Search Results for: Czech

European Union (EU) law enforcement, perhaps emboldened by the launch of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), has launched a series of cases and inquiries, including against high-ranking politicians accused of corruption. For example, Gabrijela Žalac, Croatia’s regional development and EU funds minister from 2016-9, and three accomplices, have been arrested, on EPPO orders, for alleged fraud regarding the purchase by her ministry of deliberately overpriced software for a public company.…

The Polish can manufacturing and filling industry continues to attract attention from major buyers and investors from around the world, aware that this strong and innovating national sector is able to rely on a strong, reliable workforce.

Global beverage giant PepsiCo, for example, has been drawn to the Polish can manufacturing industry.…

The huge offshore finance leak unveiled last month (October 3) by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has highlighted the risks major companies face when doing business in offshore jurisdictions. Keith Nuthall and Andreia Nogueira report.

Major companies undertaking international business must comply with increasingly tough beneficial ownership transparency laws, and risk reputational damage if they are associated with particularly elaborate devices to avoid tax, even if it is legal.…

Global supply chain delivery delays and price tensions continue to disrupt Italy’s otherwise robust food can production sector. With profit margins squeezed, food canners expect prices to rise across the board for these long shelf-life food staples

According to Italian can manufacturing industry association ANFIMA’s most recent data, Italy produced 698,523 tonnes of rigid metal packaging (tinplate and steel) and 24,745 tonnes of aluminium packaging in 2020, up 3.6% and 7% from the same period the previous year, respectively.…

The huge offshore finance leak unveiled yesterday (October 3) by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and its media partners has highlighted the pressures AML reporters face in complying with increasingly tough beneficial ownership transparency laws.

Reports generated from 2.94 terabytes of data within 12 million documents leaked to the ICIJ from the confidential records of 14 offshore service providers have been analysed by 600 journalists from 150 media outlets in 117 countries.…

The European Union (EU) is currently considering reforming its excise duty rules for tobacco products, with the tobacco industry and commentators seeing the negotiation on the integration of e-cigarettes being one of the hottest topics. Today, e-cigarettes in the EU are treated just like any other product, falling under EU VAT rules, and are not subject to EU-excise laws that apply for conventional tobacco products or spirits for instance.…

THE RULING council of the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) is preparing to agree major reforms to the International Cocoa Agreement, which should see the agreement increase its commitment to boost sustainability in the chocolate sector.

Council members are considering final changes committing the ICCO to ensuring that cocoa production, processing and manufacture is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.…

Eastern Europe is often a region of diversity when it comes to paint and coatings sector trends, but in the past year, the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted most sectors in a similar way. They experienced booms in DIY decorative sales, weaker industrial coating sales and are mow struggling with increased input costs.…

Last November (2020), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that cannabidiol (CBD) liquids for e-cigarettes that were lawfully produced in a European Union (EU) member state are not narcotics and can be sold in any other EU country. The ruling was welcomed by the EU CBD sector, which has said it helps open-up the European market to products that often fall into a legal grey zone due to their origins in hemp, or cannabis with little or no intoxication effects.…

EUROPE’S FATF-style body Moneyval has raised serious concerns about AML/CFT standards among 19 of its members, with its 2020 annual report concluding their average compliance is “below satisfactory”. The jurisdictions assessed were Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Gibraltar, Hungary, Israel, the Isle of Man, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.…

Long after the January 10, 2020, deadline set by the European Union’s (EU) 5^th anti-money laundering directive (5AMLD) (1) for member states to establish public ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) registers, a Transparency International (TI) report (2) has alleged widespread non-compliance.…

Corruption increased in 2020 across the 27 European Union (EU) countries according to 32% of participants in Transparency International’s latest survey of over 40,000 people, the ‘Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) – European Union 2021’ (1). As regards other respondents, 44% saw no change and only 16% a fall, year-on-year.…

Lie detection is an emerging science, with technology being developed to help companies and law enforcement seek to detect fraudsters and other criminals. Artificial intelligence is a potential key development in enabling machines to screen subjects physical and audible response to questions to detect lies.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has authorised its EUR181 million anti-fraud programme for 2021-27, with a regulation mandating this spending coming into force on April 29. The new seven-year programme will see EUR114 million spent on preventing and combating fraud, corruption and other financial crimes that can damage the overall EU budget.…

INTRODUCTION

The textile industry is one of the world’s oldest manufacturing sector, yet it is also one of the most dynamic, constantly reinventing itself. Today, the development of micro-factories might herald root-and-branch change in how the textile and clothing industry operates, a transformation driven by advances in digital textile printing.…

The Czech Republic’s digital textile printing business continued to thrive in 2020, with the Covid-19 pandemic’s e-commerce boom boosting trade rather than hampering the sector. Europe’s leading print-on-demand provider Spread Group, which was founded 18 years ago under the name Spreadshirt, and has a key plant in the Czech Republic, had a record year.…

The president of the United States Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) has warned that the military takeover in Myanmar could spark a significant shift in sourcing away from this south-east Asian country if democracy is not restored promptly. Julia Hughes told just-style: “If there is not a quick resolution, then yes we would expect a major shift to other Asian suppliers.”…

Many of European Union’s 27 member states appear to have been dragging their feet when implementing a key provision of the fifth anti-money laundering directive (5AMLD) (1), setting up a public ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) register.  The registers should have gone live for the corporate world on January 10, 2020, and two months later on March 10 for trusts.…

The European Chief Prosecutor (ECP) of the embryonic European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has challenged the 22 European Union (EU) states (1) that have signed up to an enhanced cooperation pact underpinning its existence to properly fund the new institution. Without enough money, the EPPO will not be effective, ECP Laura Codruţa Kövesi told Fraud Intelligence.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) continues to struggle to clamp down on fraud within its revenue collection and spending programmes – making progress, but with major scams still emerging within the EU’s complex international decision-making systems.

In its latest annual ‘fight against fraud’ report (1) (2), covering 2019, the European Commission reports that 939 discovered irregularities were reported as fraudulent (8% of the number), involving EUR461.4 million in lost money (28% of that affected by irregularities).…

A PLAN to build a dedicated hydrogen pipeline network of almost 23,000 km within nine European countries by 2040 has been released by 11 European gas infrastructure companies. Enagás, Energinet, Fluxys Belgium, Gasunie, GRTgaz, NET4GAS, OGE, ONTRAS, Snam, Swedegas (Nordion Energi), Teréga and a consultancy Guidehouse call their proposed network a ‘European Hydrogen Backbone’.…

THE UNITED Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has proposed creating a permanent ‘observatory’ monitoring cocoa markets, assessing value and costs, to help chocolate sales revenues be more equitably distributed throughout supply chains.

In a report called a ‘Comparative study on the distribution of value in European chocolate chains’, the FAO said such “objectified and cross-checked data” would aid “a multi-stakeholder discussion” at national and global levels on revenue sharing.…

DAIRY products are supposed to be healthy, tasty, clean and legal, but unfortunately, as with other industries, criminals seek to exploit demand created by honest suppliers through smuggling, mislabelling, adulterating and selling unsafe stock.

These concerns prompt regular action by police, for whom food fraud and related crime is an increasing risk worldwide, and given the international nature of today’s supply chains, cross-border collaboration between law enforcement forces is of special value.…

A MAJOR expansion in collecting sales information within the digital economy across the European Union (EU) and beyond has been proposed by the European Commission, to crack down on widescale tax evasion.

The EU executive has proposed reforms to an EU directive on administrative cooperation between tax authorities (see https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/sites/taxation/files/2020_tax_package_dac7_en.pdf)…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) dairy sector has been riding out the Covid-19 crisis, despite weak raw milk prices, although looming political challenges regarding the EU budget and Brexit makes its future uncertain.

Pekka Pesonen, secretary general for EU farmers’ federation Copa-Cogeca, warned: “Producer prices have not yet seen an upward trend.”…

The European Commission has launched a series of infringement procedures for shortcomings in national legislation implementing the European Union’s (EU) fourth and fifth anti-money laundering directives (4AMLD and 5AMLD), including one against Britain, even though it left the bloc on January 31 (but remains subject to EU law during a transitional period to December 31. …

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) and its member states are loosening their subsidy rules and reviewing environmental controls as they consider how to help Europe’s automobile sector recover from the beating delivered by the Covid-19 pandemic. With EU passenger car sales tumbling 76.3% year-on-year in April (these figures exclude Britain, with a 97% fall), EU automobile industry association ACEA, parts association CLEPA, repairers and dealers’ federation CECRA and tire makers organisation ETRMA have called on the EU to “consider temporary flexibilities in competition rules” restricting takeovers and subsidies.…

GIVEN the hundreds of billions of dollars spent by banks on fighting money laundering, fears that trade-based money laundering (TBML) remains widespread, as stressed by FATF, the APG (http://www.fatf-gafi.org/publications/methodsandtrends/documents/trade-basedmoneylaunderingtypologies.html), and most recently, the European Commission (https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/supranational_risk_assessment_of_the_money_laundering_and_terrorist_financing_risks_affecting_the_union_-_annex.pdf), are of serous concern. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) said that in 2018, global merchandise exports were worth USD19.48 trillion, so there is plenty of place for laundered money to hide.…

Only five European Union (EU) member states out of the current 27 have fully and properly complied with a requirement to set up public ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) registers by January 10 (2020) under the fifth anti-money laundering directive (5AMLD), according to research by campaign group Global Witness.…

Like other European cities, the sheer number of cheap nail salons that have exploded in Barcelona in recent years has reached saturation point. There is one, however, that has a waiting list. Dvine creates the ‘art nails’ that have become the statement accessory of Rosalia, the Catalan singing sensation who swept the 2020 Grammy Awards.…

SLOVAKIA may have been facing European Commission legal action over foot-dragging in implementing European Union EU AML/CFT legislation and has been striving to improve its AML/CFT weaknesses, but its general reputation in combating money laundering is solid. The Basel Institute of Governance AML Index 2019 ranked this central European country 109 out of 125 countries assessed, with the highest number being the top performer.…

GLOBAL and regional public policies promoting environmental good practice and fighting climate change have long encouraged the growth of renewable energy production. And with concern about global warming sharpening, these goals – pushed by international and regional organisations and development banks – are here to stay.…

E-cigarette manufacturers in the United Kingdom pondering a Brexit from the European Union (EU) that is currently scheduled for January 31 are hoping to benefit from looser rules than currently apply in the EU, if the UK does quit the EU.…

With a new European Commission about to take office (probably on December 1, one month late, with three proposed nominees being rejected by MEPs), one key challenge will be pushing fraud out of the European Union (EU). It is still a huge problem, with in 2018, 1,152 frauds detected and reported.…

Estonia, long known for developing its high-tech sector, innovation, and environment-friendly businesses, has seen its plastics sector gaining momentum. It has been expanding export sales, not only to neighbouring Nordic and Baltic countries, but as far east as China.

As regards volumes, regarding primary resins and plastics, 11,807.7 tonnes were produced by Estonian manufacturers this January-August (2019), an increase of 132.8% for the same period in the previous year.…

FAR from being the zone of volatility of the 1990s, eastern and central Europe’s economies and hence their paint and coatings markets, are enjoying stability and steady growth. In Croatia, for instance, according to market researcher Euromonitor International data, the paint and coating industry posted revenues of USD147 million, USD 2 million more than in 2017.…

THE NONWOVENS industry in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is still struggling with over-capacity, while declining purchasing power has hit the mid- and higher-tier segments, prompting global players to reconsider product offerings.

MENA economies have been impacted by low oil prices and regional instability, with growth forecast at 1.5% this year, down from 1.7% in 2018, according to investment bank JP Morgan.…

MARCH’S approval by the European Parliament of new European Union (EU) electricity market rules, designed to increase consumer choice, boost renewables access and cap power subsidies, were hailed by the European Commission as a new dawn for the creation of the EU’s much vaunted Energy Union.…

RUSSIA’S paint industry is slowly growing but upcoming chemical regulations could limit the output of some potentially hazardous products. There are two such laws in the pipeline. One is a technical regulation ‘On the safety of chemical products’. This was adopted and ratified by the Russian government in 2016, and will come into force in 2021 (on July 1), and bans the use of a range of hazardous chemicals, some used by Russian coatings manufacturers. …

EXPORTS of nonwovens products from the European Union (EU) to the rest of the world are on the rise, with in 2018 such overseas sales of nonwovens (whether or not impregnated, coated, covered or laminated) within the 28 members of the European Union (EU) accounted for EUR4.33 billion, up from EUR4.19 billion in 2017.…

FOOD hazard reports relating to meat and meat products have been rising fast worldwide, according to data released by HorizonScan, a global food safety database which gathers food safety and inspection alerts from more than 115 sources in more than 70 countries.…

FOOD hazard reports relating to meat and meat products have been rising fast worldwide, according to data released by HorizonScan, a global food safety database which gathers food safety and inspection alerts from more than 115 sources in more than 70 countries.…

THE RUSSIAN government has in the past decade has a policy priority of re-establishing it country’s industrial base, and reducing its reliance on imports, paid for by Russia’s energy exports.

These goals cover its paints and coatings sector, and by 2021 Sibur, a Russian petrochemical company, plans to launch production of key ingredient maleic anhydride, with a plant in Tobolsk, Siberia, producing up to 45,000 tonnes a year.…

MOTOR vehicles and their parts were the second most common category of goods reported in safety warnings by consumer regulators in the European Union (EU) last year, according to a new annual report from the EU Safety Gate system. This involves European consumer regulators receiving safety warnings about products, including from auto manufacturers, and circulating these alerts via this central European portal.…

The Czech textile industry has a long traditional presence in the country, and local textile printing firms are steadily adopting digital technologies. One of the key players is OP Tiger, which significantly increased its output after it moved last September (2018) to a new facility in Hrbovice, near the town of Ústí nad Labem in North Bohemia.…

EUROPEAN universities need to embrace change by continuing to forge alliances with innovative companies and independent research groups to use and develop their knowledge in cooperation with the outside world, experts agreed at the March 8 launch of the European University Association (EUA)’s new report ‘The role of universities in regional innovation ecosystems’.…

ON the back of Israel’s innovation-embedded work culture, the Middle East country is making headway in the 3D-printed garment sector. The country is the joint-headquarters of 3D-printer manufacturer Stratasys, which has a key base in Rehovot, south of Tel Aviv. Stratasys offers a wide range of 3D printers – https://www.stratasys.com/3d-printers…

THE EUROPEAN Commission is getting tough in enforcing compliance with the 4^th anti-money laundering directive (2015/849), with a large majority of member states now facing infringement proceedings. The European Union (EU) executive said on March 7 that it had sent letters of formal notice opening legal proceedings to six EU countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Sweden, and the UK) over their failure to apply its anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules.…

DEUTSCHE Bank’s AMLO has told a European Parliament hearing – to the dismay of MEPs – that the German major had no evidence that it was involved in misconduct surrounding the Danske Bank Estonia money laundering scandal.

Stephan Wilken, head of anti-financial crime and Deutsche Bank’s group anti-money laundering officer, told the EP’s special committee on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance (TAX3) on Tuesday (Feb 4): “We have not identified any misconduct” in Danske case.…

WITH auto manufacturers looking for ways to light-weight electric and hybrid vehicles, to boost performance and battery life, the European Union (EU) is investing in a Spanish company that is seeking to develop recyclable thermo-plastic alternatives to rubber for auto parts.…

DEUTSCHE Bank’s AMLO has told a European Parliament hearing – to the dismay of MEPs – that the German major had no evidence that it was involved in misconduct surrounding the Danske Bank Estonia money laundering scandal.

Stephan Wilken, head of anti-financial crime and Deutsche Bank’s group anti-money laundering officer, told the EP’s special committee on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance (TAX3) on Tuesday (Feb 4): “We have not identified any misconduct” in Danske case.…

TRADING partners with the European Union (EU) are concerned about the EU cutting the size of low duty import quotas once Britain quits the bloc, which it is scheduled to do on March 28.

The EU has released detailed plans to reduce the amount of some goods it allows into the EU, to take account of Britain exiting the single European market.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) must create a central agency to supervise banks and non-banking institutions to combat rising risks posed by money laundering, a European Parliament hearing that focuses especially on the threat posed by Russian dirty money, has been told.…

EUROPEAN Union member states are dragging their feet implementing the fourth anti-money laundering directive’s (4AMLD 2015/849) beneficial ownership rules. Only five countries met the June 26, 2017, AMLD4 deadline for having an ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) register under national law – Britain, Denmark, France, Germany and Sweden- according to the European Commission. …

EASTERN Europe remains a highly diverse market, where major beauty brands must think strategically to achieve economies of scale and a regional presence that really deliver profits. This is also a region where some markets are significantly bigger than others – with Russia and Poland being key targets.…

THERE are few more complex accounting issues than transfer pricing (TP), and as the world’s economy becomes more integrated and tax jurisdictions impact each other, experts such as the OECD’s Tomas Balco are increasingly in demand.

Heading the OECD’s transfer pricing unit in the organisation’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, Balco commands an almost encyclopaedic technical knowledge of tax.…

The conventional arms trade has a reputation for using side payment sweeteners to secure multi-million dollar deals. But despite allegations of corruption in numerous jurisdictions, the legitimate arms trade is not on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) radar. Should it be?…

Centre right members of the European Parliament’s special committee on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance (TAX3) have hit out at the 18 EU member states, that offer citizenship or residence in exchange for investments. The MEPs, members of the European People’s Party (EPP), spoke out November 14 as the committee handed down a draft report*, with findings and recommendations, including phasing out such rights.…

The latest edition of the biannual China International Trade Fair for Technical Textiles and Nonwovens (Cinte Techtextil China), held September 4-6, in Shanghai, showed how Chinese manufacturers are more than holding their own in these technically demanding markets.

The fair, a spin-off from the Techtextil show in Germany, attracted a diverse range of some 500 exhibitors from around 20 countries, covering 12 different application areas with protech, mobiltech and geotech, spanning wovens, knits and nonwovens, arguably being most prominent. …

A new report from Transparency International has found that only 11 major exporting countries in the world significantly punish companies that pay bribes abroad. The report, called ‘Exporting Corruption’, also found that more than half of world exports come from at least 33 jurisdictions, including several European Union (EU) member states, where companies that export corruption along with their goods and services face weak consequences. …

THE CONTINUED vulnerability of European Union (EU) revenue collection and spending to fraud has been brought into sharp relief by a new European Commission statistical analysis on financial crime.

That said, a working paper noted that in terms of revenue through external import duties (called ‘own resources’ in EU jargon) detected fraud cases involving EUR10,000 or more alone in 2017 indicates losses have been falling – but still to EUR76 million.…

EASTERN Europe is always a tough market for major paint and coating manufacturers to crack, containing multiple national markets, some in the European Union (EU), some outside, and all with differing cultural and language requirements for marketers to master.

Poland, with its 38 million population and robust economy (projected by the World Bank to grow at 4.2% this year – 2018), remains the region’s most important market, with researcher Euromonitor International saying that Polish paint and coatings sales were worth Polish Zloty PLN1.29 billion (USD352.7 billion) in 2017, up slightly compared to the PLN1.25 billion (USD342.5 billion) sold in 2016.…

EUROPE can meet its goal of cleaning up the power sector several years earlier than by the European Union’s (EU) self-imposed deadline of 2050, according to Kristian Ruby, secretary general of the Union of the Electricity Industry – Eurelectric, the sector association representing the industry at pan-European level.…

THE AMERICAN confectionery sector is facing tough tariffs in its key export market of Canada after the US government decided to impose punitive duties on Canadian exports of steel and aluminium.

Ottawa announced its own retaliatory duties, which it intends to impose from July 1, having consulted on a shortlist of products, including potential 10% duties on US-made maple sugar and syrup, liquorice, toffee, chocolate, sugar confectionery, strawberry jam, nut purées and pastes.…

Argentina’s auto industry had expected a near record year in 2018, but unexpected financial problems that have hit the country in the past month could push the economy into recession and dampen local demand for cars. 
These problems are a far cry from the optimism expressed on April 4, when the heads of three carmakers spoke bullishly about production and sales growth at a business conference staged in Buenos Aires by economic consultancy Invecq Consulting. …

THE NONWOVEN adult incontinence market in Europe is offering hygiene product manufacturers and brands a chance to profit in a wider sanitary segment that has been and remains highly competitive.

