chosen 100Km course. Our Garmin GPS watch told us that we each consumed 2000 calories so based on this unlikely statistic we have had a large dinner.
In preparation for tomorrow ..
Once I was in a car dealership eyeing up a new Noble M12. The salesman without any degree of tact probed by financial situation in order to try and assure himself that I was not just another Saturday joy-rider. But then I told him about my job.
During periods of my Oncall you should respond to a phone call within 15 minutes and be able to logon within 1 hour.
So you will need to carry a work phone or pager around.
You had better buy a suplimental Screen and docking station (at your own cost) becuase it is impossible to use that work laptops 10.4 inch screen to work effectively. And work will not pay for one.
You had better not go anywhere that is more than 1 hour from your home, because if called you will need to get home within that hour, plug into the home DSL network connection to access the troubled systems.
Besides trying to fix the problem you will need to record everything into the Change and Problem Management system else you won't get paid or people working after you won't know how to solve the problem.
Not only will you have to cover Monday to Friday 18.00 to 07.00 but lets also ask you to cover the 48 hours of weekend too.
So you will be staying at home on an oncall weekend then.
Some unlucky person will also be asked to cover festive periods like Christmas and New Year too.
Because you are a contractor, let us pay you an insulting retainer for On Call so that unless you are actually called out (where you will be paid the same wages as though you were in the office), you will get enough money to buy a coffee in Starbucks once per hour. And you are going to need that coffee I can tell you!
And so: I am quite delighted to say that I am now permanently Off Call, or whatever the opposite of On Call is. No more staying at home at evenings and weekends. Of waiting for that phone to ring at 2 or 3am in the morning. Of rushing to logon noiselessly after 22.00, because in Switzerland, you must absolutely be quiet after that time. Of dragging my sleep deprived body into work the next morning and pretending that life is still wonderful. Of being reprimanded for helping out my offshore team who called for help when technically the problem is not at the correct technical severity level (yet).
Whilst waiting for a train we entered the strangely open Migros supermarket. In a Swiss canton where it is forbidden to cut the grass on a Sunday supermarkets dare not think of opening. But at Geneva airport Migros gets away with it so that foreigners entering the country dont get too much of a shock.
After the train and in the interests of economy and it turns out stupidity we took a bus or in fact 3 busses home. So about 3 hours after coming out of the airport we opened the Apartment door.
Plant: Yes the plants had all survived, it is a miracle.
Then much later we had a call from the folks at Jet Aviation. They claimed to have found our lost luggage. And indeed later it was delivered. Agatas rucksack seemed open and we realise now (1 week later) that some small items have gone missing. Nothing important, but we are shocked. This is Switzerland!
Holiday summary: We had just the most fantastic time, the two highlights were the Narrows descent in Zion National Park and the Day long trek to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and up in the same day. The greatest disappointment was the Skywalk and the most frustrating thing was the flight delays experienced at the holiday end.
The ASUS R2H has been upgraded to 1GB of memory and Windows Vista Business. It is still dreadfully slow, but we fixed the crashing problem before holiday start so it is basically reliable. Using the internal GPS and a Microsoft Amercian Streets and Trips 2006 we were able to navigate to any place we desired. Suspend still does not work and when Hibernate fails the 5 minute full restart is frustrating.
As usual we daily downloaded all our photos to this device, and for paranoia also kept a spare copy of the photos on a SD card written using the R2H's internal slot.
We were able to watch the prepared .avi movies we took with us on the R2H's 7 inch screen no problem. We found we did not have time to listen to any music we had prepared on the R2H or the two iPods we took.
Our Komperdell C3 Carbon Fibre nordic walking poles were great and I am now a total convert. So much so that we just bought another pair in Switzerland so now we have 2 each. It really makes a tremendous difference to the speed of a mountain descent, and is pretty good for ascents.
The Canon 400D and Panasonic Lumix LX2 provided big quality and lightweight widescreen photos respectively.
Frequent trips to REI and to Nike stores equipped us with selectively lightweight synthetic clothing to meet our hiking needs. Our Decathlon wardobe proved bulletproof.
The Leatherman Micra was our emergency tool with the Gerber Diesel for bigger tasks. We could not buy the Leatherman Charge TTi nobody stocks it?
First stop .. Hertz. And goodbye Hyundai Accent. Unlike Nissy this was a sensible four seater with especially wobbly steering and soft suspension so as not to scare your stereotypical American driver.
Nervous checkin - is that Explosive sir? On the advice of the locals we thought we'd get to the airport early. We were carrying an assortment of old computer components and we thought the razor sharp airport security could think (wrongly) that we were smuggling something out. So our pleasant suprise was only to be subjected to an explosives check,after which security were not at all interested.
Having checked in we had several hours to spend, and lets face it Raleigh Airport RDU is not the shopping mecca you might want it to be. Neither was Starbucks! I kept ordering drinks that seemed to be either too much trouble to make or generally not available.
Eventually the tiny plane took off for Newark. We did arrive Newark and started circling around. It was so nice of the Captain to give us all such an aerial nice tour or Newark, except that we would have prefered that he land.
After over an hour of circling the Captain announced that he was running low on fuel and so we would be landing at Allentown in Pensylvania instead. Not particuarly good news for our Connection back to Switzerland.
We landed in Allentown and we learnt that most of us were foreigners returning back to Europe so we were all rather cross. An age later we took off and various groups of passengers started discussing plans on how we would rush from our entry terminal to the connecting flight, assuming it was still there.