Western Europe has a high per capita consumption in sanitary protection and a fiercely competitive retailing environment, according to Miles Agbanrin, an analyst for market researcher Euromonitor International.…

THE DECISION of the European Commission not to propose a harmonised European Union (EU) approach for excise duty on e-cigarettes and other novel tobacco products has been welcomed by the tobacco sector for avoiding punitive taxation on a nascent segment.

But should such rules ultimately be introduced the tobacco sector may not oppose them if they reflect the lower health risks involved in consuming such products by enabling lower excise duty bands.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) current Bulgarian presidency (January-July 2018) will probably face a tough challenge, when tripartite talks between the European Parliament, member states and the European Commission on electricity market reform begin this spring.

“Since early March, we have been preparing for the ‘trilogues’ [EU jargon for talks between its three main bodies], comparing the [EU] member states’ general approach reached in December with Parliament’s position, so we have documents to work on when trilogues start,” a Council spokesperson told Modern Power Systems, adding “no dates have yet been fixed” for the negotiations.…

THE EUROPEAN food industry is supporting the European Commission’s bid to ensure food brands do not offer variable quality versions of the same product in different parts of the European Union (EU). Indeed, it is backing the introduction by the EU executive of new testing methods for regulators, that are due to be rolled out in April.…

THE EUROPEAN confectionery industry will later this year face hard evidence about the veracity of claims that certain brands sell lower quality products in eastern Europe than they do in the richer west. These claims – dismissed by many manufacturers as urban myths – are widely believed in eastern Europe, promoting the European Commission to act and set up a testing system.…

THE EUROPEAN food industry is supporting the European Commission’s bid to ensure food brands do not offer variable quality versions of the same product in different parts of the European Union (EU). Indeed, it is backing the introduction by the EU executive of new testing methods for regulators, that are due to be rolled out in April.…

THE EUROPEAN confectionery industry will later this year face hard evidence about the veracity of claims that certain brands sell lower quality products in eastern Europe than they do in the richer west. These claims – dismissed by many manufacturers as urban myths – are widely believed in eastern Europe, promoting the European Commission to act and set up a testing system.…

IF there is a quality that gives many Israeli companies an edge internationally, it is innovation. And this trait can certainly be said to run through the work of Israeli apparel major Delta Galil, based in Caesarea, northern Israel.

“We could not succeed if we were not innovative” said Isaac Dabah, the company’s CEO of Delta Galil, in an exclusive interview with just-style, held at his office.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced its latest funding for helping European Union (EU) member states fight animal diseases, such as bovine tuberculosis, rabies, bovine brucellosis, African swine fever and lumpy skin disease, by allocating more than EUR140 million for 2018.…

BULK tobacco smuggling is on the rise in eastern and south-eastern Europe, and cigarette manufacturers are calling for a better coordinated approach by law enforcers, as well as the passing of clearer and stricter rules to combat the menace. While regulation is in place in some countries (Montenegro and Romania insist on licensing and growers’ record keeping, for instance), the licencing and registration of tobacco growers are still not required in others (for example Poland and Greece), causing weak links that can be exploited by smugglers, according to the legitimate tobacco industry.…

THE NONWOVENS market in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) is increasingly important to the global nonwovens industry, with rising consumer demand being generated by middle classes that are growing in size. Countries in the region are also comparatively young, with high birth rates, boosting demand for diapers and wipes.…

Cases of African Swine Fever (ASF) are still very common in Russia, despite its continued ban on European Union (EU) pigmeat exports, imposed since January 2014 following a handful of cases in Poland and Lithuania. While outbreaks have continued in the EU, Russia – whose ban was imposed on live pigs, pork and pig products over fears importing ASF-infected meat and livestock, has from last July (2017) to today (January 30) notified to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) around 2,800 ASF cases of domestic pigs, and 90 cases in wild boars.…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s January votes also laid down a negotiating position on proposals to revise the EU’s energy efficiency directive (2012/27/EU 2011/0172(COD)). MEPs want a binding EU-wide target for improving energy efficiency by 35% by 2030. Assessments to demonstrate compliance would be held under the PRIMES model, which simulates the EU energy consumption and the energy supply system – see https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/strategies/analysis/models_en…

AFTER years of slow growth since 2008, eastern Europe’s now mature cosmetics and personal care market has continued to show marginal gains in products sales in the past year, according to experts.

The region’s cosmetics and personal care products sales edged to USD23.67 billion in 2017 from USD21.74 billion in 2016, counting sales in Poland, Croatia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Georgia.…

OECD SAYS 49 JURISDICTIONS WILL AUTOMATICALLY EXCHANGE TAX INFORMATION THIS YEAR

THE IDENTITY of 49 jurisdictions that will automatically exchange tax information in 2017 under a global standard has been revealed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD).…

COMPANIES and citizens defrauding European Union (EU) revenue collection (including customs duties and cross-border VAT fraud) and spending programmes, may from 2020 face direct criminal proceedings brought by a European Public Prosecutor. The EU Council of Ministers has approved establishing this new institution in 20 of the 28 EU member states – Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia.…

COMPANIES and citizens defrauding European Union (EU) revenue collection (including
customs duties and cross-border VAT fraud) and spending programmes, may from 2020 face
direct criminal proceedings brought by a European Public Prosecutor (EPPO). The EU
Council of Ministers has approved establishing this new institution in 20 of the 28 EU
member states – Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Germany, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal,
Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia.…

International police agency Interpol and its European Union (EU) counterpart Europol have
announced what they say is the biggest hit ever against online piracy with law enforcers
taking down more than 20,500 websites selling counterfeit goods seized in 26 countries.
Participating countries were Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Britain,
Colombia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland,
Italy, Latvia, Moldova, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Ukraine, the USA
and China special administrative region Hong Kong.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) member states are hindering the fight against money laundering and tax evasion, the European Parliament’s committee of inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (PANA) concluded yesterday (October 18). These comments came as the committee adopted its report and recommendations after more than a year’s work following the Panama Papers leak of personal financial information revealing offshore business entities had been used for illegal purposes.…

VIETNAM’S textile and clothing and textile sector is looking to sell more product into Asian markets such as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan, while solidifying its traditional export bases like the US and EU, the latest trade data indicates. 

Last year, Vietnam exported USD2.28 billion’s worth of clothing and textiles to South Korea – a 7.45% gain compared with 2015, according to Vietnam customs data analysed by the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS). …

JAPAN’S paint and coatings sector is putting on a positive face and playing up overseas expansion efforts, as well as its traditional strength in innovation, but analysts are concerned about the longer-term outlook for domestic companies.

Sales of paint in Japan came to Japanese Yen JPY 675 billion (USD6.10 billion) in 2016, a marginal increase of around 1% on the previous year’s figure, according to the Japan Paint Manufacturers Association.…

EASTERN and central European food consumers have often complained that international branded food tastes worse in their countries than in western Europe – even when comparing the same brands in similar packaging.

But the question is whether these grumbles are effectively urban myths – or if there is evidence suggesting that these differences are real.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has concluded “for the moment” it has no evidence of any significant differences in quality of the same branded food products, including meat, dairy products and chocolate, sold in eastern European member states than those sold elsewhere in the European Union (EU).…

THE NETHERLANDS-based Hendrix Genetics plans to build a complex producing hatching eggs for turkey chicks in Russia this year, according to the Russian ministry of agriculture.

Ina report, it has said the new complex will be able to produce 6.5 million hatching eggs per year, and the potential to increase volumes in future.…

THE MIDDLE East and Africa is certainly a promising regional market for nonwovens manufacturers, given the high level of economic growth in many countries and the rise of consumer-culture focused middle classes. But companies need to be sophisticated in their investment and sales tactics given the immense variety of economic and social fortunes experienced by countries in this most diverse region.…

THE EUROPEAN wipes market is a complex affair. This is a varied segment, in itself, but wipe use varies between countries with contrasting consumer cultures – meaning that in some states, wipes sales are increasing; in others decreasing; and in others, the kinds of wipes being sold is changing.…

The European Commission and the Russian giant Gazprom have moved closer to striking a deal over the company’s competitive behavior in the European Union (EU). On Monday (March 13), the EU competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager invited all interested parties to comment on Gazprom commitments to address concerns that the company is breaking EU anti-trust rules.…

THE MARKET for nonwovens for the automotive industry is forecast to continue to grow with China being the driving force, but clever producers will diversify their product lines to include filters, experts at a Nonwovens for High-performance Applications conference in Prague, have heard.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has taken a significant step towards the creation of a European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), but its chosen procedure may mean the powers of EU anti-fraud office OLAF will be undiminished, at least for some countries.

The latest European Council – the EU summit of heads of government – on March 9 agreed that the creation of the EPPO should be mandated through the EU’s ‘enhanced cooperation’ procedure.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission’s plans to create a pan-European personal pension (PEPP), on which a legislative proposal is expected by summer 2017, will help the self-employed and facilitate the growing mobility of workers across the European Union (EU), experts have told Accounting & Business.…

EUROPEAN drinks industry associations have said they are now preparing to exploit the export market benefits that flow from yesterday’s (Feb 15) approval by the European Parliament of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the European Union (EU) and Canada (CETA).…

EUROPEAN drinks industry associations have said they are now preparing to exploit the export market benefits that flow from yesterday’s (Feb 15) approval by the European Parliament of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the European Union (EU) and Canada (CETA).…

THE CONTINUED success of Europe’ major technical textile fair, Techtextil, Frankfurt, (the next event runs from May 9 to 12) illustrates how the continent’s technical textile sector is thriving on its innovation.

“We don’t know what the future brings. We only know where it will be exhibited.…

KEY MESSAGES

*The nuclear industry has an ageing staff and needs to recruit new professionals as they retire

*Its strong health and retirement benefits packages could help it attract the new staff it needs

*The nuclear industry outside north America has a strong expat component, making it easier for recruit staff from abroad

INTRODUCTION

The nuclear industry sector is facing some significant human resources challenges, but new research carried out by Airswift and Energy Jobline indicates that the nuclear sector can still compete for talent.…

A GEORGIAN beer company is to make Dutch brands Heineken and Amstel under licence for its home market in the Caucasus at a new brewery, built and operated using a syndicated loan arranged by the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD).…

MANY personal care product markets in eastern and central Europe are growing slowly, with incremental growth being tapped especially by major international brands who have squeezed out local players with their solid pricing and reliable quality.

But with natural cosmetics rising in popularity, there is still space for innovative smaller players with sufficient local roots and knowhow to appeal to consumers in what remains an extremely diverse region in terms of culture and consumer habits.…

MANY personal care product markets in eastern and central Europe are growing slowly, with incremental growth being tapped especially by major international brands who have squeezed out local players with their solid pricing and reliable quality.

But with natural cosmetics rising in popularity, there is still space for innovative smaller players with sufficient local roots and knowhow to appeal to consumers in what remains an extremely diverse region in terms of culture and consumer habits.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) governments have agreed proposed regulations that will introduce, from September 2018, new real-world emissions (RWE) tests to measure the number of particles emitted from modern petrol engines under actual road driving conditions. The decision is the third in a series of technical test models approved by the EU, as it mandates how auto manufacturers move away from relying on laboratory tests of emissions, which sometimes do not reflect what pollution is emitted from tailpipes on roads.…

WHILE Japan has freed up its electricity market, in 2015, end-user price regulation was still applied to household electricity markets in 12 European Union (EU) member states (46% of electricity and 54% of gas price offers from different service providers), Europe’s electricity industry association Eurelectric spokesperson Anamaria Olaru told Energy World.…

THE EUROPEAN Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is investigating if European Union (EU)-wide controls are needed to protect consumers against substances used in tattoo inks and permanent make-up (PMU) – with one solution expanding the scope of the EU cosmetics directive.

While the printing ink industry has suffered a recession, the tattoo and PMU ink sectors are booming in the wake of a huge increase in purchases of tattoos EU-wide.…

European Union (EU) lawmakers in a key European Parliament committee are split over how to amend proposed reforms to the 28 country bloc’s automotive type approval controls. These members of the parliament’s internal market and consumer protection committee discussed on Thursday (September 29) changes suggested by British Conservative MEP Dan Dalton on proposals from the EU executive, the European Commission, to overhaul EU type approval rules – its key goal is making them sufficiently tight to prevent a repeat of the Dieselgate scandal where emissions controls were circumvented.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission’s latest EUR500 million support package for European farmers, finalised at an August 26 European Union (EU) committee in Brussels, will not ease the dairy crisis, European dairy groups have warned.

“Production cuts is the label used to describe the current package of measures,” said the EU farm lobby group European Milk Board (EMB)’s president Romuald Schaber following the initial announcement of the plans in July.…

SUPPLIERS to auto manufacturers are releasing increasingly innovative technology to help brands reduce interior noise in their vehicles.

Luxembourg-based automotive interiors supplier International Automotive Components (IAC) Group, for instance, is expanding its operations to produce lightweight injection molded inner dash insulation that enhances interior acoustical performance.…

The European Commission’s long awaited criteria to determine which substances are endocrine disrupting (hormone changing) chemicals (EDCs) and so should be banned under the European Union’s biocidal (BPR) and plant protection products (PPPR) regulations should be based on risk not hazard, the pharmaceutical industry has warned.…

The European Union (EU)-funded NANO-JETS project is developing a more efficient method to produce light-emitting fibres at the nanoscale using electrostatic spinning – or ‘electrospinning’ – technology. While the technology is still developing, these fibres could be used in sensors such as in ‘smart’ clothing that can react to the environment or wearable devices.…

THE EUROPEAN nonwovens industry has been pushing ahead, maintaining consistent growth above increases in GDP for the whole economy, increasing its international collaboration, and the successfully exploring new markets. And while it is rarely prudent to make anything more than short-term predictions about cost and tariff problems, such difficulties faced by the European nonwovens sector seem have been pushed into the background. …

THE UNITED States Trade Representative (USTR) has highlighted its continuing concern about intellectual property rights violations in the pharma sector, citing claims that 20% of medicines sold in India are fakes.

In its annual ‘Special 301 Report’, the USTR said it notes “its particular concern with the proliferation of counterfeit pharmaceuticals that are manufactured, sold, and distributed in trading partners such as Brazil, China, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Peru, and Russia.”…

A CAMPAIGN group backing the rights of Roma people in the Czech Republic has called on the European Union (EU) to halt paying subsidies to a pig farm that operates on the site of a former Nazi concentration camp where Roma died during the Second World War.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced that it will propose a ‘services passport’ system by December 31, designed to simplify administrative procedures for service providers, such as accountants, auditors and bookkeepers, who want to expand to foreign member states. EU internal market, industry, entrepreneurship and SMEs Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska said: “The cross-border provision of services in the EU is underdeveloped, in particular in the area of business services – such as accounting…” The passport system would give accountants more information, boosting legal certainty and clarity about relevant professional rules in another member state.…

Plans to establish standardized European Union (EU) type approval fees, paid to national funds not individual test houses, could face a challenge from the European Parliament, the EU’s democratically elected co-legislature, wardsauto has learned. The proposals were made back in January by the EU executive, the European Commission, in a bid to revamp Europe’s type approval system, which were discredited after the ‘dieselgate’ scandal of crooked emissions measurement systems.…

A COST of maintaining nuclear generation capacity of between 95 GWe and 105GWe in the European Union (EU) until 2050 and beyond will cost between EUR350 and EUR450 billion over the next 35 years, the European Commission has concluded. (That is between USD398 billion and USD511 billion at current exchange rates).…

MULTI-COUNTRY regions such as eastern Europe do not always follow the same script when it comes to market performance. Sometimes, when major events happen, such as the global financial crisis, it is difficult for national coatings markets to buck the trend, but with the recovery now established, weakening economic headwinds, the latent differences between national markets can become clear.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has made its first formal call for proposals under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), to help finance key European Union (EU) energy infrastructure projects. In this round of subsidies, EUR200 million will be made available for projects designed to eliminate structural bottlenecks impeding the flow of energy between EU countries.…

Czech automobile manufacturer Škoda Auto, the subsidiary of Germany’s Volkswagen, plans to strengthen its position in the Chinese market, through a planned EUR2 billion investment over five years in the Shanghai-based SAIC Volkswagen Automotive Company Ltd.

The manufacturer is betting on the Chinese market in the future, Škoda China president Andreas Hafemann told wardsauto, saying the company wanted to double its China sales following the deal.…

The attack at Brussels Zaventem airport will spark new discussions on the security of landside facilities at European airports as the European Union rolls out reforms from its European Agenda on Security Strategy (EASS).

It was launched last April (2015), and was the latest in a series of security policy developments undertaken by the EU since the September 11 attacks on the USA.…

The European Union (EU) could ease strict conditions allowing tax and customs authorities to use reverse charge mechanisms to collect VAT, whereby liability for payments is switched from customer to supplier, to prevent fraud. The EU Council of Ministers for finance (Ecofin) has called on the European Commission to pay due attention to such anti-fraud measures in preparing a policy paper (communication) on the future of the EU’s VAT system, due for publication in March.…

It has taken more than half a decade for the cosmetics markets of eastern Europe to finally shrug off a long-running period stagnation that has characterised the regional market. Two underlying features – the financial crisis of 2008 and the completion of multinational takeovers in the noughties that saturated these post-communist markets – lay behind the extended period of slow, low or non-existent growth.…

OPPOSITION is growing within eastern and central Europe to the plan to expand the Nord Stream pipeline from Russia to Germany. Gazprom, E.ON, BASF/Wintershall, OMV, ENGIE and Royal Dutch Shell have formed a consortium that would double the capacity of the current Nord Stream 1 and 2 line to 55 billion additional cubic metres of gas a year (bcm/y).…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has given its political support for strong action by the European Commission in the coming year to propose and implement concrete actions to create an ambitious Energy Union. Its goal is to freely trading power between the European Union’s (EU) 28 member states.…

GAZPROM has agreed to drop gas prices charged to Lithuanian utility Lietuvos Dujos until the end of 2015 following European Commission charges of dominant position abuses in central and eastern European gas markets. The Russian giant is also now facing competition for cheaper liquid natural gas (LNG) supplies in Lithuania via the Klaipėda terminal on the Baltic Sea.…

A USD13 billion deal agreed by China to build two reactors for Argentina hinges entirely on the Chinese side putting up the financing, with a final arrangement on the cash deal to be inked in 2017. That’s according to sources in the Chinese nuclear industry.…

AN ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) report has said that increasing alcohol prices through taxes and minimum prices may help “tackle the heavy cost of harmful drinking”. The OECD’s ‘Tackling Harmful Alcohol Use Economics and Public Health Policy’ report added that initiatives tackling alcohol abuse promoted by the drinks industry may also be useful, but more independent evidence is needed before the OECD can make recommendations about their use.…

EUROPEAN dairy producers are keen participants in the European Union (EU) protective systems that prevent competitors from claiming to sell products made using traditional production methods and ingredients. The systems: PDO (protected designation of origin); PGI (protected geographical indication); and TSG (traditional speciality guaranteed) promote and protect names of quality agricultural products and foodstuffs.…

GAZPROM has declared that it will fight the European Commission inquiry into possible dominant position abuses, even though the Russian position could be weak. The European Commission sent Gazprom a ‘Statement of Objections’ on April 22, accusing the Russian energy giant of abusing its dominant position in central and eastern European gas markets, a charge the company denies.…

THE ONWARD march of nonwovens production in Europe appears to be relentless, but the drivers behind it have changed in recent years. Early markets for disposable products have matured and levelled off in many countries and newer applications have taken up the slack.…

The UK is lagging behind many other European Union (EU) member states when it comes to energy efficiency and is fiddling the figures to show it is making better progress than in reality, according to the latest report from the Brussels-based Coalition for Energy Savings.…

GERMAN-made automobiles were the largest source of reports regarding potentially dangerous motor vehicles made to the European Union’s (EU) RAPEX consumer alert network in 2014, analysis of its data shows.
There were 194 notifications to the system relating to automobiles and parts last year, the fourth largest category following toys (650), clothing and textiles (530) and electrical appliances (217).…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s budgetary control committee has called for more thorough checks on European Union (EU) institution and budget spending. In a detailed resolution, it noted that while the value of EU frauds has been falling, the number of scams has been increasing.…

The Egyptian textile sector is a mixed bag, succeeding in certain sub-sectors and struggling in others, while failing to add value to its core strength in cotton production. It has managed to weather the ongoing political instability, but exports are weak due to lower demand from Europe, and the overall sector is straining to keep up with global competition.…

The days of Italian consumer spending extra Euro on a high performing hydrating face cream or premium fragrance may be on hold as the majority of Italian consumers are currently seeking better value for money in their beauty and personal care (BPC) purchases.…

IN another sign that the economic and social divisions wrought by Europe’s 1945-1989 ideological division continue to ease, Czech accountant Petr Kříž will serve as president of the Federation of European Accountants (FEE) for the next two years. It is the first time in the history of this professional organisation that its president comes from a former eastern bloc country.…

While eastern Europe’s cosmetics sector seems in general to be emerging from its post-recession doldrums, the conflict in Ukraine has begun to significantly impact that country’s cosmetics industry. Analysts warn that tit-for-tat sanctions with Russia and uncertainty over the annexed Crimea and the future of the contested east of the country is halting investment.…

The Middle East and North African nonwovens sector is in flux. At the same time as extra capacity has come online, regional demand has been affected by political instability, forcing manufacturers to focus on exports and diversify their offerings.

“It is showing clearly now that the Arab Spring and political consequences have definitely delayed investment decisions by potential customers.…

ALMOST two years since its establishment in January 2013, the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) created as part of Europol, has delivered on its objectives, but still faces numerous resource challenges. Set up by the European Commission to support the 28 European Union (EU) countries in cybercrime investigations targeting online intrusion, fraud and child sexual abuse and to disrupt the operations of organised crime networks that commit a large share of cybercrimes, the EC3 is now receiving more requests for support that it can handle, its head, Troels Oerting, told Fraud Intelligence.…

THE COMPREHENSIVE Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union (EU) will make it easier for both jurisdictions to recognise each other’s nursing certifications. Political leaders celebrated the end of negotiations in September in Ottawa, Canada (Sept 26).…

The European Commission today cleared the acquisition of the Corialis Group, a European supplier of aluminium extrusion services and aluminium doors and windows, by Advent International Corporation, a US investment firm. A Commission communiqué said the deal “would not raise competition concerns as Advent is not active in any market in which Corialis is active” at present, notably the aluminium sector.…

EVERY five years, a new European Commission is appointed with the supposed aim of renewing the energy and impetus of the European Union (EU). What are the implications for the fight against commercial crime? Keith Nuthall and Méabh Mc Mahon report from Brussels.…

Russia may ban imports of cars from the European Union (EU), the United States and maybe Japan if Brussels and Washington impose additional sanctions because of Moscow’s role in the Ukraine crisis.

An aide to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin told wardsauto that the Russian government would be especially monitoring a meeting of the EU Council of Ministers for foreign affairs on October 20.…

ARMENIA is trying to increase its garment and textile market share locally and internationally, with the Russian government trying to help with a USD1 million grant. This will fund a project ‘Improving Competitiveness of Export-Oriented Industries in Armenia through Modernisation and Market Access’, which will be implemented by the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).…

A NEW European Commission nominated to hold office for the next five years has been told by its incoming president that it must increase transparency and avoid any hint of sleaze.

With fraud against the European Union (EU) institutions still costing taxpayers millions of Euros and the record of the outgoing Barroso Commission marred by the Dalli affair, nominated Commissioners have been told their “conduct must be unimpeachable.”…

THE NEW team of European commissioners scheduled to take office on November 1, who will impact European Union policy affecting the cosmetics sector, was announced today.
The incoming president of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, nominated Vytenis Andriukaitis, of Lithuania, as EU health commissioner.…

WHEN American personal care product giant Johnson & Johnson opened its shared-services centre in Prague during 2006, it employed 12 people and provided only in-group procure-to-pay services. Currently this Johnson & Johnson finance centre is the largest of the five centres the company operates worldwide in terms of staff numbers as well as the scope of services it provides to internal business partners.…

HELPING AND ADVISING EUROPEAN CONSUMERS SHOPPING AND TRAVELLING ABROAD

WHEN CAN ECC-NET OFFICES HELP YOU?

• Air travel

So much can go wrong: flights can be delayed or cancelled; luggage can be lost or damaged; and hidden fees can be charged.…

WITH more than three in four residents of the European Union (EU) residing in cities and traffic volumes rising, the number of complaints linked to environmental noise in Europe has been increasing. That is why earlier this month, members of the European Parliament backed proposals from the EU executive, the European Commission, to reduce vehicle noise by 25% in cities by the year 2024.…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament, which represents the citizens of the European Union (EU) voted today (April 15) to introduce a mandatory system to handle emergency calls (eCalls) sent automatically by cars in case of a crash by 2017.

This decision was agreed in negotiations with the national governments back in March and endorsed today by MEPs (members of the European Parliament) in their last plenary meeting ahead of elections on May 22-25.…

Events in Ukraine continue to unfold in dramatic fashion: a government overthrown, Crimea annexed by Russia, pro-Russian separatists stoking unrest and grabbing government buildings in eastern Ukraine, and worries of a full-scale invasion. Weaved into these crises – and in many respects at the heart of them – is Ukraine’s oil and gas sector.…

REPRESENTATIVES from Europe’s sugar industry want sugar to be excluded from the current free trade negotiations between the United States and the European Union (EU). Speaking at an EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) briefing in Brussels, Oscar Ruiz de Imaña – the deputy director general of the European Association of Sugar Producers (CEFS), warned of the uncertainties in the sugar markets on both sides of the Atlantic.…

AUSTRIA

The location of ECC Austria in central Vienna means many consumers drop by to receive advice or lodge complaints in person with the ECC’s five staff members. A top priority in 2013 was increasing public awareness about e-commerce fraud; a brochure aimed at combatting the problem was published and more than 600,000 were distributed throughout Austria.…

BUDGET airlines have a major impact on airport expansion or contraction across Europe, but their importance can be particularly pronounced in countries towards the east, whose economies are still catching up with the west of the continent.

Even in Poland, which avoided recession since the financial collapse of 2008, some airports have asked city and regional governments for help when they cannot attract enough trade – in one recent instance following a decision by Ryanair to cut routes.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission is to coordinate a second set of DNA tests across the European Union (EU) this spring, similar to those conducted last year following the horsemeat mis-labelling scandal, with results being published by the end of this July.

It would be the second time the Commission has organised DNA tests across the EU to find out if horsemeat is being fraudulently added to products labelled as beef.…

COSMETICS was one of the top five categories of dangerous products notified through the European Union’s (EU) rapid alert system on dangerous consumer products (RAPEX) in 2013, according to a report published yesterday (25 March) by the European Commission.

Out of the 2,364 notifications received last year, 106 were related to cosmetics (including haircare products).…

ENERGY ministers of smaller European Union (EU) member countries are worried about the potential impact the 2030 climate and energy targets proposed by the European Commission in January could have on energy-intensive industries such as minerals processing, an EU energy council meeting yesterday (Tues March 4) in Brussels revealed.…

MANY European Union (EU) countries are unsure whether imposing mandatory labelling requirements for the country of origin of meat used as ingredient in processed food products would bring benefits that justify the costs, a meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Brussels yesterday (24 March) revealed.…

NORDIC nonwoven companies Suominen, Ahlstrom and Fibertex are fast emerging from the post-2008 economic downturn fitter and leaner. This follows five years of cost-cutting and market re-alignment projects that included unit divestments, strategic acquisitions, and increased use of automation to reduce costs and strengthen profitability.…

Energy ministers of smaller European Union (EU) countries said yesterday (Tuesday March 4) that they will not sacrifice the competitiveness of energy intensive industries such as steel-making when meeting proposed EU 2030 carbon emission targets.

 “Slovakia supports the aim of a single target for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction,” said Dušan Petrík, state secretary in the country’s ministry of economy.…

A CZECH government grant of Czech Crowns CZK68 million (EUR2.5 million) to Ostrava regional airport in Silesia has been ruled legal under European Union (EU) state aid rules. The money will help fund the construction of ground lighting and illuminated signs at check points, helping the airline attract more regular air traffic, in particular long-haul cargo services.…

“WHAT I’m doing now really is a dream job for me.” CFO Juraj Drahovský, 36, from Košice, in eastern Slovakia, is relishing the challenge of helping the RWE Group, one of Europe’s largest energy companies, become a leading player in the Croatian market.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) RASFF food safety alert service has warned of e-coli being detected in Brazilian meat cargoes exported to Europe. Dutch customs officials rejected three consignments of chilled beef from Brazil after discovering they had been contaminated with shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli.…

BRAZIL-based textile industry conferences in 2014 will focus on innovation, with the country’s fabric sector seeking to trade up to higher end products.

Fairs such as Première Vision, have been growing in size. The bi-annual event was staged this month in São Paulo from January 21-22, with a follow up meeting from November 4 to 5.…

THE COUNTRIES of eastern and central Europe that came in from the cold in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall have felt the economic chill in recent years, with recession affecting the fortunes of the cosmetics industry.

Across a wide range of countries – for instance – Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia – the retail value of the beauty and personal care products market has remained at around Euro EUR10.70 billion in both 2012 and (according to provisional data for these five countries by market analysts Euromonitor International) in 2013; and is forecast to grow to EUR10.85 billion in 2014.…

EASTERN and central Europen markets for biocosmetics are a key growth area for personal care product companies, with some markets growing and others relatively untapped.

The region’s largest country, Poland (38 million people) is witnessing sales of bio-cosmetics surging at rates of 10% to 30% annually, according to producers and distributors.…

BY MARK ROWE; JONATHAN DYSON, in Zagreb; and ANDREW KURETH, in Warsaw

THE COUNTRIES of eastern and central Europe that came in from the cold in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall have felt the economic chill in recent years, with recession affecting the fortunes of the cosmetics industry.…

THE CREATION of a single telecommunication market in the European Union (EU) should build on the foundation of existing liberalising legislation, promoting healthy competition between telecommunication companies and cable operators, says Matthias Kurth, executive chairman at Cable Europe.

Speaking to European Communications, in an interview at his Brussels office, he explained: “The new legislation should complement and not overturn the existing regulatory framework,” said Mr Kurth, noting that it should allow network providers to grow, compete and invest.…

A EUROPEAN Union-funded ‘BETITEX’ research project has brought together a consortium of 10 partners to develop protective, biodegradable textiles that can kill ticks and bedbugs. The Euro EUR1.5 million (USD2.06 million) project will focus on developing personal protective equipment for small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and also “domestic use in the form of home linen,” according to a European Commission note.…

THE ESTABLISHMENT of a European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) will proceed with a limited number of countries, after 11 of them lodged disagreements about its establishment by an October 28 deadline. The countries which will not sign onto the EPPO are Britain, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Ireland, Malta, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) food and feed safety rapid alert network (RASFF) has warned of continued detections of salmonella contamination of imported meat and meat products across Europe. In most instances, consignments were exported from other EU member states. It reported six salmonella meat contamination cases between October 21 and 24 for instance.…

TECHNICAL and security experts have gathered at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to consider how to roll-out developing automated border control (ABC) systems, which offer hard-pressed airports the ability to better process surging passenger numbers.

Staged at ICAO’s headquarters, in Montréal, Canada, from October 22 to 24, the agency’s ninth symposium and exhibition on MRTDs [machine readable travel documents] biometrics and border security debated ABC developments such as newly-emerging technologies; trust issues; reliability; non-intrusiveness; biometrics; effective inspections tools; trusted traveller programmes; challenges to border integrity and ways to address them.…

A EUROPEAN Commission-ordered report has highlighted significant

shortcomings in gas interconnectors crossing national European Union (EU)

borders that are restricting the development of an EU gas market.

This ‘Study on Entry-Exit Regimes in Gas’ by the Netherlands’ DNV KEMA and

COWI Belgium said the absence of virtual trading points or short-term capacity

products are “highly critical barriers for the development of a well-functioning

entry-exit system”.…

A SPECIAL European Union (EU) VAT scheme allowing travel agents to pay one VAT payment on the profits they make from selling services applies to all their customers, and not just travellers, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. The European Commission argued at the ECJ that the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Poland and Portugal should not allow travel agents to use this perk for non-travelling customers buying non-core services, but its case was rejected.…

FOOD technology innovation could have a European Union (EU) budget of Euro EUR4.1 billion to tap from 2014 to 2020 under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme. Political agreement over its funding and spending rules was secured in June, creating an overall pot of EUR70.2 billion, from which EUR4.1 billion could be earmarked for food and food-related research projects.…

The number of European Union (EU) member states imposing reverse charge VAT mechanisms to prevent sales tax fraud in the scrap metal sector could rise, with EU ministers allowing governments to use these systems without permission from Brussels.

The EU Council of Ministers has approved amendments to the EU’s VAT directive 2006/112/EC, enabling member states to force suppliers to pay VAT, rather than final consumers, when faced with a sudden onset of large-scale VAT fraud.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) food and feed safety rapid alert network (RASFF) has warned of a spate of problems involving salmonella contamination of imported meat and meat products. In some instances, consignments were exported from outside the EU, and others, within it.…

A FINAL compromise on planned European Union (EU) laws on the timing of auditors’ rotation should be somewhere between the two proposed extremes of six years and 25 years, the EU internal market Commissioner Michel Barnier is arguing, as EU ministers and MEPs grope towards a deal on the issue.…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament (EP) public health and environment committee, which is handling the draft tobacco products directive (TPD), went a step further from the European Commission on July 10, when it voted to introduce a “positive list” of approved ingredients to be used in tobacco products.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU)-favoured Nabucco pipeline carrying Azerbaijan gas to western Europe will now almost certainly never be built, after Azeri gas consortium Shah Deniz decided to sell its gas to the rival Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP). The decision came after Greece announced it would sell its natural gas grid operator DESFA to Azeri state energy company SOCAR: the TAP pipeline would run through Greece to Italy, linking with pipelines in Turkey.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has released documents showing that it wants the US to ban future export restrictions on selling energy products raw materials to the European Union (EU), during negotiations for the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. This would be the world’s largest bilateral trade deal.…

Croatia’s paint and coatings industry is aiming to capitalise on the benefits of the country’s recent July 1 accession to the European Union (EU), and is hoping that an economic recovery can also help the industry return to growth over the next year.…

REVISED European Union (EU) nuclear safety rules proposed by the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, may undermine the authority of national safety regulators and complicate the work of nuclear operators, according to Foratom, the organisation representing the interests of the European nuclear industry.…

EASTERN European textile and clothing companies used to have a cost advantage in serving wealthy western European markets, but that has long been eclipsed by Asian competition – added value technical textiles may offer them a sustainable future.

In Poland’s hard-pressed textile industry, its fast-growing technical branch may constitute the future of the national industry, experts in the country’s industry say.…

THE COMMERCIAL property sector in Croatia, which is to join the European Union (EU) on July 1, is anticipating a boost to several key sectors as a result of the country’s long-awaited accession. However, the industry remains understandably cautious given the continuing economic difficulties being faced by the EU.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) negotiators are approaching the final decision over the future of EU sugar quotas, with a deal expected between the European Parliament and EU Council of Ministers by the end of June. What is almost certain is the current phase-out date of 2015 is dead.…

THE CZECH Ivan Hodac has been the voice of the European car industry since 2001. Before becoming secretary general of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), Hodac was the senior vice-president and head of Time Warner Europe office. He talked to wardsauto about how working with strong personalities from Hollywood has prepared him to deal with executives of the European automotive industry.…

Poland confirmed plans in 2012 to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant with a view to importing supplies from Qatar, it seemed like the latest example of eastern European energy ministries trying to avoid energy dependence on Russia. Plans to develop shale gas in Poland and the Baltic States fall into the same category, along with policies to build energy infrastructure linking Poland and its Nordic and Baltic neighbours.…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has authorised an enhanced cooperation agreement between the European Union (EU) and Eurocontrol, enshrining the agency as the technical and operational arm of the EU in developing and implementing the EU’s Single European Sky (SES) policy. It is also meant to avoid overlaps between Eurocontrol and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in safety-related air traffic management matters and environmental issues.…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has authorised an enhanced cooperation agreement between the European Union (EU) and Eurocontrol, enshrining the agency as the technical and operational arm of the EU in developing and implementing the EU’s Single European Sky (SES) policy. It is also meant to avoid overlaps between Eurocontrol and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in safety-related air traffic management matters and environmental issues.…

AMIDST the financial crises of various European Union (EU) member states in 2009, Poland was the only country that did not enter recession. In fact, Poland hasn’t posted negative growth in over 20 years. Although its economic progress has slowed in recent years, Poland is still the envy of much of the EU, which continues to struggle with economic stagnation and recession in some countries.…

The Argentine government’s economic protectionism is thwarting the growth of e-book sales, experts at the International Book Fair in Buenos Aires said this week.
The country’s 39th book fair, which ended on Monday, was attended by a total of 1.1 million people, said fair organisers.…

THERE are many ways to maintain and repair a road, so it always makes sense to look widely at good practice examples. Here The Surveyor has used its foreign correspondent team to assess techniques in some diverse pars of continental Europe.…

SUMMER 2013 marks an important milestone in the evolution of the European Union (EU) regulatory framework and financial support for Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E) that will contribute towards the European Commission’s goal of a single-energy market for gas and electricity. Oil and carbon dioxide (CO2) transport from carbon capture and storage systems also figure in the picture.…

CORRUPTION costs the European Union (EU) EUR323 billion a year, three times more than previous estimates,  a study by the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, Germany, and the Brussels office of Germany’s Bertelsmann Stiftung (Foundation) suggests. In an April 9 report to the European Parliament, Hertie and Bertelsmann Stiftung calculated that EU member states could increase annual tax revenues by roughly this much if they reduced corruption to levels found in Denmark, ranked by Bertelsmann Stiftung as the least corrupt in the EU.…

THE ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has made a lot of noise about its anti-bribery convention. But some countries are failing to comply, and where others do – otherwise honest companies can lose trade. David Hayhurst and Keith Nuthall report.…

THE CZECH group Agrofert Holding has told just-food it expects to get a green light from the European Commission for its planned takeover of German bakery group Lieken. “Considering the fact that Agrofert does not own any bakeries in Germany, we don’t expect complications,” said Agrofert Holding’s spokesman Karel Hanzelka.…

IRELAND has the most higher education graduates per head of population in all 27 countries of the European Union (EU), a report from EU statistical agency Eurostat has revealed.

Looking at the proportion of people aged 30-34 who had completed tertiary education, Eurostat said in 2012, 51.1% of Ireland residents had degrees.…

THE ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has criticised Denmark – usually lauded over its clean and efficient government – for turning blind eyes to foreign bribery. In an assessment released in March, the OECD Working Group on Bribery noted that the country’s police had investigated only 13 foreign bribery cases and criminal penalties had been imposed in only one case.…

As Poland’s shale gas rush ramps up in earnest, companies offering locally-sourced minerals used in hydraulic fracturing look set to profit. The industry, nascent as it is in Poland, comprises a hodgepodge of contractors and subcontractors, each sourcing different materials from different places.…

BESIDES information on fuel efficiency, tire noise and CO2 emissions, European car makers will also be required to provide details on the noise levels of their cars in the future, according to a draft piece of European Union (EU) legislation on motor vehicle noise.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has welcomed Thailand lifting its longstanding ban on bovine product imports from European Union (EU) member states, but has complained that Bangkok is insisting on expensive inspections for approved exporters.