A lot of running: As our plane finally landed in Newark we realised that our exercise themed holiday had given us the edge. We felt that if anybody could run from the landing terminal to the destination terminal .. it was us! And we did, we ran and ran and most suprisingly ... we made it!
Although we had only had 5 hours sleep getting up at 08.00 did not prove difficult. This was our only remaining shopping day in America!
The closest breakfast seemed to be at the Bear Rock Cafe. I now realise this is a chain of stores but still most enjoyable. And free wi-fi!
And now the other good reason for staying here became very clear Crossroads Shopping Centre which is quite literally around the corner. As always Agatas skillful hotel selection was no accident.
Our next stop was to visit Jennifer and her family. I had not seen Jennifer in Cary since we had lived together there. Now she has moved and gained a family. Her new house had a Cathedral ceiling in the lounge. A small but impressive detail, and this combined with the spacious nature of her apartment which she described as very ordinary reminded me that living back in Cary (should we get the chance) would not be a bad idea at all.
Switzerland is of course very beautiful but the allure of the very green and always friends Raleigh area was and is very beguiling.
Later that day we ended up in Southpoint Mall. We made several bargain purchases. Amusingly we popped into Bags N Baggage to try and get some sturdy carry on and hold suitcases for the journey home. We did not want all our nice purchases to get damaged! We explained that we had seen some very nice Samsonite cases in Vegas and asked for similar. An extremly polite shop assistant told us that "the price point" of any of his luggage was above that of Samsonite. I looked at the 800 USD Rimova Topas case and realised I really had come to the wrong store. In fact JC Penny came to our rescue, 2 cases for 39 US Dollars, including tax.
Cases in hand we now had to locate my old friend Glyn a work colleage from IBM now living again in Durham. Following the GPS on our ASUS R2H we detoured thru Duke University and then headed out of the town into green and very pleasant lands. We finally arrived at a large impressive house and was fairly convinced this had to be the wrong address.
It is a fantastic property, miles from the town. The garage door was wide open and a stereotypical Redneck pickup truck was amongst the vehicles outside.
I turned out to be dead wrong, this was Glyn's new home, and he explained that it was so safe that the garage door was quite safe to be left open. A few glasses of wine later we were talking about the good old days and I was really pleased that Glyn had made it back out the US, he seems so happy there. We were very jealous in a nice kind of way.
And so the computer highlight of our trip began. Whilst I had tried hard to buy some modern Computer components nothing at all was available (where were those 16GB flash drives America?).
So it came to be that at Glyn's I began the disassembly of a Cromemco series 250, which Glyn had bought earlier and had patiently kept in his garage.
Overall this process was quite heartbreaking. Whilst this was in fact a 17 year old computer similar to the ones I used to integrate and sell almost 20 years ago, this was kind of special. We had found some surplus ones, that had never been used! So really it was brand new. Now I was disassembling it, wilfully breaking it apart, this pinnacle of 1980's and pre IBM PC technology, gutting this beast for the choicest components to leave an all but empty (but still really heavy) steel shell that is probably bound for the compacter.
Up at 5am to leave Bellagio. No time for that excellent pool or the greatly desired and cavernous buffet breakfast.
There was just time to admire the worlds largest chocolate fountain and then checkout under an equally memorable Bellagio art styled ceiling.
Next was a swift taxi rider to McCarran airport for about 10 USD, much quicker than the shuttle bus like Gray line since it goes straight there.
This is the story of the start of our long day of waiting and hoping, just we did not to know it yet.
First stop after the numerous security checks .. Cinnabon. Quite why this tasty snack is not available in Europe I dont know. Whilst delicious of course it overtly does look like its dangerous to your waistline so perhaps its X rated food nature prevents successfull marketing in Europe, Still delicious!
1. What exactly is that number on top of gambling machines. I refer to a large increasing number probably of some sort of win. It seems to scroll upward at a rate that means its probably for the whole casino not an individual machine. Who knows?
2. Why is WiFi free or cheapest in cheap motels but in the most expensive hotels chargeable or in some cases totally unavailable. Dont the rich need the internet?
3. Did you ever get trapped in a Casino. These football field sized playing fields have plenty of signs for the Bar, ATM machines. But signs to the redemption machines .. thin on the ground. And like a mythical unicorn signs to get out a casino ontp the stip .. invisible. The number of times I walked into a large casino and then walk in circles despeartely trying to escape .. many!
At McCarran we did notice our 09.50 flight was delayed to 10.15. The gate assistant said it was because the tail winds were strong and meant that we would get there too early if we left on time (file under excuses, dubious). Then the time slippled to 10.30 and then 11.50 . Clearly the tail winds were getting very strong. Finally we were lured into getting onto the plane and I prompty fell asleep.
About an hour later I woke to what was the worlds quietest and smootest flight. On closer inspection we found that we had not actually taken off. Oh dear. A quick calcuation showed that even Superman could not get us to Chicago ontime and we arrived at 17.00. Not amusingly this was the time our connection was leaving, They waited around, just not for us.
So whilst in the air we tried to think positive and admire the view. We flew over a crop circle training centre at one point, then some equally impressive square fields later on.