Live cattle, beef, veal and other bovine products from Austria, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, and Slovenia and Spain have been prevented from entering Thailand since 2001 over concerns about BSE.…

PHARMACEUTICAL companies seeking pharmacovigilance and pharmacoepidemiology information from across the European Union (EU) can now consult two new databases. Created by the public-private partnership PROTECT project, they are the Drug Consumption Database and the PROTECT ADR [adverse drug reaction] database.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) confectionery manufacturers and their suppliers stand to boost their export sales and reduce import costs with the launch of talks to forge the two largest bilateral trade deals ever sought by the EU – with the USA and Japan.…

European Union (EU) police agency Europol says it has broken a sophisticated value-added tax (VAT) fraud, involving trading scrap metal between Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The scam involves so-called ‘carousel’ or ‘missing-trader’ fraud where scrap has been sold in a chain or buyers, with VAT being charged on each sale.…

THE BIDDING for a contract to expand Temelín nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic is approaching decision time, with the winner of the four-year long tender process to be chosen in 2013. Worth USD10 billion, the contract represents the largest public tender in the country’s history and has generated considerable debate, from safety issues and the distinctions between the various reactor designs and their technologies, to political and economic issues regarding everything from energy security to the deal’s transparency.…

BULGARIAN authorities have reported more than 350 cases of Newcastle disease in flocks of backyard poultry. According to the World Animal Health Organisation, the Office International des Épizooties (OIE) all sick birds have died. The outbreak follows a report from the OIE earlier this month from Czech Republic, where backyard pigeons were killed by Newcastle disease.  …

BY MARK ROWE

ANYONE looking for straightforward conclusions about the impact of the recession on eastern Europe’s cosmetics market is likely to be disappointed. Some countries, such as Poland, fared relatively well in the crisis, while others such as Latvia faced punishing economic contraction, therefore signals coming from the region in these uncertain and ever-changing times, are hugely varied.…

BY MARK ROWE

TO describe recent times as difficult for the eastern European cosmetics industry would be something of an understatement. Since 2010, some countries have experienced dizzying declines in production and sales that indicated the industry was more or less in tune with the wider economic mood across the region.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

Counterfeit, mislabelled and substandard meat products have been seized in an international police operation spanning 29 countries, coordinated by Interpol and European police agency Europol. Sausages, ham, lamb, chicken and beef were seized, a Europol spokesman told globalmeatnews.com.…

BY MICHAEL STEIN, IN PRAGUE; AND RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI, IN PESHAWAR

Senior government officials in the Pakistan province of Sindh have told Steel First they are keenly awaiting the promised launch of a Czecho-Pakistani project to build a CZK6.1 billion (USD320 million) private steelworks facility in Pakistan.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

Precision Castparts Corp. (PCC), a worldwide US-based manufacturer of complex metal components sought approval from the European Commission yesterday (Nov 14) for its plan to acquire control of fellow American’s, Dallas-based Titanium Metals Corporation (Timet). It produces titanium melted and mill products, while Oregon-headquartered PCC manufactures structural investment castings, forged components, and airfoil castings for aircraft engines and other applications in various industries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a strategy designed to encourage the growth of cloud computing and data services, especially through the development of common standards and certification.

Brussels’ policy paper (called a Communication) ‘Unleashing the potential of cloud computing in Europe’ is a wide-ranging action plan that is designed especially to promote interoperability between cloud services.…

BY LEE ADENDORFF, IN BOLOGNA

MORE than 110 academics and university administrators met in Bologna, Italy on September 21 for the twenty-fourth anniversary conference of the Magna Charta Universitatum – a declaration on fundamental university principles that has now been signed by over 750 universities worldwide.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE CEO of Nestlé has praised the role of international standards in managing his multi-national company, giving it a health-based legal framework within which its specialists can creatively develop new confectionery and other food products.

Speaking within an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) briefing, Paul Bulcke said: “Tastes may differ, but health requirements and minimum standards are the same the world over.…

BY ROB STOKES

THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched an anti-trust investigation into Russia’s Gazprom, suspecting it of stifling gas market competition in central and eastern European (CEE). The Commission is investigating whether the energy giant may have: divided gas markets by hindering free flow of gas across member states; prevented diversification of gas supply; and imposed unfair prices on customers by linking gas to oil prices.…

BY ZLATKO CONKAS

THE TURKS used to run the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as colonial overlords – now with the country enjoying its independence since 1991, its government has shown its confidence in welcoming a Turkish company TAV Airports Holding to run its two international airports.…

COGENERATION, or rather trigeneration, units that cooled, heated and powered the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games won plaudits if no gold medals for the manufacturer – America’s GE – but neatly symbolised the spread of CHP into mainstream and niche applications.…

BY ROBERT STOKES

"We’re likely to see a growing trend towards toward biomass-based CHP over the next 10 years," said Daniella Muallem, senior research analyst at US-based IDC Energy Insights, EMEA division. This is already apparent in large cogen.

Case in point: an innovative 49.9MW biomass cogen plant – the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom – is on course to begin its commissioning phase in late 2012 before production starts in mid-2013.…

BY MARK ROWE

THERE is consumer demand in Europe for making confectionery packaging more sustainable, but in the European Union (EU) manufacturers are motivated more in going green by EU legislation.

They are developing ways of reducing, reusing and recycling packaging, and changing its composition to help.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has been flexing its regulatory muscles to push the roll-out of high-speed broadband networks – trying to fine-tune European Union (EU) competition rules to encourage this development. Brussels is using its current legal powers and consulting on creating new rules and policies, with action being driven by pro-free market Dutch digital agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes.…

BY NICK HOLDSWORTH, IN KALUGA, RUSSIA

CARMAKERS were celebrating on July 4 when the first of four new models rolled off a state-of-the-art production line in a 145 hectare plant in Kaluga, western Russia. The latest in an ongoing expansion of Russia’s auto sector, a bright, clean, airy and surprisingly quiet car assembly plant is surrounded by fields and forests: Peugeot Citroen’s Russian joint venture with Mitsubishi, PCMA Rus has pressed the button to start full scale production that will deliver 125,000 a year vehicles specially designed for the Russian market.…

BY MARK ROWE

CROATIA has a strong tradition of knitting that features heavily in the traditions of the country’s rural hinterland and this could stand its knitwear sector in good stead for the country’s 2013 accession to the European Union (EU).…

BY MARK ROWE

CROATIA will join the European Union (EU) in one year’s time (on July 1, 2013), and while the country’s low wages offer opportunities to sell local textiles and clothing into the EU, the Croatian sector could be in better shape.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

The European Commission and Greenland have signed a letter of intent that could increase the role of European Union (EU) industrial mineral companies in the development of Greenlandic mineral resources, including rare earths.

EU industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani and development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs have struck a deal with Greenland Prime Minister Kuupik Kleis over future EU involvement in exploration and exploitation.…

BY MIKE STEIN, IN PRAGUE

EASTERN and central Europeans often have mixed feelings about dealing with the Russians – and for good reason, given their 40-plus-year domination of the region after the Second World War. It has encouraged many governments to seek alternative energy supplies other than Russian gas, but – as the Cold War recedes into memory, old scars are healing and joint energy ventures with Russia’s energy giant Gazprom are increasingly being assessed on their merits.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

European Commission signs today agreement of cooperation with Greenland on raw materials

To improve access of EU industry to raw materials at an affordable price, the European Commission wishes to intensify cooperation with Greenland benefitting both sides, such as joint infrastructures and investments or capacity building in exploration and exploitation of raw materials.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

The European Commission and Greenland have signed a letter of intent that could increase the role of European Union (EU) mining companies in the development of the autonomous territory’s considerable mineral resources.

EU industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani and development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs have struck a deal with Greenland Prime Minister Kuupik Kleis over future EU involvement in exploration and exploitation.…

BY E BLAKE BERRY, IN POLAND; MIKE STEIN, IN PRAGUE; MONIKA HANLEY, IN RIGA; AND MJ DESCHAMPS,

WHILE southern and western Europe’s economies falter, being mired in debt, eastern Europe’s coatings market is now growing solidly amidst economic performances that are recovering from a recession that hit the region hard.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

The European Commission and Greenland have signed a letter of intent that could increase the role of European Union (EU) metal and mining companies in the development of Greenlandic metal and other mineral resources.

The autonomous north Atlantic territory has a wealth of deposits being explored.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPE’S confectionery industry is fighting rearguard moves at the European Parliament to delay the abolition of European Union (EU) quotas on EU sugar production. A report from French conservative MEP Michel Dantin on the new EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has proposed that the quotas stay until 2020 – they are currently to be phased out by 2015.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A RESTRICTIVE open skies agreement has been negotiated between the European Commission and Sri Lanka that incorporates existing bilateral civil aviation agreements struck with individual European Union (EU) member states. The agreement includes deals previously struck by Sri Lanka with Austria, Belgium, Britain, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

IVAN Hodac, the secretary general of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) has attacked proposals from the European Commission to reduce vehicle noise from European Union (EU) autos, saying the implementation costs would be exorbitant. Speaking yesterday at a European Parliament workshop on the issue in Brussels, he said reaching the noise limit levels currently proposed by the EU executive would add manufacturing costs of between Euro EUR1,500 (USD1,143) to EUR3,000 (USD2,288) per truck and anywhere between EUR300 (USD228) and EUR600 (USD457) per car for automakers.…

BY MARK ROWE, IN LONDON; ZLATKO CONKAS, IN NOVI SAD, SERBIA; MIKE STEIN, IN PRAGUE; AND BLAKE BERRY, IN WARSAW

DURING the spring of 2011, the prevailing view throughout eastern Europe’s personal care and toiletries market was that while business was not exactly buoyant, the worst of the recession was over – then came the credit crises and the faltering Euro.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

RETAIL – WINNERS AND LOSERS

WINNERS

MARKS & SPENCER

Times may still be tough in its home British market, but M&S showed forward-thinking foresight in 2011- on sourcing transparency and the environment: potential key issues for future consumers.…

BY ZLATKO CONKAS

Will Croatia’s ascension to the EU hamper the country’s tobacco industry?

Croatia’s strong tobacco sector stands to benefit from selling into the European Union once the country joins the EU. However it could lose trade in neighbouring states because of duty changes.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Union (EU)-funded research project has been using donated dead bodies, elaborately constructed dummies and complex computer research to create a digital model of the thorax (the upper body between the head and abdomen) to help build safer cars.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

DOUBTS are growing about the wisdom of encouraging biofuel use in the European Union (EU) as a cornerstone of environmental policy aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The EU has painted itself into a corner with its renewable energy directive.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) judges today declared EU laws allow both Czech brewer Bud?jovický Budvar and Anheuser-Busch In Bev to use the trademark Budweiser in the UK because "consumers are well aware of the difference" between the companies’ beers.…

BY ZLATKO CONKAS, BLAKE BERRY, MONIKA HANLEY, MARK ROWE and KEITH NUTHALL

EASTERN Europe is often regarded as developing in the slipstream of richer western Europe – and so far the model seems to be fitting with biofuels. That said, significant biodiesel manufacturing capacity is in place in the region, according to the European Biodiesel Board.…

BY LEE ADENDORFF, MARK ROWE, ALAN OSBORN, KATHERINE DUNN, MARTINA MARECKOVA, GERARD O’DWYER and MINDY RAN

The largest Czech Republic power company, ?EZ, has just made a decision to extend its footprint in heat production; announcing on July 28, 2011, that it plans to acquire Energotrans, the Czech company which supplies heat from the town of M?lník…

BY LEE ADENDORFF, MARK ROWE, ALAN OSBORN, KATHERINE DUNN, MARTINA MARECKOVA, GERARD O’DWYER and MINDY RAN

The Winter Olympics have proven to be something of a catalyst for funding and investment in co-generation in provincial Russia – right down to the 2014 venue itself: the Black Sea resort in the city of Sochi.…

BY MONIKA HANLEY, LEE ADENDORFF, MARK ROWE, ALAN OSBORN, MINDY RAN, GERARD O’DWYER and MARTINA MARECKOVA

FOR an industry that generates energy, heat and maybe cooling, the European cogeneration sector has been operating on a decidedly low output in recent years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CONDITIONAL support has been secured for the European Commission’s plans to extend the European Union (EU) pharmaceutical industry financial penalties system to the EU’s paediatric regulation controlling child medicines.

In a formal comment, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) backed the idea, but stressed fines should only be levied on medicine manufacturers for major breaches of paediatric medicine rules: "Where the infringements concerned may have significant public health implications in the EU, or where it has a EU dimension […] or where interests of the EU are involved".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Commission review of the 2004 paints directive has led to Brussels concluding it will not propose expanding the products covered by its volatile organic compounds (VOC) emission limits or tightening them for vehicle refinishing products. Both topics were subjects of a mandatory assessment by Brussels.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE

The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Fujairah International Airport has selected Czech Republic and Slovakia-based IT company ALES for the supply of an air traffic control system and ERA (part of American technology and systems company SRA International) for a wide area multilateration radar to fully automate the airport’s air control centre, and implement an advanced surveillance solution.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Union (EU) research project is trying to boost innovation in European-made textile machinery, helping small-and-medium sized companies fend off Asian competition. The NU-WAVE project has a Euro EUR2.5 million budget and ends this December.

Its aims to make EU companies’ machines "more flexible, productive and efficient to…cope with highly variable and functionalised textile products", reducing energy usage, noise and vibration, said the European Commission.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE NUMBER of personal care products reported last year through the European Union’s (EU) RAPEX consumer alert service as being potentially unsafe or breaching the EU cosmetics directive fell in 2010 – to 66, down from 86 in 2009.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is undertaking a series of detailed studies on water scarcity, which will feed into a major policy initiative planned for 2012, almost certainly including legislative reform. The work follows growing concern that Europe is doing too little to conserve its drinking water resources, and that a firm hand from Brussels may be needed to secure future supplies.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

Big European food retailers have been delighted with a new ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) slapping down regulations imposed by the Spanish government to restrict the location and operations of hypermarkets in Catalonia. The court, whose decisions are legal precedents throughout every country and region in the European Union (EU), said Spain had failed to fulfill obligations imposed by the "freedom of establishment" provision of the EU treaties.…

CZECH PAINTS SECTOR BACK ON TRACK

THE CZECH paints industry last year experienced a second difficult year in a row – although it was not as bad as in 2009. Sales fell 14% year-on-year compared to 2009, but market players believe that the worst is over.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed short-term reforms to the European Union’s (EU) carbon emissions trading registries, after being found vulnerable to cyber-attacks in January. Brussels suspended spot trading on the EU emissions trading scheme after the digital theft through Austrian, Czech and other national markets of Euro 30 million’s worth of emissions credits.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WHEN the offices of the Czech Republic’s registry for the European Union (EU) Emissions Trading System (ETS) received a fake bomb threat on January 18, it was an annoying interruption for some Prague office workers. But when returning to their desks, they realised their real bomb had gone off in their computer terminals.…

BY ZLATKO ?ONKA?

IF one European country exists that demonstrates the need for the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD), it is surely Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH), whose political and economic recovery from war has been halting. The EBRD has worked with the Bosnian government and its Serb and Bosniak/Croat sub-national entities for 15 years and its latest project could be the jewel in the crown of this cooperation – the revamping of Sarajevo International Airport.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

DESPITE having set a clear goal of ensuring 20% of the European Union’s (EU) energy consumption is drawn from green sources, such as biogas and biofuels, more money and resources must be wheeled into action. That is the claim of the European Commission, in a long-awaited policy paper from its energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger, assessing the EU’s renewable energy directive.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission may this year release proposals to reduce the vulnerability of the European Union’s (EU) emissions trading system (ETS) to fraud. Cyber-criminals launched a lucrative attack on its systems in January. How open is this ground-breaking system to fraud?…

BY MARTINA MARECKOVA

WITH Russia’s economy booming again after a deep recession caused by the global financial crisis, its consumers are again indulging their strong taste for luxury clothing, especially of famous international marques. And Russians also like to travel, and when they do – they shop – with some assessments suggesting they set aside twice as much time for shopping as do American tourists.…

BY LEE ADENDOORF, ALYSSA MCMURTRY, MAKKI MARSEILLES, and KEITH NUTHALL

GLOBAL olive oil manufacturing is on a roll, with the International Olive Council (IOC) saying 2009-10 world production was 3.02 million tonnes, a season-on-season increase of 354,500 tonnes (+13%). This would be the second best olive oil production year ever, next only to the record of 3.17 million tonnes produced in 2003/04.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

PAINTS, coatings and other construction materials containing hazardous substances will have to be clearly labelled to protect the health and safety of builders and other users, under a new European Union (EU) regulation. Covering the EU-wide sale of construction products, the European Parliament and EU ministers have struck agreement on the final text, which insists every product is sold with a "declaration of performance" by manufacturers.…

BY MARTINA MARECKOVA

*Last year, the total volume of tax free shopping in Prague by Russians increased by 22% year-on-year.

*However their average spending dropped from Czech Crowns CZK6,951 (US dollars USD400) in 2009 to CZK6,581 (USD378) last year.

*Prague luxury clothing retailers says a couple from former Soviet Union may often spend CZK300,000 (USD17,267) each on a mink fur coat.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission will this year release proposals to reduce the vulnerability of the European Union’s (EU) emissions trading system (ETS) to fraud, just as cyber-criminals launched a lucrative attack on its systems this month. Brussels suspended spot trading on the scheme after the digital theft through Austrian, Czech and other national markets of Euro 30 million’s worth of emissions credits.…

BY MARK ROWE

Czech government pushes aggressively against high smoking rates

The Czech government is using tax increases and smoking restrictions to reduce smoking. It has particular concern about high youth smoking rates. However, the Czech Republic remains a stable and high value market for tobacco majors.…

BY JOSEPHINE MCKENNA, in Rome

ON the face of it the record is impressive. In the past 12 months Italian customs officials and other agents have carried out raids on counterfeiters from Milan in the north to Taranto in the south, seizing millions of euros’ worth fake fashion merchandise.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

18

THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the takeover by Unilever of Sara Lee’s body and laundry care businesses, on condition it sells off the US company’s Sanex brand and related business in Europe. Following an inquiry as the European Union’s (EU) lead competition authority, Brussels concluded there were particular concerns regarding Unilever’s future dominance of some EU deodorant markets.…

BY MARK ROWE

Recession forced eastern European smokers to ditch premium brands for cheaper smokes

Tobacco majors have long targeted eastern Europe as a soft emerging market for premium brands. But times got tough during the recession, when smokers swapped aspiration for economy.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) consumer protection network RAPEX has warned of a series of hair-care products being discovered containing substances banned by the EU cosmetics directive. Czech authorities banned Polish product hair dye 111 Noix Dore for containing 2-nitro-p-phenylenendiamine and hydroquinone.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE INTERNATIONAL Energy Agency (IEA) has praised the Czech Republic for energy reforms made since a previous IEA assessment in 2005. The country had "strengthened its energy policy, further liberalised its electricity and gas markets and made laudable efforts to enhance oil and gas security," said the agency.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

9

A UNITED Nations campaign could – if successful – significantly increase worldwide demand for soap. Its Global Handwashing Day has highlighted how diarrhoeal and acute respiratory diseases kill 3.5 million children aged under five annually, and that washing their hands after using toilets and before handling food can reduce such deaths by 40% and 23% respectively.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, WANG FANGQING

AUTO dealers in Britain will certainly see the affect of the European Union’s (EU) recent signature of a free trade deal with South Korea. Once ratification procedures have been cleared, the EU’s import duties on cars made in South Korea (mostly 10%) will disappear within 60 days.…

BY Cristina Muntean

The rector of the Czech Republic’s second largest university has told University World News he plans to fight to protect planned public investment into expanding its campus, while his country’s government plans severe austerity cuts.