After landing we spent the next 6 hours or so were spent rushing around Chicago airport trying to rebook our flight to arrive for this Thursday night. Initially American had rebooked us on the 07.55 Friday morning flight and apparently (numerous phone calls later) they did not need to provide any compensation for delay or inconvenience since this was due to natural factors. This may be the windy city however the conditions looked fine by European or Swiss standards. I know Chicago too has challenging winters (and hot windy summers) so I really cant understand what was the problem, but it is true that over 30% of flights this Thursday were delayed or cancelled. Result .... a great day for food vendors at Chicago airport.
Eventually we phoned a 1-800 number whilst waiting in an infinitely long rebooking queue. Turns out you can (in theory) go to any Amnerican checkin desk and ask for rebooking. So we left the queue (sorry line) and about 3 desks later managed to get a rebooking for an already delayed 21.00 flight to RDU.
Definitely time for Bed, Friday is our shopping and meeting friends day and we need to be as fresh as we can.
Goodbye Nissy. We are going to miss you. In a frantic dash we just made the deadline to hand back the Hertz car.
We are the couple that cleaned the car in a carwash earlier, however it got dirty again so it was only clean on the inside when we handed it back. Nissy never let us down, made all the right noises, and despite getting stuck off road we liked the car.
With Nissy gone we had to walk to our next Hotel: Bellagio. In a word LARGE, that is Bellagio. Some of their carpets are larger than our apartment. It has hundreds of guest rooms, speciality shops, several restaurants, 3 pools. I think they should include complimentary Segways for all guests, perhaps with GPS to guide bewildered guests.
After checkin we thought that the local buffet would be too boring so we hopped to Caesars Palace.
We now realise that all buffets are not created equal. We waited in line for ages because there despite many empty tables no servers to take us there. Then when someone was available they took a Diamond Card holder to a table instead.
This bring us to the sophisticated reward schemes that casinos employ.
After dining what better than a dip into the Bellagio pool. The pool was at least 25 metres long and pretty empty allowing us to work of those extra kilos of food we had just been eating.
For our last Vegas night we decided to step into the confused fantasy world of Ka Things might have gone more smoothly if I had read up on the plot on the website, since the whole event was terribly confusing. "KÀ tells the epic saga of a brother and sister: twins who must embark on a perilous journey." In essence a lot of choreogrpahed jumping with an abundance of special effects. We left impressed by the jumping and disappointed that no photographs were allowed.
Time for the last minute gambling. And less than 12 hours before leaving we finally found a winning formula. We found the Bar where our top secret Blakjack stragey let us lose money very slowly whilst receiving free drinks. Our preferences were White wine or Margaritas. Essentially you keep playing whilst women come past asking you for free alcholic drinks and when the drinks arrive you tip them a dollar (or so) for their trouble. Why didn't we do this earlier?
So at about 01.00 we stumbled into our beautiful Bellagio bedroom and had our last night in Vegas.
A few months ago the BBC news reported an exciting development regarding the Hualapai tribe and their business venture called Skywalk. It was presented that a large glass structure had been built at the West side of the Grand Canyon rim, and that you can now pay to enter this territory and walk on this Glass skywalk for a truely incredible experience.
We got up late at the Quality Inn Kingsman. After all, on holiday sleeping in should be allowed right? Well NO, if it means that you are going to miss that complimentary buffet breafast! So awaking at 08.51 we left the room at 08.55 for the breakfast bar.
America still provides large food portion sizes that only constant exercise, willpower and the ability to say NO will keep a tourist or resident slim. In our case though this was balanced by the tourist mission to try and get best value from our hotel room, which was not cheap!
The closest town to Skywalk is Meadview. To get there we left Kingman onto Route 93 North. After 30 miles turn right onto smaller tarmac named Pierce Ferry Road and continue North West on that for 28 miles. That road is bumpy but is tarmac surfaced. Now stop and think hard. The Skywalk is now about 21 miles away (14 miles or dirt and 7 miles tarmac at end). If you attempt to drive it you will subject your car to (14 miles x 2 = 28 miles) of offroad hell! If it is your own car then I would recommend a checkup afterwards.
If you dont want to drive at this point you need to get a bus. (or take a tour from Las Vegas which arrives by bus or helicopter). Call 1 702 260 6506 for the bus leaving 25250 Pierce Ferry Road, Zip 86444 leaving at 09.00 and 11.30 daily. All seats are pre-booked and we called and they were all full -- catastrophe.
At this point we were at the start of the Dirt road to the Skywalk. Actually it is 14 miles of dirt road, followed inexplicably by 7 miles of tarmac for a total of 21 miles. The first 2 miles of dirt road look quite smooth (it is being levelled by road machines constantly), the next 12 will attempt to break you cars suspension, the last 7 of tarmac are easy for anybody. Even if you make it you have to do it again to drive back! Please dont attempt this in a normal saloon or People Carrier.
So potentially we were stuck but we bumped into Ron, and his family. He was a retired bounty hunter and part Apache, who generously offered to drive us there. So we got in his truck and over 1 hour later arrived at Canyon West Entrance. We are so grateful to him and to his Daughter Tara Shelton who provided us with such friendship.
From friendship to fiasco however as you enter the Skywalk ticketing area. The prefab is a temporary construction like most of the exhibits since nothing (save the Skywalk itself) is acutally finished yet. You have to queue in a long and unorganised line to buy the Spirit(50 USD) Skywalk(75 USD) or Explorer (120 USD) package. The Spirit package does not let you stand on the Skywalk which is the obecjtive of 99.999% of visitors so if you just buy that you will feel like a real idiot.
you can proceed to walk around a 200 metre trail with about 6 preconstructed empty indian huts with suitable captains. There is a lot of building work going on so mind to step over the construction.
Next step is to get on a large bus to the ironically named Guano Point (Guano could be taken to be bats droppings and there seem to be just that on the rocks nearby). Here you get a basic lunch. Not bad, but the limited seats are open air outside in the considerable heat and dust.
After that a bus back to the main centre where you started and you can take a small white van to Hualapai Ranch where there is a small pretend Western town and some animals like 2 goats, a bull and a cow!
At this point we had spent 160 Dollars, seen a disappointing attraction and were trapped 21 miles away from our car.
And so more thanks to Security Guards Tom and another Apache man for helping organise a ride home. They called in some favours and got us hitched up with Rebel Adventure Tours and got back in this Hummer. Thanks for rescuing us, we appreciate it.
And so by 16.00 we were back to Nissy who was waiting safely for us at the junction of Pierce Ferry and Diamon Bar Road. She thanked us for not subjecting her to another Dirt road and rewarded us by trying to keep up with the fast cars like the BMW 650i who streaked along at over 107 Mph. Amercians sure drive fast these days.
The jouney back to Vegas is along I93 North. A fast road except when you have to go past Hoover Dam where you will average about 20Mph. They seem to be building a bypass so in some years time you will be able to get to Vegas without any slowdowns.
Main street and some other hotels offer 1dollar Margaritas, and this being my most favourite drink it was not long before the angst of Skywalk was far from our minds.
Then to cap it all we used our invincible Blackjack system to win. At the end of the night we were 2 USD dollars up. Take that Vegas!
To start with this was a day of two Walmarts. As someone with a background in retail (notably Asda and Tesco) I am always excited to see how Asda´s america cousin (and now owner) manages its operation. The size and scale of the choice of Wallmart is quite stunning and today I notice some new touches like the introduction of the George clothing brand. Now that´s reverse fertilisation. I do approve. Well we visited Wallmart Flagstaff and then an even larger one in Kingsman.
So that´s over lets move onto today. We had to very sadly leave the Grand Canyon. Our expensive, basic and non airconditioned apartment was easy to leave but the stunning views, good facilities at Market Place were not. That canteen is open from 08.00 to 20.00, so are the support shops and the staff are helpful and keen (and often Russian by the way.
So with a heavy heart we climbed into Nissy for the drive down to Flagstaff. We arrived at 09.30 and then spent over 30 minutes trying to find the town.
We sort of gave up and ended up at the Lowell Observatory. They do a great guided tour principally of the telescopes and background that enabled Percival Lowell and Clyde Tombaugh to discover the planet Pluto. They also do an Enya musically enhanced video of past and present work carried out at Lowell.
We managed to get a great map from an assistant at Lowell and this showed us the great town of Flagstaff. Flagstaff has 2 great riches: a plethora of Sport/mountainerring shops and various cafes. What could be better since we really like both.
We ended up at the Mountain Oasis Cafe and we both had a huge and overpoweringly great lunch. (We should have consulted guides like this but somehow we forgot).
Stumbling back to Nissy, stomachs creaking we set out to drive the remaining 180 or so miles to Kingsman. No American road trip would be complete of course without a drive down Route 66 and of course it is on our way.
Initially we took the Interstate 40 leaving at 139 to join route 66. Seligman is the first reconisable town and it and other towns on this route are gaining inspiration from the fil Cars. In Cars as in real life towns on the Route 66 have been greatly eclipsed by the newer Interstates. Once prosperous towns have deteriorated into ghost towns. But now thanks to the film and the Americans publics new found Nostalgia towns like Seligman are beginning to prosper just a little again.
After Seligman we hit the road again and stayed en route 66 to the Grand Canyon Caverns. We paid out 27 USD (for two) and took the 210 foot lift down to caverns. For the money you get a 45 minute guided tour which turned out to be fun if a little staged. Would be great for a younger audience. We picked up an enteratiningly translated Polish guide to the cavern.Afterwards we forced an Apple Pie or two into our already full tummies and we left with more smiles on our faces.
Next stop was Kingsman. Route 66 is a pretty rough road but unless you exceed 70 mph you will probably not notice. Nissy is fitted with 225/45 and 245/45 R18 tyres on Bridgestone Potenza RE040. Hypotetically I would say that driven on long straight rough roads at about 100Mph it might get quite noisy.
So we arrived at Kingsman and negotiated a good rate with Best Western Kingsman. Not a bad choice since although expensive it is a great hotel inside, with free internet, modest outside pool, free breakfast and rooms with a fridge and microwave. Turns out there are a boat load of hotels in Kingsman and the lowest price we saw was "from 39.95 USD". Still this was good and so close to Walmart and other stores. If you do stay there you will need this map else you wont find anything.
Canyon walk: Today was time for our 23Km Grand Canyon Walk. Initially we had wanted to spend a night at the Canyon bottom but this requires a permit (easy) plus a booking at one of the two sites at the bottom Phantom Ranch (impossible) or Bright Angel Campground (impossible).
So we thought a much better idea would be to trek down to the Canyon bottom and back up to the top in a single day.
Unfortunately all the guide books say this is a dumb idea and there are even signs en route saying this.
In fact we are glad to report that it is quite easily possible in the following way: First do the preparation and study the route.
We chose to start at South Kaibab Trailhead near Yaki Point. The overall plan was to start as early as possible at sunrise from South Kaibab, walk down to base, have upto 1 hour rest and walk back up. By noon you will find the temperatures in direct sunlight on the trail at about 35 degrees centrigrade and in the base canyon maybe 10 degrees higher.
So the only way this is going to work is if you start early! Here is what we did in order to achieve our down and uptime from South Kaibab to Bright Angel Trailhead in a respectible 8 hours 15 minutes. We got up at 3.30 am and drove to Mather point where you can park all day (some areas are 1 hour only). Walked to Canyon View Information Plaza and took the 04.15 Kaibab trail route bus to South Kaibab Trailhead. Waited there for about 10 minutes for sunrise. We each carried 3 litres of Powerade / Gatorade drinks , 40 pineapple/apricot chunks, 4 protein bars and some essentials eg head torch, first aid, wallet, glucose etc.