The centre-right coalition government of prime minister Petr Ne?as…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is threatening legal action at the European Court of Justice against Belgium, the Czech Republic and Greece, for not implementing European Union directive 2008/112/EC on the classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures. It mandates safety labelling and collating information to protect the environment and human health from chemical mixtures, including cosmetics, soaps and their ingredients.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has released details of its plan to create a centralised registry for emissions trading permits by January 2013, and security will be a paramount consideration. Earlier this year, security controls were reviewed in existing national registries after a major theft of data from the Czech Republic’s register.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

SUGAR has been at the centre of continuing concern about fraud draining European Union (EU) budgets of duty revenue. The latest operational report from EU anti-fraud unit OLAF (which reviewed 2009) recalled how fraudsters made millions of Euros from exporting 3,400 tonnes of sugar from the EU to neighbouring non-member state Croatia via the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.…

BY WANG FANGQING

CHINA’S leading brewer Tsingtao has launched a premium beer – Yi Pin, telling just-drinks that it will be trialled in China’s domestic market. "It will be only available in high-end restaurants," said a Qingdao-based spokesperson, targeting urban elites.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN chemical industry federation CEFIC has called for a review of administration under European Union (EU) chemical control system REACH to help small-and-medium-sized paint and other chemical companies (SMEs) deal with its burden. As the first key REACH chemical deadline of November 30 approaches, CEFIC director general Hubert Mandery said REACH costs hit smaller firms hard, especially for the oncoming two REACH registrations, involving smaller tonnages of chemicals.…

By Emma Jackson

Researchers say they have secured the future of Europe’s huge volumes of digital data, having created an open source software that will protect digital data from becoming unreadable or unusable because it is incompatible with newer technologies. This has been developed by the European Union (EU)-funded CASPAR (Cultural, Artistic and Scientific knowledge for Preservation, Access and Retrieval) programme.…

BY MONIKA HANLEY, ZLATKO ?ONKA?, CRISTINA MUNTEAN, KEITH NUTHALL

CAR prices in eastern and central Europe tumbled during the recession, significantly faster than in western Europe according to the latest data, impeding attempts to create a unified auto market that spans Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A HYDROGEN fuel-cell powered aeroplane has successfully completed test flights from Reggio Emilia airport, Italy, establishing new speed and endurance records for electric-powered planes. The Czech-built Rapid 200-FC aircraft used a 20kW PEM fuel cell and a 20kW Li-Po battery, funded by the international ENFICA-FC research project.…

BY ALAN OSBORN and CRISTINA MUNTEAN

A SLEW of new European Union (EU) regulations laying down the precise conditions for road transport cabotage operations in the EU came into effect on May 14, and there are hopes they will encourage high quality and competitive haulage for materials.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A NEW European Union (EU) body coordinating around Euro EUR1 billion in food-related research from 20 European countries has started work. The ‘scientific advisory board for the EU joint programming initiative (JPI) on agriculture, food security and climate change’ will plan and manage national food industry research securing future supplies and reducing climate emissions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) may be legally a single market, food prices range widely across its 27 member states. The most recent survey of 500 comparable products by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency, shows last year (2009) the price of a comparable basket of food and non-alcoholic beverages was more than twice as high in the most expensive EU country than the cheapest.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE LATEST major food product promotion programme financed by the European Union (EU) is focusing heavily on healthy foodstuffs – with organic, fruit and vegetable products getting the lion’s share. The European Commission has approved 19 one-to-three year publicity programmes in 14 member states (Austria, Belgium, Britain, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain) which will promote sales in the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRITISH and German customs and police officers have arrested 47 suspects in an alleged carousel fraud network exploiting the European Union’s (EU) emissions trading regime. UK authorities arrested 22; there were 25 arrests in Germany. Police in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Portugal, plus non-EU Norway have assisted inquiries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE ROLL-OUT of the European eCall in-car emergency system is approaching critical mass with 20 countries now committed to operating its supporting infrastructure. The European Commission today announced another five countries were implementing eCall services – Belgium, Denmark, Luxemburg, Malta and Romania.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

IN a month highlighting that many European Union (EU) countries are living beyond their financial means, it was timely perhaps for the European Commission to note that member states also have unsustainable water policies.

In short, many EU governments are failing to prevent the abstraction of fresh water at rates exceeding nature’s ability to replenish supplies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

OFFICIALS from the European Union’s (EU) anti-fraud unit OLAF have revealed to just-drinks how an international EU customs operation seized 6,400 litres of counterfeit and smuggled alcohol. OLAF said the Matthew II operation was organised by the Czech Republic, working closely with Poland and OLAF: all EU countries were invited to participate.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

OFFICIALS from the European Union’s (EU) anti-fraud unit OLAF have revealed to just-drinks how an international EU customs operation seized counterfeit and smuggled coats and scarves. OLAF said the Matthew II operation was organised by the Czech Republic, working closely with Poland and OLAF: all EU countries were invited to participate.…

BY MARK ROWE and KEITH NUTHALL

THE RUSSIAN government is welcoming anticipated talks with the European Union (EU) to negotiate a nuclear partnership agreement that would facilitate nuclear trade and exchange of knowledge on safety issues. The EU’s executive arm, the European Commission was given a mandate to begin talks just before Christmas, and the new college of commissioners taking office for five years this month (February) will be responsible for moving the process forward.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE NEXT few years are likely to see several countries accede to the European Union (EU), with significant implications for the personal care sector. Local producers of toiletries, detergents and cosmetics, as well as multinationals in a number of countries, are closely following the negotiations conducted by their governments.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AS a new European Union (EU) energy Commissioner takes office for the next five years, EU member states are stalling over a plan to inject Euro 50 billion into European energy research budgets over the next decade. The Strategic Energy Technology (SET) plan released by the previous European Commission last October would involve a massive expansion of such spending from 2013 to 2019, but national governments have signalled nervousness.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH and ALAN OSBORN

LINES are being drawn for another titanic battle in Brussels between the tobacco industry and anti-smoking activists. And the weapon of choice is lobbying.

The first phase, forcing cigarette companies to sell their product in plain, unbranded packets without logos, has already started following the 31-page document of non-binding recommendations (not a directive) published last year by the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers and which was briskly approved by the European Parliament.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CO2 emissions statistics released by the European Commission show that while British motorists are ignoring government calls to buy smaller cars, their vehicles are at least getting greener. Across the European Union (EU) the CO2 emitted by passenger cars is falling fast: looking at 2008, a report said the average specific CO2 emissions from passenger cars were 153.5g CO2/km.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A YEAR of struggle would be the best way to sum up 2009 as far as the global clothing and textile industry is concerned. The depth and severity of the worldwide recession left many clothing and textile companies reeling, even impacting upon China, which had previously been dominating global markets.…

By Keith Nuthall, International News Services

So the Treaty of Lisbon has been ratified. With the Czech Constitutional Court backing its contents as legal and a new national opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights portion of the treaty given to his country, Czech president Václav Klaus has at last signed the treaty.

It should now come into force by the end of the year. So we will see a permanent president of the European Council of Ministers (albeit probably low profile Belgian prime minister Herman van Rompuy rather than pushy ex-UK PM Tony Blair); an EU foreign minister; and more power for the European Parliament.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

MINIMUM excise duty rates on tobacco products across the European Union (EU) are rising and at such rates that demand will almost certainly be depressed in many EU member states. The impact will be especially marked in eastern Europe, where governments have been given additional time to implement hikes in excise duty.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A MAJOR European research project is to spend Euro 44 million on developing tiny components to help electric vehicles improve their performance, so that they can better compete with models powered with liquid fuels. The Fiat and Audi-backed E3CAR (Energy efficient electrical car) project will especially focus on emerging nanotechnologies as its researchers aim to boost electric cars’ often less than stellar driving abilities.…

By David Haworth, in Brussels

Next Monday, (19/10) Mrs. Catherine Day will deliver the most important speech of her life.

Who is she, you’ll probably ask. Indeed, for someone of immense influence this tall, blond middle-aged Irishwoman is a reclusive figure, shy – not writing very much, still less seeking out audiences.

But, as the secretary general of the European Commission, the lady is the power behind Commission president José Manuel Barroso’s throne.

She is the institution’s leaderene though hiding behind the good manners and discretion of a classic civil servant. Catherine Day is seldom heard and rarely seen.

In a few days, however, she will stand before a huge audience of colleagues to explain to them how the clumsily-titled ‘external action service’ is to be developed and how it will affect their working lives.…

By David Haworth, in Brussels

Next Monday, (19/10) Mrs. Catherine Day will deliver the most important speech of her life.

Who is she, you’ll probably ask. Indeed, for someone of immense influence this tall, blond middle-aged Irishwoman is a reclusive figure, shy – not writing very much, still less seeking out audiences.

But, as the secretary general of the European Commission, the lady is the power behind Commission president José Manuel Barroso’s throne.

She is the institution’s leaderene though hiding behind the good manners and discretion of a classic civil servant. Catherine Day is seldom heard and rarely seen.

In a few days, however, she will stand before a huge audience of colleagues to explain to them how the clumsily-titled ‘external action service’ is to be developed and how it will affect their working lives.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced geographical indication protection for a Czech beer ‘B?eznický le?ák’. It means any beer bearing the name sold in the European Union (EU) must henceforth be made traditionally and in its home region. Currently brewed by Czech company Pivovar Herold B?eznice,…

By David Haworth, in Brussels

By the time you read this, Ireland’s second attempt to ratify the Lisbon Treaty may have succeeded and thunderous pieties about the nation’s wisdom, maturity and farsightedness in reaching the “right” decision will be heard in all the continent’s chancelleries.

Thus the only European Union (EU) member to hold a referendum on this agreement will have been punched to the canvas by fear (the devastating recession) and loathing (the EU institutions and other capitals).

True, the Treaty’s legislative journey is not yet over.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

THE EUROPEAN Commission has ordered 18 European Union (EU) member states to collectively repay Euro 214.6 million in misspent food production funding. France owes Euro 71 million for weak on-the-spot checks regarding environmental and animal welfare standards, ensuring ‘cross compliance’ commitments made by producers are followed.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

A NEW crisis over the presence of genetically modified (GM) ingredients in food and livestock feed has once more focused attention on the European Union’s (EU’s) controversial GM policies. It has especially raised the spectre of job losses, farm bankruptcies and higher consumer prices if a relaxation of the current de facto zero tolerance restriction applying to unauthorised GM products is not agreed soon.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

GIVEN contract packing is often undertaken by larger businesses and of course, packers usually welcome economies of scale, cross-border trades within the European Union (EU) is commonplace within Europe.

And as a result, naturally, keeping on top of EU legislation is essential for contract packing clients and suppliers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) and Canada are about to embark on detailed negotiations to upgrade their existing long-standing nuclear cooperation agreement. A key aim of the talks, European Commission and Canadian officials told World Nuclear News, was the authorisation of widespread nuclear technology transfers between the EU and Canada, which are currently tightly restricted.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Union (EU)-funded research project is trying to outmode traditional stamping of auto structure parts by integrating three new formation techniques in a seamless production system.

The Euro 6 million PROFORM project participants aim to unveil its technology at a conference next year.…

BY ANDREW CAVE

Food commodity prices are seldom out of the news nowadays, due to a mushrooming global population, the food-for-fuel controversy, an increasing focus on sustainability and the continued growth of the organic sector. However, beyond the generality of crop prices spiralling to new highs in 2007 and 2008 and then plummeting – in some cases – back to where they were before the boom, the picture is far from uniform.…

By Keith Nuthall, International News Services

This week, a small proportion of Europe’s electors (maybe less than 30%) will drift over to their polling station to do their European Union (EU) civic duty and vote for a European Parliament representative. That the proportion of EU citizens undertaking this easy task has dwindled is testimony to the failure of the parliament to do its job: to exercise power on behalf of the majority of the EU population.

Because, at the risk of sounding patronising, isn’t the point of participating in elections to win, and then use the levers of authority offered in a political system to shape society, the economy and culture?

And European Parliament elections just don’t deliver this.…

BY MARK ROWE

The expansion of the European Union (EU) continues eastwards – and the food and drink industry of the existing EU will inevitably be affected by the new competition, as will companies in the new member countries.

The next few years are likely to see several countries accede to the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN dairy sector will be disappointed by the failure of the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers for agriculture (22-6) today not to restrict dairy quotas. Speaking after the meeting in Luxembourg, EU agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said this year EU dairy production had not exceeded existing quotas – but there had been an April production spike, which the Commission was investigating.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is to launch an inquiry into the digitalisation of millions of books by Google, without the permission of their rights holders, to see whether the European Union (EU) should protect authors and publishers.

This follows a request made yesterday (28-3) by the EU Council of Ministers meeting in Brussels.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A REVISED food and drink trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and Switzerland will provide wines and spirits from the 12 countries joining the EU since 2004 with key geographical indication protection in key Swiss export markets.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE FINAL shape of the European Union’s (EU) third energy packaging and its varied options on unbundling has generated concern, especially amongst acolytes of full scale liberalisation. The debates over this legislation have pitted countries such as France, with a mercantilist approach that a borderless market is an opportunity for local, especially large, companies; and liberalisers such as the Dutch and the British seeing the union as a massive market in which the fittest thrive, from whatever country.…

BY MARTINA MARE?KOVÁ

V?RA Klime?ová, 33, a registered nurse at the University Hospital Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, in eastern Bohemia, the Czech Republic, offers an insightful look at her country’s nursing profession.

Her hospital has a pleasant environment and even if it does not suffer from the same nursing shortages like many other hospitals in the country, its staff admits that the Czech healthcare system has serious flaws.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

DOCUMENTS released by European Union (EU) heads of government detailing their approval of a Euro 3.9 billion in EU spending on energy investment projects includes a commitment to spend Euro 200 million on the Nabucco gas pipeline within Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany and Romania.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE DELICATE state of European Union (EU) and Russia diplomatic and energy relations has been illustrated starkly by the inclusion of eastern European gas interconnection projects within the European economic stimulus package. National governments of these new EU member states threatened to torpedo the entire agreement – seen as the lynchpin of European efforts to shake off the recession – if their gas schemes were not included.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, LEAH GERMAIN and MONICA DOBIE

MAYBE the best sign that renewable energies have hit the mainstream is that they now have their very own international organisation: the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Launched in Bonn, Germany, this January, with the support of 76 countries, including its host nation, Spain, Italy, France and Sweden, the roster of signatory nations has since been swollen by India and Belarus.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE AIRPORTS of Norway and Iceland are well suited to dealing with the impact of border-free travel with each other and many member states of the European Union (EU), having joined the EU’s frontierless Schengen-zone in 1999, abolished all border checks for travel to member countries in December 2001.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE DEPENDENCE of the European Union (EU) on imports to meet oil supply needs will rise to 95% by 2030, a European Parliament report has claimed. This will expose the EU to strategic dangers through buying oil from unstable or potentially hostile countries in the Middle East and from Russia, it warned.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CONCERN over the collapse of global recycling markets for plastics and other materials has been stressed by the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers for the environment. It backed a report supplied by the EU’s current Czech presidency, and released a communiqué where ministers "noted the need for short- and long-term measures" to deal with the problem.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN END could be drawing near to the long debate over the extent to which major European gas and electricity companies should unbundle their production and distribution. A delegation of European Parliament members and the Czech presidency of the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers have struck a detailed compromise deal.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers are pushing for more flexibility over plans to insist that existing large combustion plants (including power plants) follow current Best Available Techniques (BAT) on pollution by 2016. The move would come in planned reforms to the EU’s integrated pollution control and prevention directive (also known as the industrial emissions directive).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) heads of government have approved Euro 3.9 billion in EU spending on energy investment projects, after they finally finished wrangling over the detail of this keystone of their economic stimulus package.

As expected, the final programme has more projects in southern and eastern Europe than in previous drafts.…

BY MARK ROWE, ALAN OSBORN, CRISTINA MUNTEAN and KEITH NUTHALL

BRITAIN has long been something of a laggard when it comes to district heating. The only significant growth was mainly oil-fired network in local authority housing during the 1960s and 70s.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, EMMA JACKSON and ALAN OSBORN

FEW things say more about the growing enthusiasm for nuclear power than the rush of young students eager to make a career in the industry. It is happening mainly in America but other countries are now beginning to see the same development.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, EMMA JACKSON and ALAN OSBORN

IN the early 1990s the nuclear power industry faced a bleak outlook. High profile accidents such as in Chernobyl and Three Mile Island in, Pennsylvania, the USA, had raised public concern about the safety of the industry to all time high.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

SENIOR Brussels diplomats have been told to revise the proposed Euro 5 billion energy infrastructure building plan drafted by the European Commission to help kickstart Europe’s economy from its current slump.

The EU Council of Ministers (general affairs) released a communiqué saying "adjustments of certain aspects will still be necessary."…

BY MARK ROWE

AS book reading online enters the mainstream, one question that has plagued academic and cultural journals for years has re-emerged: digital obsolescence. Publishers are concerned about keeping pace with technological advances and preserving access to digital material.

No sooner, and at significant expense, is literature scanned and digitally secured in a given format, than it risks being overtaken by the latest storage versions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE PRESIDENT of the Brewers of Europe organisation Alberto da Ponte has warned of a "sharp decline in the beer market" across Europe. He told a Brussels symposium: "The recession…taken with other events, such as widespread and recently-introduced smoking bans in pubs and restaurants, is having a very negative impact."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) appears to be encouraging Czech brewery Bud?jovický Budvar to lodge a European Union (EU)-wide application for geographical indication protection for their beer. In a preliminary ruling, ECJ advocate general Dámaso Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer said a previous bilateral agreement between Austria and the former Czechoslovakia which said beers called ‘Bud’ must be Czech may offer no protection, unless Budvar also applied for EU-wide protection: "A name…which has not been notified to the Commission cannot obtain protection from one or more [EU] member states independently, and is unprotected."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) could encourage Czech brewery Bud?jovický Budvar to lodge a European Union (EU)-wide application for geographical indication protection. ECJ advocate general Dámaso Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer said a previous bilateral agreement between Austria and the former Czechoslovakia saying beers called ‘Bud’ must be Czech, may offer no protection against rival Anheuser-Busch Inbev.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved a Czech regional government subsidy of Euro 11.15 million for improving facilities at the Czech Republic’s Ostrava airport, serving the country’s third largest city. The money will be spent until 2013, helping fund the acquisition of new boarding bridges, self-propelled aircraft boarding stairs, a tractor for moving aircrafts, a self-propelled baggage conveyer and a de-icing unit.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE CZECH presidency of the European Union (EU) has revealed a plan to offer subsidies to automobile consumers who want to replace their old models and buy new cars. It is the latest strand to emerge of the EU’s strategy to help the European auto industry through its current tough trading conditions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced it wants Euro 3.5 billion of the general European Union (EU) economic recovery plan it announced in November spent on energy investment. It has proposed spending Euro 1.75 billion on gas and electricity interconnection projects; Euro 500 million on offshore wind power; and Euro 1.25 billion on carbon capture and storage.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) judges have erected a barrier impeding the plans of US brewer Anheuser-Busch to trademark the word ‘Bud’ across in all EU member states. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) Court of First Instance has underlined the right of Anheuser’s Czech rival Bud?jovický…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE MAXIMUM amount of duty-free or duty-paid tobacco that can be brought into the European Union (EU) from a non-EU country without paying EU excise duty can now be reduced to just 40 cigarettes. That is an option now offered to member states, which can maintain the previous 200 cigarette limit if they choose.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE CZECH presidency of the European Union (EU) has said it will redouble its aims to push ahead with planned energy reforms to strengthen the EU’s ability to withstand the recurrence of a crisis such as the recent Russia-Ukraine gas row.…

BY CRISTINA MUNTEAN

THE SECURITY of energy supply, including oil and gas storage capacity, dominates the current energy agenda of the Czech Republic, which took over the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union (EU) from January 1, 2009.

This is no surprise: on July 10, 2008, Russian oil pipeline operator Transnieft cut monthly contracted oil deliveries by almost half from 500,000 tonnes to 300,000 tonnes via the Druzhba pipeline.…

By Alan Osborn

FEW things say more about the growing enthusiasm for nuclear power than the rush of young students eager to make a career in the industry. It is happening mainly in America but other countries are now beginning to see the same development.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AS 2009 dawns, the European Union’s (EU) renewable energy sector knows that it has truly entered the mainstream of EU utility markets, its growth being sanctioned by ambitious legislation approved before Christmas.

After more than a year of debates, the European Parliament and EU ministers have approved a new EU directive imposing mandatory national targets for the 27 member states regarding the portion of their gross final consumption of energy in 2020 coming from renewable sources.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AGREEMENT has been struck over future European Union (EU) targets for CO2 emissions from cars, with an informal deal being forged by the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers. The agreement is a compromise, with energy and automobile companies securing a phase-in between 2012 and 2015 of an agreed 120g/km target.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE POLISH government has proposed to the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers that upper and lower limits for CO2 permits within the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme should be established. Supported by the Baltic States, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, Warsaw has argued that a price floor would allow renewable energy companies to continue investing without worrying about a collapse in carbon prices: under the current ETS, prices have fallen far from expectations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE FREIGHT Transport Association (FTA) has challenged conclusions from the European Commission that the opening of Britain and other western European labour markets to workers from eastern European countries "has been positive on balance".

Brussels’ Employment in Europe 2008 report claims the influx of mobile labour from the 10 eastern European countries that have joined the EU "has not led to serious disturbances on the labour market."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

TRADITIONAL Czech beer has been added to the European Union’s (EU) geographical indication register, preventing beer makers from outside the Czech Republic using ‘?eské pivo’ (Czech beer) in their marketing.

Under the registration now approved by the European Commission, the special way that Czech beer is made is detailed – see http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2008:016:0014:0022:EN:PDF.…

BY MARK ROWE

ONE of the major elements of the 2004 enlargement of the European Union (EU) was its intended expansion to these new member states of the Schengen agreement, which phases out checks at shared borders and allows free movement for all within the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE INCOMING early 2009 European Union (EU) presidency of the Czech Republic will push hard to secure agreement over the EU’s proposed climate change package, should the current French presidency fail to broker a deal in December. Prague’s climate change envoy James Hunt (NOTE – NAME IS CORRECT – NOT CZECH) has told a Paris conference that then "the Czech presidency [would] make every effort to achieve adoption in the early months of 2009."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AS the European Commission considers simplifying its geographical indication protection system, it has launched a new database of protected quality names. Brussels last month announced plans to integrate its special register for wine and spirit traditional terms with that for other drink and food products, including beer, soft drinks and plant extract beverages.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

INTRODUCTION

About 10 years ago the American distiller JB Wagoner decided to market a fiery liquor made from the cactus-like agave plants growing in the hills on his estate at Temecula in California. He called it "temequila." It soon became known as "the American tequila," proving indistinguishable in taste, texture and effect from the well-known Mexican drink.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

UPDATED reports on illicit trafficking of nuclear materials show that the recovery of these potentially dangerous items is becoming rarer. This rate fell to 25% of all reported incidents between 2004-2007 says the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has signalled it is prepared to allow privately-run park-and-ride systems to get public subsidies, because of the environmental benefits they being. It announced it would allow Euro 6.5 million of grants to be paid by the Czech government to such a scheme in the region of St?ední…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has frozen its partnership and cooperation negotiations with Russia over the Georgia conflict, just three months after the talks were launched following long delays. An emergency meeting of the EU Council of Ministers has ordered no meetings will take place with Moscow on the agreement until its "troops have withdrawn to the positions held prior to 7 August", prior to its short war with Georgia.…

BY MARTINA MARE?KOVÁ

THE CZECH haulage industry is struggling to replace retiring drivers, and a planned government measure to ban motorway lorry driving on Friday afternoons between 3pm and 6pm could make the situation even worse.

This restriction, said Martin ?pry?ar,…

By Alan Osborn

Three young researchers, from Poland, Slovakia and Britain, were awarded the top prizes in the EU Contest for Young Scientists in Copenhagen on September 25th against competition from national scientific prize-winners from 39 European countries plus Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico, New Zealand and the USA.…

By Keith Nuthall

European academics are preparing to gather at a high level conference to discuss the problems being caused to higher education by a sharp decline in the European population. The debates at the European University Association (EUA) conference comes as the latest figures from European Union (EU) statistical agency Eurostat confirm the number of young people in European countries is already shrinking and will get smaller.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) research network Eureka has launched an innovative research project developing the plasma (ionised heated gas) treatment of textiles, which can improve their printability, adhesive properties, impermeability and absorbance. The Czech Republic’s Spolsin Spol and Sintex, are planning to work with Poland’s University Of Bilsko-Biala; and Wroclaw University Of Technology; along with the Slovak University Of Technology, in a Euro 1.14 million project lasting three years.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

FEW things say more about the growing enthusiasm for nuclear power than the rush of young students eager to make a career in the industry. It is happening mainly in America but other countries are now beginning to see the same development.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) research network Eureka has launched an innovative research project developing the plasma (ionised heated gas) treatment of textiles, which can improve their impermeability, absorbance, printability and adhesive properties, amongst other benefits. The Czech Republic’s Spolsin Spol and Sintex, are planning to work with Poland’s University Of Bilsko-Biala; and Wroclaw University Of Technology; along with the Slovak University Of Technology, in a Euro 1.14 million project lasting three years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) research network Eureka has launched an innovative research project developing the plasma (ionised heated gas) treatment of textiles, which can improve their adhesive properties, amongst other benefits. The Czech Republic’s Spolsin Spol and Sintex, are planning to work with Poland’s University Of Bilsko-Biala; and Wroclaw University Of Technology; along with the Slovak University Of Technology, in a Euro 1.14 million project lasting three years.…

By Monica Dobie

A new explosives scanner, quick to use and able to probe tiny cracks, has won a European research award. The technology has been developed in a Euro 760,000 project by the Czech Republic Academy of Sciences; the Slovak Technical University, Bratislava; Czech high-tech company RS Dynamics with Spanish engineering company SENER Ingenieria y Sistemas.…

BY MARK ROWE

FOLLOWING the extended frenzy that saw multinational companies move into eastern Europe in the 1990s and early 2000s, several markets in the region are approaching the maturity of western Europe. And while Russia lags behind in general terms, the micro-economies of Moscow and St Petersburg are similarly saturated by high-end brands and developed consumer choice and tastes.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CONSTRUCTION materials taxes, such as Britain’s aggregates tax, should be used widely to encourage the building sector to waste fewer materials, the European Environment Agency has said. In a new report, it claimed the British tax gave the construction sector confidence when purchasing materials, "since part of the levy revenues have been used to support the development of quality standards for recycled aggregates".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

ANOTHER eight traditionally made European food products have been added to the European Union’s (EU) protected geographical indication lists, preventing these foodstuffs being copied by food manufacturers based outside the regions where they are traditionally manufactured.

Three of these newly protected products are from Portugal: a special rice – ‘Arroz Carolino das Lezírias Ribatejanas’; a smoked sausage ‘Alheira de Vinhais’; and a ham ‘Presunto de Vinhais’, also known as ‘Presunto Bísaro de Vinhais’.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has moved to protect four traditionally made European food products from being copied by food manufacturers based outside the regions where they have historically been made. Brussels has added these products to its protected geographical indication lists preventing such copies being sold in the European Union (EU):

*Slovenská parenica, a steamed, lightly smoked Slovak sheep milk cheese wound into two rolls 6-8 cm in diameter and 5-8 cm high, connected in an ‘S’-shape;

*Vlaams-Brabantse tafeldruif (Belgium’s Flemish-Brabant table grape) – both white and black varieties;

*An Italian onion Cipollotto Nocerino, grown near Naples; and

*A Czech camomile Chamomilla Bohemica.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN research network EUREKA has asked for plastics firms to participate in a new project that will involve the development of new laminated multi-layer packaging materials for food. The aim, said a EUREKA note was "to design and apply new laminated packages [also incorporating non-plastics materials such as paper and aluminium] that will help to extend the shelf life of food products."…

By Alan Osborn

The 27 EU member states will have to speed up their educational progress if they are to meet a range of self-imposed targets deemed necessary if the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs is to be successful by 2010.…

By Keith Nuthall

The launch of a new Euro-Mediterranean University in Slovenia dedicated to higher education courses focused on issues of importance to European, African and Levantine countries bordering the sea has been given a formal seal of approval. The creation of the institution was welcomed within a joint declaration issued by heads of state and government from 43 countries at a Paris summit launching a Mediterranean Union organisation.…

By Keith Nuthall

It is almost a truism that women have a tougher time in most professions than men, and academia is no different. But it is worth considering the absurdity of this statement: that in the 21st century, it is still quite normal to assume that the success of an academic or student is likely to be affected by their gender.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A NEW explosives scanner, quick to use and able to probe tiny cracks, has won a European research award. The technology has been developed in a Euro 760,000 project by Czech high-tech company RS Dynamics with Spanish engineering company SENER Ingenieria y Sistemas.…

BY KARRYN CARTELLE

AUSTRALIA is currently ranked as the eighth largest market in the world – third largest within the Asia-Pacific region after Japan and Hong Kong – in terms of its total stock market capitalisation of AUD$1.63 trillion (USD$1.53 trillion) in 2007 (World Federation of Exchanges figures).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

ENVIRONMENTAL health officers think they are helping keep people fit and well by reducing pollution and food disease. But maybe the best move the cold, rheumatism and asthma sufferers of Britain can make to be healthy is emigrate to a Greek island, sunbathe (moderately) and eat fish, vegetables and olive oil.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE PLANNED acquisition by British American Tobacco (BAT) of certain roll-you-own tobacco and snus sections of Denmark’s Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni (STK) has been approved by the European Commission. To secure this agreement, BAT had to promise selling-off certain brands in Norway (notably Petterøe’s and Tiedemanns Rød), where the expanded company would have had a dominant position.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRITAIN has one of the European Union’s (EU) worst rates of salmonella contamination of slaughtered pigs, a new study from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has found. Analysing data collected from 2006 to 2007, the EU agency has concluded that 21.2% of slaughtered pigs within the UK had contracted the disease, compared to an EU-wide average of 10.3%.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

MOTORISTS who have their licences confiscated by a court cannot apply for a driving permit in a foreign European Union (EU) country, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. Judges have closed a loophole being exploited by some German drivers losing their licence in German courts: they applied for and secured a replacement in the Czech Republic, enabling them to drive again in Germany because EU member states recognise each others’ driving permits.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

LORRY drivers who have their licences confiscated by a court should not be able to apply for a driving permit in a foreign European Union (EU) country and get back to work, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has made progress in a series of legal actions against European Union (EU) utilities alleging unfair trading. Notably, Brussels has launched anti-trust inquiries involving Germany’s E.ON (and E.ON Ruhrgas) plus Gaz de France (GDF), alleging illegal trust agreements to avoid supplying gas to each other’s home market following the liberalisation of the EU markets.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN ALLIANCE of Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden have effectively blocked moves to create a European Public Prosecutor position. The European Commission has dropped draft proposals establishing the post within Eurojust, the European Union’s (EU) network of prosecution agencies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A NEW pilot initiative is aiming to make European Union (EU) national electronic public procurement systems compatible, to ease cross-border online tendering. Although EU law insists that public procurement contracts are made available to suppliers from foreign member states, making such bids can involve difficult and unfamiliar paperwork.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WITH Dmitry Medvedev becoming Russia’s new president, the European Union (EU) has been pushing ahead to secure oil and gas supplies independent of Moscow. EU energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs and external relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner met with Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey diplomats and officials to discuss gas pipeline links.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

ROAD transport has been booming in the 10 eastern and southern European countries joining the European Union (EU) in 2004. Between 1995 and 2005, traffic volumes increased by 400%, compared to 16% in longer established EU member states such as Britain, a consultants report written for the European Commission has claimed.…

BY MARK ROWE

NUCLEAR energy production costs a lot of money and so it makes some economic sense for smaller countries interested in this climate-change friendly power supply to combine forces on major projects. So it is in eastern Europe, where in February 2007, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Poland provisionally agreed to build a new nuclear plant at Lithuania’s existing Ignalina site, initially with 3,200 MWe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE BRITISH government has opposed Polish government proposals for introducing export refunds to promote European Union (EU) pigmeat sales abroad, despite recent London demonstrations by UK pork producers. Around 200 pig rearers picketed the 10 Downing Street residence of prime minister Gordon Brown earlier this month, protesting at low prices paid by supermarkets.…

BY Keith Nuthall and Monica Dobie

Universities and colleges are constantly working with business and industry to undertake commercially valuable research. University World News will regularly feature a selection of these cutting edge developments in its business pages, which we hope will inspire businesses to contact researchers carrying out this valuable work.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has been angered by the United States has been demanding additional information on air passengers flying to American airports, beyond the existing agreement between the European Union (EU) and the USA. And furthermore, the US has been making such demands through bilateral supplementary agreements with EU member states, notably with the Czech Republic, Estonia and Latvia, while deals with Lithuania, Hungary and Slovakia are under discussion.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EURO 2.58 million international research project is being organised by the European Union’s (EU) Eureka research network charged with investigating the design of new laminated packages – from paper to aluminium. Its aim is to develop by June 2010 new packs that extend shelf life of food products, said a note from Eureka.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE ANNOUNCEMENT by the UK government that it intends to build a new generation of nuclear power plants stands out, not just because of the scale of the proposals, but because it is the first such comprehensive initiative in Europe for some years.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Brussels

THE FÉDÉRATION Internationale de l’Automobile has warned road accident fatalities in 2007 rose in some European countries compared with 2006. These included the Czech Republic (up 17 %), Denmark (+33 %), Finland (+13 %), Slovenia (+12 %) and Sweden (+6%).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s economics committee has called for the European Union’s (EU) minimum rate of excise duty on diesel to be raised to that for unleaded petrol: from the current Euro 302/1,000 litres to Euro 359/1,000 litres by 2015, with Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania having until 2016.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EURO 3 million international research project is to create multi-processor micro-chips able to operate key in-car systems simultaneously, boosting their speed and efficiency. The European Union (EU) is funding Euro 2 million of the MERASA project, which includes Britain’s Rapita Systems Ltd; Honeywell in the Czech Republic; the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre; Augsburg University, Germany; and the Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse.…

BY MARK ROWE

RUSSIA’S booming economy means that those old images of grey queues for low-grade fuel to run Moskvich and other Soviet era cars are long gone. Instead, the country’s fuel retail sector has an incentive for dramatically overhauling the present state of affairs, which predominantly involves poorly established, locally run chains and Western chains fighting – sometimes unsuccessfully – for market share.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WHILE most informed people now agree it is important that greenhouse gas emissions are reduced across the global economy, the question about which methods to choose for achieving this have generated far less consensus and nowhere is this truer than with the road transport sector.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE CZECH Republic has been threatened with European Court of Justice legal action by the European Commission over Prague’s failure to accede to a EURATOM agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This covers commitments regarding the UN Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, preventing the diversion of nuclear materials and technology from the Czech Republic for producing nuclear weapons.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

RUSSIA and eastern European countries will be eager consumers of car rental and company fleet leasing services in the next few years but would-be players in these markets should know that a slew of administrative problems, supply delays and tax complications may await them.…

BY MARK ROWE, in London, JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo, and RACHEL JONES, in Caracas

PERSONAL care products – soaps, cosmetics, lotions and hair products – have always been important consumers of vegetable and animal-based oils and fats. Yet, this is a complex sub-sector of the global oils and fats industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has cleared the path to extending the so-called ‘Schengen’ borderless zone within the EU to the eight former communist countries that joined the EU in 2004. Approving reforms made to the border controls these countries have with non-EU states, the council noted that a final Schengen expansion decision could come in December.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have backed the European Commission’s move to introduce private storage aid for pigmeat to fight current low prices. Under the programme, pigmeat producers can claim EU aid when storing meat for between three and five months.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

ENVIRONMENTAL health officers may think there are a lot of smokers in the UK – in 2005, 24% of adults aged 16 or over in Britain smoked cigarettes, but spare a thought for officials in Greece – home of Europe’s keenest smokers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A PROPOSED liberalisation of European Union (EU) design rights legislation, allowing car parts makers to copy and sell spares already made by vehicle manufacturers across the EU has been accepted by the European Parliament’s legal affairs committee. It said: "The directive will allow suppliers to produce motor vehicle components which are identical to the original parts without infringing design protection."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE LEVEL of incineration and recycling of municipal waste within Britain is as low as former communist countries in eastern Europe, a new European Environment Agency (EEA) report has concluded. In an assessment the 27 European Union (EU) member states, the EEA bracketed Britain with Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.…

BY CHRIS JONES, in Paris

AUTO manufacturers in Europe are calling for greater support from national governments and European Union (EU) institutions in promoting eco-driving – where good motoring styles are adopted which reduce the greenhouse gas and other polluting emissions from vehicles.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

SPANISH wine makers will receive the most money – Euro 162 million – for improving their vineyards, in the latest tranche of European Union (EU) grants earmarked for this purpose.

The European Commission will spend Euro 510 million across the EU on viticulture reform in 2007/8, with money allotted for variety conversion, relocation of vineyards and improvements to vineyard management techniques.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE LEVEL of incineration and recycling of municipal waste within Britain is as low as former communist countries in eastern Europe, a new European Environment Agency (EEA) report has concluded. In an assessment of the contrasting waste management practices in the 27 European Union (EU) member states, the EEA bracketed Britain with Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A PROPOSED liberalisation of European Union (EU) design rights legislation, allowing lorry parts makers to copy and sell spares already made by vehicle manufacturers across the EU has been accepted by the European Parliament’s legal affairs committee. A committee communiqué said: "The directive will allow suppliers to produce motor vehicle components which are identical to the original parts without infringing design protection."…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Vienna

AUSTRIA boasts a relatively low commercial crime rate. However its position as one of Europe’s crossroads is threatening this good reputation. Today it’s geographically and politically wedged between some older and some more recent European Union (EU) member countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has censured the Czech Republic and Ireland for failing to implement key recent European Union (EU) regulations controlling the approval and testing of pharmaceuticals. The Czechs were found by the court failing to implement EU directive 2004/27/EC on the EU code relating to medicinal products for human use; and 2005/28/EC laying down principles and detailed guidelines for good clinical practice as regards investigational medicinal products for human use.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

APPALLING drinking water quality problems still pose major health hazards for some south-eastern Europe countries wanting to join the European Union (EU), the European Environment Agency’s (EEA) latest assessment of European pollution has concluded. For example, Albania’s "urban water rarely has even preliminary treatment" through "the lack of adequate…facilities and the unreliable supply of chemicals."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A CHINK of light has emerged in the perennially taut energy relations between the European Union (EU) and Russia: both sides have agreed to establish a committee to examine how a system of gas unbundling ‘reciprocity’ might work.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has secured approval for new European Union (EU) legislation that will force EU member states to improve their surveillance, monitoring and publicity regarding cases of bluetongue. With the disease rampaging across northwestern Europe, the EU’s Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health have agreed to make monitoring compulsory in all infected countries, while bluetongue-free member states must undertake "surveillance proportionate to the risk".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE BRITISH road transport sector has to play catch up with many of its European Union (EU) competitors regarding the introduction of sulphur-free fuels, a report from the European Commission has shown. It shows that as long ago as 2005, member states such as Germany, Italy and Ireland were already selling this environmentally-friendly petrol and diesel, while Britain was still selling low sulphur fuel, of between 10 and 50 parts per million sulphur content.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE NEED to limit particulate matter in Britain and continental western Europe has been underlined by the European Environment Agency’s (EEA) latest assessment of pollution in Europe. In its fourth annual environmental health check of Europe, central Asia and Asiatic Russia, the agency concluded that much of western, central and south east Europe, especially urban areas, "experience daily average PM10 concentrations in excess of 50 ?g/m3…

BY MARK ROWE

OTHER member states of the European Union (EU) may have had reservations about the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the once-exclusive EU euroclub, but such sentiments are not shared by the international cosmetics industry. With western European markets reaching a plateau of maturity, the real expansion and investment opportunities lie further east.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

Brussels

A TEAM of European and Asian researchers has linked more than 40,000 computers across 45 countries to speed studies into developing an anti-viral drug that can defeat bird flu. Funded by the European Union’s (EU) Enabling Grids for E-sciencE (EGEE) project, the computing grid is analysing the potential of more than 500,000 drug-like molecules.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) research network Eureka has developed inorganic antibacterial chemical additives that can be incorporated into polypropylene fibres, to improve the hygiene and comfort of people wearing artificial textiles. The invention has particularly been designed to help manufacturers of sports and protective clothing, and could also be used in textiles that are a mix of natural and polypropylene fibres.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRITAIN is comparatively free of particulate matter PM10 which can cause serious respiratory problems, the latest Europe-wide pollution survey from the European Environment Agency (EEA) has concluded. It said the "highest urban concentrations were observed in Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain" plus western Balkan cities, with northern Italy’s Po Valley, parts of Belgium and the Netherlands, and southern Spain being the worst affected.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has signalled it is prepared to allow national governments funnel large sums of money direct to haulage companies to finance combined transport equipment and systems. Brussels has approved as legal under European Union (EU) state aid rules an Austrian government programme, making Euro 35 million available to transport companies until 2011.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

THE MONEY Laundering Bulletin has found effects of the European Union’s (EU) second money laundering directive’s (2MLD) extension of EU anti-money laundering regulations to a range of businesses and professions are complicated by differences in the definition of the professions between the 27 member states.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) member states and the European Commission are squaring up ahead of a political battle this autumn over anticipated energy liberalisation proposals. A letter from France, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg and Slovakia has been written to the Commission stating their firm opposition to comprehensive energy unbundling in anticipated proposed European Union (EU) legislation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition by Eni of Italy of Esso Ceska and Esso Slovensko, who supply jet fuel to Prague and Bratislava airports. Acting as the European Union competition regulator, a Commission inquiry concluded it was “highly unlikely” the merged group would use its wholesale muscle to “close off supply” to retail competitors.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

LATVIA has joined the growing alliance of eastern European countries taking the European Commission to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), challenging what they regard as miserly carbon allowances within the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Riga has joined Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Estonia in opposing their allocations by Brussels for emissions between 2008 and 2012.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

DIFFERENTIALS in car prices between the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) persist, the latest showroom survey by the European Commission reveals. While prices in the UK fell by 0.3% from January to July this year, fleet managers looking for bargains would still do well to look abroad, as British prices are often well above the EU average.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

HEALTH officials have supervised the destruction of 27,528 broiler chickens at a poultry farm in the central Czech Republic, in a devastating outbreak of bird flu. Following confirmation of the disease at Norin, Usti nad Orlici, Pardubický province, movement controls were imposed on poultry farmed in the region, along with disinfection and quarantine of the birds on the affected farm.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MINIMUM excise duty rates for alcohol across the European Union (EU) look set to rise by 4.5%, with the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee yesterday (Wednesday 27/6) backing a compromise deal negotiated with EU member states by EU taxation Commissioner Lázló Kovács.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COMPREHENSIVE genetic research project aimed at reducing obesity is examining the DNA of more than 13,000 individuals to devise a long-term dietary anti-obesity plan. The European Union (EU)-funded DiOGenes (Diet, Obesity and Genes) is devising a method of predicting weight change in response to different dietary nutrients and is examining how carbohydrate and high dietary protein enhances fullness feelings.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
ONE consequence of the growing sophistication of anti-money laundering procedures at the major banks in Europe in recent years is that criminals have turned increasingly to less regulated channels such as bureaux de change and money service businesses to hide criminal proceeds.…

BY KEITH NOYAHR, in Colombo
AIRLINE operators this week reviewed security at Sri Lanka’s Katunayake International Airport (KIA) days ahead of resuming night flights – suspended for two months since air attacks by the Tamil Tigers.