The downward trail seemed fairly easy and we had one Komperdell Carbon C3 compact walking pole each. This makes descent easier. Next time we´ll probably use 2 each. We walked quite quickly and were only overtaken by a man in a mexican sombrero who was annoyingly running down.
He moved so gracefully and quickly that I did not get a photo of him and he was soon gone.
and about 3 hours later we had traversed Ooh Aah Point, Cedar Ridge, Skeleton Point, Tip Off, Kaibab Suspension Bridge and we were then on the bottom. I used only 1 litre of Powerade down. I ate regularly 1 pineapple chunk every 30 minutes (this was done for whole walk), and we stopped off for 1 big breakfast of protein bar and apple.
At the bottom there is a drinking water tap so although I still had 2 litres left I filled up with 1 litre of water mixed with electrolyte solution. The way up is to follow the Bright Angel trail which does not actually go up much in the first mile or two. In general though this way up is a nicer path than the way down in that it is more a straight path, going down it is more of a stepped path. Either is populated with mules who carry supplies up and down. Mules have an almost infinite capacity to go to the toilet so both trails are suitably covered in mule droppings and smells. Be warned!
The way up is also easier because you initially cross the stream several times. A good tip is to soak your clothes e.g shirt hat, trousers in water at each point. Then as this water evaporates you really feel quite cool and the 35 degrees Centrigrade plus heat is no trouble at all. Further up there are several rest stops and at least 3 more have water, which we used for soaking purposes. The way up comprises the points River Resthouse, Indian Garden, Marcopia Point, Three Mile Resthouse, Mile and a Half Resthouse, and Bright Angel Trailhead.
The closer you get to the end the increasing numbers of the trainer and T shirt brigade you will meet. This is a good tip that the walk is nearly over but what I would give to see how they walked back up in the 40 degree heat, since we met them as we finished walking up, they were smiling and walking down (and still had to make their journey back up).
After finishing it was time to take the rest of the day off. This was slightly marred by the fact that the key stopped working to our apartment so it was not cleaned and we had to goto Market Plaza to get the Handyman to come and change the lock.
So a few hours later we were all ready to celebrate our walk when reality again struck and we visited the laundrette.
So after all that it was finally time for a bottle of wine and a few more smiles.
Thanks Grand Canyon for a great day.
Leaving Tuba was easy and in no time we were on the the road.
In a honest but alarming notice we saw that even the tourist merchandise was imported. From the Native America bow and arrows to the small figurines, it is 99% made in China!
If the chinese ever grow tired of satisfying our Western appetites for trinkets at ridiculously low prices we might have to start manufacturing things for ourselves again, if we can remember how that is!
I now began to wonder how genuine the products at the Jewlery stalls throughout Monument Valley were!
Making preparations: I was just a little concerned when I saw the clouds in the form of a Nuclear mushroom cloud but thought we should still prepare for tomorrows big walk.
We so rarely get a picture of the two of us together so here is one for the record.
Another great mostly comprising of driving, driving and driving.
This NIssan 350Z is really growing on me. In the American context I am happy to report that Americans are now used to high speed driving. Years of Japanese cars and catchup American design has finally led to a generation of autos that can cruise safely at 90mph and even tun a corner without giving the driver a mild heart attack. And concequently on the route from Page to Kayenta to Monument Valley to Tuba many drivers exceed 90mph with a smile and not a look of terror on their faces. Mileage today for us .. about 260. Mr Nissan was a real pleasure to drive.
Get the (tyre) pressure right: Nissy is equipped with tyre pressure sensors. I first remember these on the Corvette C5 I had they were a gimmick but actually I began to like this feature a lot. Sometime when driving you get the feeling that one or more of your tyres is underpressured and so you make a stop at a garage to check. There never is a problem of course but being safe with these monitors is just a push of a button, and a great reassurance.
Changing times #1: Safeway meets Starbucks. Just before leaving Page I recall that we stopped at the Safeway supermarket. They seem to have teamed up with Starbucks. I still remember the day when Supermarkets teamed up with MacDonalds, and that's if they were lucky! The game has now moved on. Today we are drawn to the vast choice and rock bottom prices of a supermarket like Safeway and then given the chance to blow away our savings by having 2 coffees and a muffin in the adjacent Starbuck for 10 dollars!
We got to Monument Valley at about 15.00 and it was rather an anticlimax. Here is the official guide. Basically it is a set of orange red sandstone cliffs in the Navajo tribal park. I think it captures the hearts and minds more of Americans since the sandstone cliffs are a frequent backdrop to several classic westerns, and even current TV shows and commercials. To us Euros then I found it just an impressive set of cliffs.
But actually less inpressive than the rocks at Zion we spend a whole day intimately walking between. You cant really get close up to the rocks. The closest you would get is the Wildcat Nature trail of 3.2 miles that goes close to The Mittens and Merrick Butte.
So after a large amount of digital photographical clicking we got back into Nissy and headed out to Tuba. We are shacked up at the Dine Inn Motel, a good and practically our only choice here in Tuba since we had nothing booked.
We found the local mall for just food shopping, as Tandy was closed (it's been ages since I went to the Tandy Battery counter!). Our evening was completed by watching Shrek the Third. We could not face Pirates of the Carribean3 at 168 minutes that seems like too long.
That is all for today, wonderfully exercise free (we both have horrible flu with nausea, headaches and swollen bit), so we take it easy ready for the (Grand) Canyon challenge. 48 hrs to go.
Day summary: Monument beautiful but Zion was better. Miles driven xxxx, health good despite the flu.


What's the latest version of Mac OSX you can run Live 8 on? Will it work with El Capitan? I've read conflicting things.
Topic: CC Envelope "EDIT RANGE" and "VALUE NAME"
Re: CC Envelope "EDIT RANGE" and "VALUE NAME"
Yeah, and/or to have a built-in strobe tuner device. Would be very handy..
Topic: What new devices would you like most?
Re: What new devices would you like most?
Yeah especially the Rewire bit. I created a similar thread. Rewire is currently pretty damn useless in Live. It doesn't even output MIDI.
For selected tracks or whole project. It's kinda silly that you can only export MIDI one clip at a time. Shouldn't be too hard to too, I would think.
Topic: If I upgrade system by adding memory will I have to reauth?
Re: If I upgrade system by adding memory will I have to reauth?
I am not 100% sure, but I don't see why the RAM would have any effect on your authorization. As long as your actual software or hard drive haven't been modified, it should be fine.
I'm a little confused.... doesn't Ableton come with a vocoder? Mine does.
Also, the TAL-Vocoder (free) is quite a bit of fun too. I know it's not what you're looking for, but I mention it anyways.


text:
Designing for Resiliency
Mindy O'Gara
There is no question that in the months of prolonged isolation and distancing, we're starting to feel the desire for social connection. Many of us are itching to go back to the office just to interact with the people we used to see almost every day.
The reality is that we need and want to go back to work, which means buildings need to adjust—and quickly.
When we do get back to in-office work, our spaces will look different than they were before. © 2013 Y.K. Cheung Photography
But how can we incorporate health and wellbeing? And what is our responsibility to create that sense of physical and psychological safety in the built environment now and into the future?
I've said before that designers are the ultimate problem solvers. My prediction is that in response to what's happening today, we'll begin to see designers using resiliency as a model for the future built space.
Short-term vs. long-term design strategies
At this moment, organizations are making short-term decisions about their spaces while pushing off the long-term. However, it's still important for designers to balance both needs, and I think we'll find that flexible, adaptable solutions will be most successful moving forward.
The first question to ask yourself or your clients should be: "What are your plans for going back to the office?"
Large, open spaces are ripe for rearrangement into more flexible set-ups, especially when there is a clear need for physical distancing between work spaces. ©2016 Darris Lee Harris Photography
Modularity (in furniture, in flooring) allows for flexibility within spaces, which will be key in post-COVID spaces. Photo: Eric Laignel & Weston Colton
Ultimately, there is no one "look" that defines a resilient space. © 2017 Kris Decker & Firewater
Based on a number of factors—budget, location, public health guidelines, business type, work culture, personal comfort levels—coming back into the workplace will look different for each of us. At the same time, our approach to outfitting workspaces and education spaces will need to accommodate the very real possibility of a second wave of COVID-19. So, in our push to "go back" we also must anticipate the need to "pull back."
In short, nothing is permanent.
Which means that any of-the-moment design solutions within spaces have to be easy, quick, and low-cost. Flexible design strategies could take advantage of modular flooring to make active changes; for example, selectively replacing tiles to facilitate physical distancing or to direct movement. In a phased approach to opening back up, flexibility requires addressing safety alongside functionality
Acknowledging that flexibility is necessary in the short-term, the impact of COVID-19 will require more than that. The changes that we'll see in terms of design may not emerge for some time and, in many cases, will be unpredictable. Because of this, adaptability will become more important for buildings and the spaces within them.
Adaptability requires the capacity to accommodate substantial change over the lifetime of a building in response to its social, economic, and physical surroundings. Adaptability also responds to the ever-changing needs of building occupants.
In this way, designing adaptable spaces is an exercise that considers the present and the future. Much like nature, spatial design doesn't have to be perfect, it just needs to be able to change based on new information, i.e. what's going on in the world and how that affects the people using the space. Staying attuned to these internal and external factors is what adaptability is all about.
Flexible, semi-permanent spaces not only allow for distancing but also create a sense of psychological safety. © Jasper Sanidad
Moving toward resiliency
Pandemics have always shifted architecture and design; COVID-19 will be no different. It just so happens to be occurring at a time when everyone is so connected and aware of its impact on a global scale. And while COVID-19 may be top-of-mind for designers right now, it's important that our solutions aren't too prescriptive or else they risk looking dated within just a few years.This is why resiliency is re-emerging as a design imperative—the focus on wellbeing, safety, and health is appropriate for this time.
Planning for resiliency is a matter of establishing where an organization is in the present moment and then building from its unique culture, budget, and vision. Ultimately, resilient spaces need to be able to respond to any reality, but right now there is no universal design blueprint for what those spaces look like.
As we get more comfortable with the risk of stepping back into the rhythms of society, including a return to work, our spaces will take on a new purpose. Our understanding of wellness is deepening and becoming more collective. Shared workspace, then, will need to undergo a critical assessment of how it best supports those who use it—not just for productivity, but for safety and wellbeing. Designers already know how to create beautiful spaces, and in a post-COVID world, they'll be able to design healthy spaces too.
Editor's note: This article was written in collaboration with Sonya Lehner. Header image © Macbeth Studio.
Designing for Distance
Undoubtedly, you've been part of the ongoing speculation driving the design world: What does the office look like after COVID-19? What will change? What won't? While it's hard to know what the full impact of the coronavirus looks like at this moment, design will play a huge role in how safe we feel in our physical spaces.
How Engaging the Senses Creates Meaningful Design
What makes a well-designed space? It's a question that prompts many answers, but ultimately the goal of an interior environment is to move forward the intention of a space and engage the user in meaningful ways. One way to do that is by designing spaces to activate the five basic senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste.