Its air defence has been made fully operational while Indian experts upgraded the radar system recently after the separatist Tigers in March dropped bombs from Czech-built ZLIN Z 143 aircraft on the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) base, adjoining the airport.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COMPREHENSIVE genetic research project aimed at reducing obesity launched by the European Union (EU) is examining the DNA of more than 13,000 individuals to devise a long-term dietary anti-obesity plan in eight European countries. The EU-funded DiOGenes (Diet, Obesity and Genes) project is studying the dietary, genetic, physiological and psychological factors behind obesity, so that more sophisticated food control policies can be developed.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
ANOTHER outbreak of bird flu has been confirmed in Europe, this time on a turkey farm in the Pardubicky region, of the Czech Republic.

More than 1,800 birds are already dead on the farm containing 6,000 turkeys. Czech authorities have established a protection zone of 3 km radius and a surveillance zone of 10 km around the infected area.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

MINIMUM excise duty rates for alcohol across the European Union (EU) look set to rise by 4.5%, with the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee yesterday (Wednesday 27/6) backing a compromise deal negotiated with EU member states by EU taxation Commissioner Lázló Kovács.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

ONE consequence of the growing sophistication of anti-money laundering procedures at the major banks in Europe in recent years is that criminals have turned increasingly to less regulated channels such as bureaux de change and money service businesses to hide criminal proceeds.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A COMPREHENSIVE genetic research project aimed at reducing obesity launched by the European Union (EU) is examining the DNA of more than 13,000 individuals to devise a long-term dietary anti-obesity plan in eight European countries. The EU-funded DiOGenes (Diet, Obesity and Genes) project is studying the dietary, genetic, physiological and psychological factors behind obesity, so that more sophisticated food control policies can be developed.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

MINIMUM excise duty rates for alcohol across the European Union (EU) look set to rise by 4.5%, with the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee yesterday (Wednesday 27/6) backing a compromise deal negotiated with EU member states by EU taxation Commissioner Lázló Kovács.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

MINIMUM excise duty rates for alcohol across the European Union (EU) look set to rise by 4.5%, with the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee yesterday (Wednesday 27/6) backing a compromise deal negotiated with EU member states by EU taxation Commissioner Lázló Kovács.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MINIMUM excise duty rates for alcohol across the European Union (EU) look set to rise by 4.5%, with the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee yesterday (Wednesday 27/6) backing a compromise deal negotiated with EU member states by EU taxation Commissioner Lázló Kovács.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
GERMANY’S cigarette market in recent years has provided a classic illustration of the truth that faced by higher prices, consumers will try most things – except give up smoking. In the four years to late 2006 there were five German government-imposed excise tax and VAT increases affecting tobacco which had the combined effect of raising the price of most cigarettes by 30% o 40%.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission fined Poland was also fined Euro 7.7 million and the Czech Republic Euro 6.2 million for hoarding excess meat stocks ahead of joining the European Union (EU) in 2004, allowing them to flood European markets once tariff barriers were removed.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced heavy fines against the Polish government (Euro 7.7 million) and the Czech Republic (Euro 6.2 million) for the hoarding of excess meat stocks ahead of their countries joining the European Union (EU) in 2004.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LONGTIME sluggish continental construction market is now booming, according to European Union (EU) statistical agency Eurostat, with a year-on-year February increase in activity for the whole of the EU of 9.2%. What is especially noteworthy is that construction activity growth in the western European Eurozone was even higher – 10.4%.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States Trade Representative (USTR) has released a series of detailed reports outlining the threats posed by counterfeiters worldwide and the inability of many governments to fight the problem.

Its sheaf of intelligence includes comprehensive warnings from cigarette giant Philip Morris, a company that has adopted a high profile in fighting counterfeiters and smugglers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has unveiled further data underlining the risk to human health posed by widespread contamination of broiler chicken flocks across Europe with the pathogen salmonella. In its latest figures, which back earlier alarming data about salmonella contamination within egg production systems, EFSA said that in 2005-6, almost a quarter – 23.7% – of EU broiler (meat) flocks were contaminated with salmonella.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN AMERICAN anti-piracy group has welcomed a flood of arrests in China of cigarette counterfeiters, saying such tough action is crucial to clean up this intellectual property crime hotspot. A report from the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition has hailed figures from China’s state tobacco monopoly that more than 1,700 cigarette counterfeiters were arrested during 2006.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MAJOR American golf clothing chain has failed to secure European Union (EU)-wide trademark rights to its name, because European Court of Justice (ECJ) judges found it insufficiently distinctive. Golf USA Inc franchises more than 100 golf clothing and equipment stores in 32 US states and 11 other countries: Belgium, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, South Korea, Mexico, Spain and Sweden.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) summit has agreed a 10% binding minimum target for all 27 member states regarding the share of biofuels in overall EU transport petrol and diesel consumption by 2020. The agreement, which followed weeks of political manoeuvreing, has however been qualified in that biofuels must be “introduced in a cost-efficient way”.…

BY MARK ROWE
FOLLOWING the ‘big bang’ of European Union (EU) expansion in May 2004, when 10 countries acceded to the EU, followed by Romania and Bulgaria this year, analysts were curious to see how those new members with well-regarded drinks industries would cope in the new pan-EU family.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PHILIP Morris International (PMI) has released a detailed intelligence dossier on cigarette and other tobacco product counterfeiting, in a bid to encourage the international cooperation it deems necessary to effectively fight this crime. The report highlights 17 countries around the world where it thinks cigarette counterfeiting is a particular problem and where the cigarette company has specific advice: Latvia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Russia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Egypt, Belize, Panama, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil and Ghana.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has launched a European Union (EU)-funded Euro 725,000 research aimed at improving health standards within the food industries of Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. The studies aim to suggest ways of promoting a “new decision-making culture on food quality and safety among managers and policy makers”, for national sectors able to easily export foodstuffs to consumers in Britain and other EU countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN AMERICAN anti-piracy group has warned that the Czech Republic and Costa Rica have joined the well-known major sources of counterfeit clothing such as China and Brazil. And the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition adds that the “vast majority” of pirated clothing exported from the Czech Republic was actually made in China.…

BY MARK ROWE
EASTERN Europe, thanks mainly to the preponderance of Soviet-era facilities and Soviet-era standards of maintenance, has long been seen as a potential weak link for the nuclear power industry in safety terms. A vast group of international experts devotes time and resources to maintaining the industry’s record and the nuclear power industry has various arrangements for cooperation among utilities and internationally, among government and United Nations nuclear agencies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN AMERICAN anti-piracy group has warned that the Czech Republic and Costa Rica have joined the well-known major sources of counterfeit clothing such as China and Brazil. And in a report, the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition adds that the “vast majority” of pirated clothing exported from the Czech Republic was actually made in China.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Brussels
POLITICAL battle lines have been drawn within the European Union’s (EU) executive body over whether minimum excise duties paid on diesel should be imposed on motorists across the 27 nation bloc. The European Commission’s Laszlo Kovacs, who is the Commissioner responsible for tax policy, wants to hike tax levels to Euro 359 per 1,000 litres by 2012 and up to Euros 380 per 1,000 litres by 2014.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is catching up with the United States in innovation, a European Commission-financed statistical report has claimed, although the US still has many significant advantages. This year’s European Innovation Scoreboard (2006) concludes: “The innovation gap between the EU [minus new members Bulgaria and Romania] and Japan, and in particular with the US is decreasing.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has launched a European Union (EU)-funded Euro 725,000 research aimed at improving health standards within the food industries of Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. The studies aim to suggest ways of promoting a “new decision-making culture on food quality and safety among managers and policy makers”.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
EVER wonder how Steve Austin aka the Six Million Dollar Man was able to run at lightning speeds, jump at abnormal heights, see incredible distances and hear whispers from miles away without recharging his bionic batteries?

Personally, I do not recall Steve plugging himself in anywhere and while – as a TV goggling youngster in the 70s – I was too distracted by Mr Austin’s heroic feats to care where he got his electricity from, a new EU funded project prompted me to consider this mystery.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has launched a European Union (EU)-funded Euro 725,000 research aimed at improving health standards within the food industries of Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. The studies aim to suggest ways of promoting a “new decision-making culture on food quality and safety among managers and policy makers”.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE PARAMOUNT importance of nuclear safeguards is highlighted not just by the media spotlight when any incident occurs, but in the recognition that regular independent inspection is crucial for reinforcing the safeguard procedures of nuclear powers.

In Europe, at the level of the European Union (EU), this work is led by the EU’s Nuclear Safeguards Inspectorate.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is pushing signatories to its new Protocol on Water and Health to its Convention on Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes to agree detailed targets on improving European water quality.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MAJOR outbreak of infectious haematopoietic necrosis virus has led to 27.8 tons of farmed trout being slaughtered in the Czech Republic, the Aquatic Animals Commission (of the Office International des Épizooties – OIE – animal health organisation) has reported.…

BY ALAN OSBORN and MARK ROWE
IN the space of some five years, biofuels have grown from almost total insignificance in the European Union (EU) to becoming the only practical alternative to petrol as a fuel for motor vehicles and much else – albeit still at a very low level.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE STEEL sectors of Poland and the Czech Republic will be under a microscope wielded by the European Commission in 2007, when Brussels decides whether state aid pumped into these industries was well spent or should be paid back.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

LEGAL experts are carefully studying the decision on Monday (18-12) of the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers that Austria should continue its national bans on two generically modified maize varieties. The European Commission, which wanted the bans abolished, is considering its options, because the maize – Zea Mays L.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRITAIN and other European Union (EU) countries which have yet to adopt the Euro are to be covered by a newly extended EU programme on fighting counterfeiting of Europe’s single currency. The EU Council of Ministers has approved a renewed ‘Pericles’ programme, which will spend Euro 1 million a year from 2007 to 2013.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the takeover of Czech fuel payment management services company CCS ?eská spole?nost pro platební karty a.s. (CCS) by a US company in the same business – FleetCor Technologies Inc. The US firm currently operates in north America and in Britain through subsidiary CH Jones Holding Ltd; CCS in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has declared it will not give up on its plans to update minimum alcohol excise duty rates in the European Union (EU), despite the EU Council of Ministers failing to agree the changes yesterday (Tues).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced it will spend Euro 450 million on upgrading European Union (EU) vineyard production during 2006-7, helping EU wine producers fend off New World competitors. The money will go on varietal conversion, relocating vineyards and improving vineyard management, although not routine replanting.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN UNLIKELY alliance linking the European timber industry and environmentalists has called for caution in increasing the role of biomass in Europe’s energy mix. The Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) and the Worldwide Find for Nature (WWF) have recommended that the energy sector’s exploitation of biomass grow sustainably.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has told the Czech government it should improve radioactivity-monitoring systems installed around its Temelín nuclear power plant. Although it confirms with Euratom regulations, Brussels’ radiation department of its energy directorate general said Czech regulator SONS (state office for nuclear safety) should ensure there is full traceability for the transport of environmental samples from Temelín to government laboratories.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is moving towards supporting environment-friendly road transport, rather than dedicating resources to promoting public transport, a European Parliament debate organised by the Automobile and Society Forum, has heard. The European Commission is currently reviewing its 2001 transport white paper and its working papers have noted "disappointment" over the results of the EU’s pro-public transport policies.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

IN a long-expected move the European Commission is proposing to raise the minimum rate of excise duty on alcoholic drinks sold in the 25 EU countries by 31% in order to take account of inflation in the period since 1992 when the rates were last agreed.…

BY MARK ROWE

WHEN it came to accession to the European Union (EU) in 2004, the Baltic States were something of a special case. Though unable to compete on the same scale as their neighbours in Poland, or further south, Ukraine and the Czech Republic, the economies of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia quickly gained a reputation for being micro economic powerhouses – and the same has applied to their paint industries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

STATISTICS showing European Union (EU) laying hen flocks to be riddled with salmonella have had their effect, with the European Commission proposing a crackdown on salmonella contamination. It has laid down reduction targets for member states, with the steepest falls demanded of countries with the worst problem.…

BY MARK ROWE

WHILE personal care product sales for the 15 countries that made up the European Union (EU) before 2003, plus Switzerland and Norway, increased by just 1% in 2005/2006 on the previous year – eastern Europe is a more enticing prospect for the industry, and has been singled out by major organisations and companies as a shining light for sales, investment and production.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has asked European Union (EU) ministers to authorise until January 2011 the right of the Isle of Man and 13 foreign EU member states to levy low rates of VAT on certain building repair services.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed a crackdown on salmonella contamination, setting reduction targets for member states, with the steepest falls demanded of countries with the worst problem. So, relatively clean Britain must reduce outbreaks by 10% in 2008; the salmonella-ridden Czech Republic, by 40%.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRITAIN is expected to help lead an increase in gross production of cattle in the European Union (EU), reversing a decline in slaughtered stock and live exports that has continued since 2003, says European Union (EU) statistical agency Eurostat.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN ALARMING 20.3% of European Union (EU) laying hen poultry flocks are infected with salmonella, a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) report has warned. The Czech Republic (62.5%), Poland (55.9%), Spain (51.6%), Lithuania (50%) and Portugal (47.7%) have the most serious problems.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

NATURAL gas prices rose steeply in the European Union (EU) during 2005, a report from EU statistical agency Eurostat has confirmed: up 16% for domestic customers and 33% for industrial users. There were significant variations between member states: for instance for households, prices rose by 30% in Slovakia; 27% in Luxembourg and the Czech Republic; and 25% in Ireland, while prices remained nearly stable in Estonia and increased just 5% in Denmark and 8% in Italy.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

IN the space of less than three years the German cigarette market has gone from being Europe’s most stable, profitable and legislation-free into one beset by obstacles almost everywhere you look. In the words of an independent report just issued by the market number two British American Tobacco, the industry has "overnight….found…

BY KEITH NOYAHR, in Colombo

AIRLINE operators this week reviewed security at Sri Lanka’s Katunayake International Airport (KIA) days ahead of resuming night flights – suspended for two months since air attacks by the Tamil Tigers.

Its air defence has been made fully operational while Indian experts upgraded the radar system recently after the separatist Tigers in March dropped bombs from Czech-built ZLIN Z 143 aircraft on the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) base, adjoining the airport.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN ALARMING 20.3% of European Union (EU) laying hen poultry flocks are infected with salmonella, a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) report has warned. Britain cannot be complacent under the report, based on 2004-5 data, with 8% of flocks stricken with salmonella.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN ALARMING 20.3% of European Union (EU) laying hen poultry flocks are infected with salmonella, a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) report has warned. The Czech Republic (62.5%), Poland (55.9%), Spain (51.6%), Lithuania (50%) and Portugal (47.7%) have the most serious problems.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched legal action against five member states of the European Union (EU) to stop them imposing special technical tests and extra administration on imports of second-hand autos from other EU countries. The Commission thinks these trade barriers break constitutional obligations to trade goods across EU national borders.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched legal action against five member states of the European Union (EU) to stop them imposing restrictions on imports of second-hand autos from other EU countries. The Commission thinks these trade barriers are so serious, they break these countries’ constitutional obligations under the Treaty of European Union to allow goods and services to be provided freely and easily across EU national borders.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

A SIGNIFICANT boost in funding from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will speed the challenging switchover from ageing nuclear power stations in central and eastern Europe (CEE) to a cleaner, more efficient and more sustainable energy scene in these new and aspiring entrants to European Union (EU) membership.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

OPPOSITION is being voiced within the European Union (EU) to the growing trend of banning smoking in bars and pubs, says an opinion poll by EU pollsters Eurobarometer. While across the EU, 61% of citizens polled support these bans, there were majorities against them in significant countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FOOD, biotechnology and agriculture research projects will command budgets of Euro 1.9 billion from 2007-13 under a draft rewritten European Union (EU) seventh framework programme (FP7). Other targeted research budgets under the Euro 54.5 billion scheme proposed by the European Commission of potential relevance to the food sector include Euro 5.9 billion on health, Euro 1.8 million on environmental research, plus Euro 3.4 billion on nanotechnology, materials, and manufacturing.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

A POLITICAL struggle has broken out at the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers between EU olive oil importing and exporting countries over the current level import tariffs for the product. On one side is a group led by Sweden, supported by Britain, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Lithuania, complaining about what they call "high market prices of olive oil in the EU and low levels of stocks".…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

WIND power is Europe’s big growth area for electricity generation, according to the latest comparative figures from European Union (EU) statistical agency Eurostat, with capacity growing by 154% between 2000 and 2004. Its report noted wind power "is responsible for more than half of the new generating capacity" in these years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A POLITICAL battle is underway at the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers over whether EU import duties on unwrought aluminium should be retained or scrapped. The struggle pits Poland and eight other member states against Germany, which wants the current 6% duties retained.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has announced plans to help (Greek) Cyprus and the Czech Republic improve their water utility standards to ensure compliance with the European Union (EU) urban wastewater treatment directive. In the Czech Republic, the bank wants to funnel up to CZK 5,200 million (Euro 182 million) through the national agricultural ministry to improve rural water supply and disposal systems.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR) is paying Euro 5 million to install a dust filter at the Kostolac coal-fired power station, in eastern Serbia. Dust particles currently emitted are up to 23 times higher than allowed in the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE CZECH Republic is invoking emergency clauses in its accession agreement with the European Union (EU) to block poultry imports from other member states which have been hit by bird flu. Speaking on Radio Prague, agriculture minister Jan Mladek said his government had requested the necessary approval from the European Commission for waiving standard intra-EU free trade guarantees.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) political leaders have agreed medium-term (2007-13) budgets for crucial spending projects for the energy sector: Trans European Networks (TENs) and the EU seventh framework programme (FP7) for research. On TENs, the European Parliament, Commission, and EU Council of Ministers have agreed a Euro 7.2 billion budget, Euro 500 million above previous drafts, although this will have to be split with TENs transport projects.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

MASS production of a vaccine to fight the H5N1 bird flu strain in humans could begin within a year, after pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline launched clinical trials in Germany and Belgium.