Quick note: colors used so far on this portrait are White (as always), Naples Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Medium...Hue?(Could that be why it's so transparent?), Ultramarine Blue (only 'cause I couldn't find my Cerulean Blue), Chrome Oxide Green, Black (in rediculously small amounts), Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Cobalt Violet.
Of course, you could do everything with Grumbacher Red, Ultramarine Blue, and Cadmium Yellow Light and White. The colors I used are convenience colors. It's easier to know Cadmium Yellow Light and/ or Alizarin Crimson with Naples Yellow and White can be conveniently used to approximate the hues you might be looking for. In shadow you might cool it with a green or blue, or a Cobalt Violet that already has a blue component to it, and that you already discovered worked well with that Cadmium Yellow, for example, again demonstrating the convenience a palett evolved through your own experiences can impart.


text:
Q: Android App using GPS connection stops working I had trouble to get the speed of my Android device. So i tried to use a sample, wich should work.
With the code from http://www.androidhub4you.com/2013/06/how-to-get-device-current-speed-in_112.html i should get the speed. But the app always crashes before connecting to GPS.
The code is:
import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Context;
import android.location.Location;
import android.location.LocationListener;
import android.location.LocationManager;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class MainActivity extends Activity {

    Context context;
   protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
    { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        findViewById(R.id.Geschwindigkeit);

        LocationManager locationManager = (LocationManager) this .getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE);

        LocationListener locationListener = newLocationListener(){ public void onLocationChanged(Location location) {

            location.getLatitude();

            Toast.makeText(context, "Current speed:" + location.getSpeed(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); }

            public void onStatusChanged(String provider, int status, Bundle extras) { }

            public void onProviderEnabled(String provider) { }

            public void onProviderDisabled(String provider) { }
        };

        locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER, 0, 0, locationListener);
        locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER, 0, 0, locationListener);
    }
}

The log says the following:
08-04 14:36:51.023  11219-11219/? E/AndroidRuntime﹕ FATAL EXCEPTION: main
java.lang.NullPointerException
        at android.widget.Toast.<init>(Toast.java:105)
        at android.widget.Toast.makeText(Toast.java:261)
        at test.gpsspeed.MainActivity$1.onLocationChanged(MainActivity.java:34)
        at android.location.LocationManager$ListenerTransport._handleMessage(LocationManager.java:257)
        at android.location.LocationManager$ListenerTransport.access$000(LocationManager.java:186)
        at android.location.LocationManager$ListenerTransport$1.handleMessage(LocationManager.java:202)
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:176)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5365)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:511)
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:1102)
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:869)
        at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

What can i do? Or what Am i doying wrong?

A: So this works:
public class MainActivity extends Activity {

    Context context;
   protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
    { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        //geschw=(TextView) findViewById(R.id.Geschwindigkeit);

        LocationManager locationManager = (LocationManager) this .getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE);

        LocationListener locationListener = new LocationListener() { public void onLocationChanged(Location location) {

            location.getLatitude();
            Context neu = MainActivity.this;

            try {

                Toast.makeText(neu, "Current speed:" + location.getSpeed(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            }
            catch (NullPointerException e){}
        }

            public void onStatusChanged(String provider, int status, Bundle extras) { }

            public void onProviderEnabled(String provider) { }

            public void onProviderDisabled(String provider) { }
        };

        locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER, 0, 0, locationListener);
        locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER, 0, 0, locationListener);
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Bermuda's Nicole Mitchell competed in the Women's Road Race Cycling in Colombia as part of the CAC Games.
Mitchell, who started in a field of 41 riders crossed the line 21st clocking a time of 2:31.47. Teneil Campbell from Trinidad won the event, Yudelmis Dominguez from Cuba was second, and Lizbeth Salazar from Mexico placed third.