The company is testing two vaccines: the first would be targeted at fighting a pandemic after an outbreak; the second aimed at advance inoculations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRITAIN is more enlightened over flexi-time compared with the European Union’s (EU) other large economies, say new figures released by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The EU agency says only Sweden, Finland and Latvia practice more flexi-time, although Britain does not always perform well regarding the degree of flexibility allowed by employers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has underlined its determination to forge a European Union (EU) energy policy with substance by a slew of legal actions against member states over renewables, liberalisation and biofuels. Brussels has started proceedings against Britain, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic for failing to report progress under the 2001 directive promoting renewable energy sources.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commissions rapid alert system for food and feed (RASFF) has warned of sales in the Czech Republic of Spanish fruit flavour confectionary containing excess colouring E124 and in Austria of foods containing unauthorised Indian ingredient betel nuts.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FRANCE, the Czech Republic and Poland are encouraging the European Commission to obtain sufficiently detailed data on an alleged boom in European Union apple imports to allow temporary protective safeguard duties to be erected, in line with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE ONWARD march of the Chinese economy and its cheap labour appears to be on the verge of claiming another high profile casualty: the Czech leather shoe manufacturing industry. The country that gave the world Bata shoes, and which in the inter-war years carved itself a proud niche as a highly respected manufacturer of shoes, has been overwhelmed by Asian shoe imports sold at prices with which venerable companies are unable to compete.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

RUSSIAN president Vladimir Putin has sought to shore up Russia’s damaged reputation as a reliable energy partner for eastern Europe, by suggesting Hungary take part in the Blue Stream gas pipeline project. In a visit to Budapest, Putin said Russia and Turkey were considering an extension of the Black Sea project "into south Europe, and our partners in that area have shown interests."…

BY MARK ROWE

CZECH shoemakers have warned that customers putting cost before style have left the country’s footwear industry unable to withstand an onslaught from Chinese shoe companies, despite the anti-dumping dutioes recently announced by the European Commission. According to the Czech Shoe and Leather Association, 71 million pairs of shoes were produced in the country in 1991 by an industry that employed 35,000 people: today just five million pairs a year are made by 3,000 workers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is buying a US$3 million equity investment in Lomisi Ltd, the second largest beer producer in Georgia, to help the Caucasus brewer secure permanent working capital, improve production and distribution systems, while boosting marketing.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WHEN European Union (EU) consumers think of food, more associate it with "taste" – 31%, than with "pleasure" – 29%, "hunger" – 27%, "health" – 19% and "necessity" – 15%. As usual with culturally diverse Europe, however, there were wide national variations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission’s competition directorate general has said it will launch legal action against restrictive business practices and abuses of dominant positions in European Union (EU) gas markets. In a long awaited report, it promised to act against long-term downstream contracts and restricted access to capacity on gas pipelines, storage and inter-connectors between member states.…

BY MARK ROWE

EXPORTS of Lithuanian beer rose by 51.4% in 2005, according to the Lithuanian Breweries Association, to 1.518 million dekalitres – exceeding the combined volumes of the neighbouring Estonian and Latvian beer markets. Domestic consumption was more modest but still saw a healthy growth of 4.5% – though according to a spokesman for brewer Gubernija, the domestic market is loyal, with up to 97% of the domestic market divided between Lithuanian breweries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

The Austrian presidency of the EU is calling for a negotiated solution to the Russia /Moldova natural gas dispute reflecting deepening concern in Brussels about Europe’s increasing dependence on potentially unreliable outside energy sources. Russia supplies a third of the EU’s gas imports (a fifth of all gas used in the EU) with Germany, Italy and France the main buyers, though a number of EU countries are critically dependent on supplies sent by the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom through the Ukrainian pipeline: 100% for Slovakia, for instance, 92% for Greece and between 60 and 75% for the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Austria.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) advocate general has said European Union (EU) victims whose property is damaged by a foreign EU nuclear power operator should launch legal actions in their domestic courts. Miguel Poiares Maduro has advised the ECJ to rule that the 1968 Brussels Convention on jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, effectively allows aggrieved property owners to choose between their home courts and those of a nuclear plant: "Both courts should….claim…

BY MARK ROWE
IN times of conflict, cultural property, such as archaeological sites, works of art, museums and monuments, can also suffer grievously at the hands of opposing military and guerrilla forces. In recognition of this, such objects are accorded protection by the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved a planned payment by the Czech government of Euro 74 million to its coal industry, because it will cover liabilities arising from the closure of mines in the national sector, rather than operating remaining production.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the acquisition of joint control of seafood firm Nordsee, of Germany, by a consortium involving the UK subsidiary of Japanese investment bank Nomura, a private investor Mr Heiner Kamps, and TML-Invest, of Switzerland, (owned by German food company the Müller Group).…

Keith Nuthall
A HEALTHY-DOSE of Nordic culture has been prescribed by the world’ premier anti-corruption organisation Transparency International, which has again hailed northern Europe as the region most free of graft, bribes and kickbacks. Such financial crime is rarest in Iceland, says the 2005 corruption rankings from the German group, with Finland and New Zealand tying at second place, Denmark, fourth, Sweden sixth, and Norway eighth.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CRITICS of European political institutions have sometimes been unkind about the Council of Europe, which has been accused of being a powerless talking shop. And although the Council lacks the power to fine and cajole member governments enjoyed by the European Union (EU) – from which it is completely independent – it has some important roles.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE CZECH Republic has been urged to improve its energy efficiency record, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) pointing out energy intensity fell just 17% from 1990 to 2002, compared with 23% in Hungary, 27% in Slovakia and 39% in Poland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DUTCH cigarette wholesale trader hit by an illegal diversion of cargo involving corrupt customs officers should pay 2.2 million Dutch guilders customs debts (Euro 1 million), the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) Court of First Instance has ruled.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COMPREHENSIVE report on the behaviour of European Union (EU) consumers has shown that Britain’s recent deflation of prices in retail clothing is far from typical, with only six other member states in the 25-country bloc having the same experience.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
IN both the Austrian and Swiss paint industries the European Union’s (EU) chemicals policy, and in particular next year’s introduction of the regulatory framework known as REACH, hang like a grim cloud over the near to mid term future.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) tobacco-advertising ban came into force on Sunday (July 31), prohibiting adverts in most print publications, radio and the Internet, although some countries – notably Germany – have not implemented the law. The 2003 tobacco-advertising directive would be, claimed EU health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou “one of the most effective ways of reducing smoking”.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission is pressing ahead with legal action against Sweden and the Czech Republic over their failure to comply with the European Union’s (EU) insurance winding-up directive, as its officials consider whether Britain has now finally complied with its terms.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) tobacco-advertising ban may have come into force on July 31, but it yet to be implemented in nine out of the 25 EU member states, the European Commission has admitted. Germany, Spain, Luxembourg, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Greece, Slovenia, Cyprus and Hungary have not notified Brussels with corresponding national prohibitions.…

BY MARK ROWE
IT is difficult to separate the present-day Czech paint industry from the industrial heritage of the country. While the rest of the world made jokes about Skoda cars during the Communist era, the Czechs fumed as they saw a once great engineering industry reduced to a laughing stock.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission says “further efforts are still needed” to guarantee the future of privatised Polish steel producer Polskie Huty Stali. Assessing the Poland’s and the Czech Republic’s steel industries, it said “the Polish industry continues to show delays, sometimes significant, especially in relation to investments, which (for) some companies could affect their future viability (in) a significant market slowdown”.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A METHOD of eliminating polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and furans from hazardous waste and hospital incinerators is being developed by European research network Eureka. Coordinated by Czech firm SMS Cz Spol, the system uses chemically treated “active coal” as an inert filter absorbent for intercepting harmful emissions using the dry NEUTREC method.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FRENCH government has adopted delaying tactics in its opposition to a proposed European Union (EU) directive establishing welfare rules for broiler chickens, calling for additional studies into the legislation. It asked the EU Council of Ministers to refer a European Commission impact study on the directive to the council’s special agriculture committee.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
A RECENT USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) report has found many online pharmacies declaring they are based in Canada, selling cheap drugs under local liberal medicine sales laws, are actually based in the US or outside North America, in Vietnam and the Czech Republic, for instance.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
A RECENT USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) report has found many online pharmacies declaring they are based in Canada, selling cheap drugs under local liberal medicine sales laws, are actually based in the US or outside North America, in Vietnam and the Czech Republic, for instance.…

BY MARK ROWE
CAN insurers help reduce risk by funding initiatives for the emergency services? Companies are increasingly looking at how they can support emergency services and, thereby, lessen the impact of insurance claims. The thinking is by helping to improve the efficiency of emergency services, the impact of natural and manmade disasters, including terrorism, can be mitigated in terms of people making insurance claims.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NETHERLANDS, Greece and Poland have come under legal pressure from the European Commission to reform their car taxation rules so that it is easier to move vehicles around the European Union (EU). It has sent their governments formal requests to reform their systems, which – if ignored – could lead to a referral to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
LEGAL action is being taken by the European Commission to force Sweden, Austria and the Czech Republic to implement European Union (EU) accounting rules regarding public spending. Brussels is particularly vexed with Sweden, sending it a formal complaint it has flouted a 2004 European Court of Justice (ECJ) order to properly implement directive 2000/52/EC on transparent relations between governments and other public bodies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved regional aid of Euro 5 million from the Czech government to Lignit Hodonín, which operates the Czech Republic’s last remaining lignite mine, to help open new lignite deposits, protecting 350 jobs. The mine had faced closure because of the working out of older lignite deposits.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is planning to lend Romania’s European Drinks Group Euro 195 million to fund a long-term investment and expansion programme. Its aim, said a bank memorandum, was to ensure the drinks and food producer changed from “a (large) family run entrepreneurial company into a well organised large corporate”.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has conditionally approved the greenhouse gas pollution allocation plan of Poland and the Czech Republic, leaving the European Union (EU) just two countries shy of approving all national components of its emissions trading scheme. Now only Greece and Italy await approval.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WORKING hours in Britain exceed those in most new European Union (EU) member states from eastern and southern Europe says a report showing how western Europe workers generally work fewer hours. Britain’s usual weekly work hours, said the European Industrial Relations Observatory are 43.1, only exceeded in the expanded EU by Latvia’s 43.3.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has accused nine European Union (EU) governments of dragging their feet over promoting biofuels in their countries. It has sent critical formal notices to Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland and Slovenia accusing them of failing to submit national reports framing 2005 targets for biofuel consumption, as required under the Biofuels Directive.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE NETHERLANDS government has shown how rich countries can fulfil their Kyoto Protocol commitments by promoting the overseas development of efficient green energy production, claimed the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The Dutch are funding a Euro 5 million conversion of a Bulgarian paper mill from generating energy via oil and gas to biomass via the EBRD-managed Euro 32 million Netherlands Emissions Reduction Co-operation Fund.…

Keith Nuthall
BRITISH taxation inched up from 2002 to 2003, but according to the latest comparative European Union (EU)-wide figures, the UK still has one of the lowest European tax burdens. As a proportion of GDP, Britain’s total taxes were 37.1% in 2003, compared with 37% in 2002, up from 36.7% in 1995, before the accession to power of the Labour government.…

KEITH NUTHALL
On the basis of existing policies and measures alone, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Sweden and the United Kingdom should reach their individual targets. The Netherlands and Luxembourg will achieve their targets with the help of credits from the project-based mechanisms.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched an in-depth inquiry into whether the Czech Republic paid illegal state aid to Czech steel producer Trinecké ?elezárny (TZ). Brussels will investigate whether the Czech government paid the proper market rate when it purchased in April a 10.54% stake in steel company ISPAT Nova Hut from TZ.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ECSTASY has become Britain’s number two illicit drug, overtaking amphetamines, warns a new European Union (EU) narcotics report alerting public health professional across Europe to increasing abuse of most recreational drugs. The best news highlighted by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) is that heroin use and new HIV infections are falling in western Europe, although they are increasing in many eastern European countries, such as the Baltic States.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is largely on track for a timely start to its emissions trading system on January 1, with the unconditional approval in late October of six more CO2 emission allocation plans, from Belgium, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Portugal.…

Keith Nuthall
AMERICAN newspapers are reporting that the United States has been rebuffed on a World Trade Organisation (WTO) case focusing on the Budweiser brand battle. Washington has been trying to get European Union (EU) geographical indication laws declared illegal under global intellectual property rules because they protected the use of the brand by Czech brewer Budejovický Budvar.…

BY MARK ROWE
THERE is no doubt that water quality in eastern Europe has improved immeasurably since the break up of the Soviet Union and its related satellite states, a process reinforced by the wholesale privatisation now taking place. But while standards have improved, concerns about pollution, old pipes and outdated treatment works are likely to continue.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IN the latest development of the Anheuser-Busch versus Budejovický Budvar battle, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled the Czech brewer has some protection where it had previously secured rights to the name Budweiser, and they subsequently lapsed.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is to try and pump-prime the non-life insurance sector in the growing petro-economy of Azerbaijan. The bank thinks there is potential for significant growth in this market, given that non-life and life premiums together amount to less than 1% of GDP.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SIX wine producing countries of the European Union’s (EU) intake of new member states in May have received their first allocations of EU vineyard restructuring aid. The European Commission has earmarked the largest sum to Hungary: Euro 10 million for 2004-5, followed by Slovenia at Euro 2.9 million, Slovakia 2.8 million, Cyprus nearly 2.4 million, the Czech Republic 1.7 million and Malta Euro 171,000.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WINE producing countries amongst the European Union’s (EU) intake of new member states in May have received their first allocations of EU vineyard restructuring aid. The European Commission has earmarked the largest sum to Hungary, which receives Euro 10 million for 2004-5, followed by Slovenia at Euro 2.9 million, Slovakia Euro 2.8 million, Cyprus nearly Euro 2.4 million, the Czech Republic Euro 1.7 million and Malta Euro 171,000.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN’S performance in reducing heart disease deaths could be much improved compared with many of its European Union (EU) partners, a new World Health Organisation heart disease atlas, has shown.

Dividing a country’s annual deaths from heart disease with its population, saturated fats and beer loving Britain had a comparative factor of 2, based on 120,530 deaths in 2002 amongst a population of 59 million.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH
THE FORMER Czech prime minister and would-be European Commissioner for Employment, Vladimir Spidla, was given high marks by MEPs during a three hour grilling on his suitability for the job at the European Parliament last week. He stoutly defended the European Union’s (EU) so-called left-leaning “social model” while insisting that its application should be more flexible in future.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN’S current strong performance in employing its citizens in general, and offering part-time jobs in particular, has been confirmed by a Eurostat report placing the UK above most other European countries. In a comparative study on employment rates, (rather than unemployment), the European Union (EU) statistical agency said 17.4% of Britons were in part-time employment, a larger proportion than in any other EU country, except in the Netherlands, where it is 32.8%.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DETAILS of the expansion in European Union (EU) import quotas for Kazakhstan steel products because of May’s enlargement of the EU by 10 new member countries have been released by the European Commission. The central Asian republic had a pre-existing steel trade deal with Brussels, guaranteeing its access to EU markets for a range of products.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE LEGAL web being cast by the European Union (EU) in the fight against money laundering is being tightened still further. A third directive has now been proposed by the European Commission that, among other things, will broaden the definition of money laundering to include not only the concealment or disguise of the proceeds of serious crimes but also the financing of terrorism with either criminal or legally acquired money.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE KEY European Commissioner for Europe’s personnel managers over the next four years will be the Czech Republic’s Vladimir ?pidla, who will become the new European Union (EU) commissioner for employment, social affairs and equal opportunities. Replacing current stand in commissioner Stavros Dimas, of Greece, (who has taken over temporarily from fellow Greek Anna Diamontopoulou), ?pidla…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NATIONAL work accident statistics are keenly examined by occupational health practitioners, but they do not enable the safety of British workplaces to be compared against other European countries; that is where Eurostat, the European Union’s (EU) statistical agency comes in.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONFIDENCE in the durability of public health systems is not high amongst continental Europeans, a new Swedish report has claimed. Without reform 81% of 8,000 citizens in seven European Union (EU) member countries fear that the quality of their healthcare will decline or stagnate.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ANTI-DUMPING duties imposed since 1997 on certain seamless pipes and tubes of iron or non-alloy steel from Russia and Romania will probably be suspended because of concerns they were based on corrupted data. The European Commission has said their founding calculations could have been influenced by two cartels, (an European Union (EU)-Japan and a purely European network), that were formally unmasked last year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN’S tax burden as a proportion of GDP fell sharply in 2002 to 35.8% from 37.3% in 2001, confirming the UK as among the lightest taxed jurisdictions in the European Union (EU). The contrast is especially marked with its key competitors Germany (40.2% in 2002), France (44.2%), and Italy (41.7%), according to the latest available comparative figures from EU statistical agency Eurostat.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has moved towards creating an effective cross-border gas market in the newly expanded EU, striking political agreement over a regulation on gas networks. It harmonises the conditions for accessing gas transmission infrastructure, specifying third party access, rules on capacity allocation, congestion management and the release of transmission information required for gas providers to use foreign systems.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
REQUIREMENTS on national telecommunications regulators within the European Union (EU) to analyse a list of specific markets to see if controls are required on a dominant operator are to be frozen for 18 months. The European Commission had been due to review this so-called ‘ex ante’ recommendation last month, but has postponed this until December 2005.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WITHIN the newly expanded European Union (EU), Poland is the cheapest country in which to buy a car, although under current trends that honour may not last long. According to the latest European Commission figures, Polish car prices are on average 9% cheaper than those in Finland, the cheapest country using the single European currency.…

BY MARK ROWE
ALCOHOL products are one of the major strengths that the new members of the recently enlarged European Union (EU) bring to its economic table. Of the 10 newcomers, six are wine-producing countries: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
Italy, the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation have suffered particularly serious thefts from museums and other cultural sites according to figures from Interpol. In a new table published by the international police organisation Italy reports a total of 18,715 thefts – far more than any other country – of which 2,875 represented liturgical objects.…

BY MARK ROWE
IT is understandable to see how the cosmetics industries in the European Union’s (EU) newest members might view the recent expansion of the EU club with mixed feelings. On the one hand, new markets have opened up: if their products are good enough to sell at home, they can now sell them from the Baltic to the Atlantic.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE HOTEL industry is Europe’s second largest source of tax evasion linked to undeclared work, a European Commission report has claimed. Only the construction industry is shier of tax collectors, (except in Germany, where – oddly – farmers and gardeners are even worse).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INVESTIGATIVE team was sent by the European Commission to the Czech Republic’s Temelin plant, to check for environmental dangers posed by the escape of three cubic metres of water from its cooling system. The Brussels team found all water was retained in a drain; radioactive material had remained inside the building and there had been no worker exposure.…

BY MARK ROWE
During the time of the Soviet Union, museums in the satellite states of Eastern Europe routinely kept short working hours, closed without notice and were all too frequently dowdy, musty and inaccessible.

With the accession of 10 new states (including eight in eastern Europe), into the European Union, the future for museums from Lithuania to Malta, and from Slovenia to Slovakia is much brighter.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT is early days, but the European Union’s (EU) Solidarity Fund, subsidising the costs of large-scale disasters, shows every likelihood of being a permanent feature of the EU risk management scene. We’re not talking small beer here; the fund paid out Euro 104.7 million last year and Euro 728 million the year before that, easing the consequences of disasters such as floods, earthquakes and forest fires.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GERMAN consortium of RWE Nukem and GNB – Gesellschaft für Nuklearbehälter has been awarded the contract for constructing a spent fuel storage facility helping the decommissioning of Bulgaria’s Kozloduy plant. The Euro 49 million contract is being financed by Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund, which is managed and administered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CZECH forestry will be a key beneficiary of a Euro 678 million rural development injection from the European Union (EU), pledged as the country settles into being a new member state. Conscious of the “traditional symbiosis” between Czech timber production and agriculture, the 2004-6 package aims at reducing farmed land whilst extending woodland areas.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is bankrolling the development of Kazakhstan’s oil and gas reserves, a key alternative supply for the European Union (EU). It wants to lend Tasbulat Ltd Euro 60 million to help develop three medium-sized oil and gas fields in Mangistau region, western Kazakhstan, producing up to 8,000 barrels/day in 2006; Tasbulat is owned by SNP Petrom, Romania’s national oil company.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EASTERN and southern European countries who joined the European Union (EU) on May 1 have been granted requested stays of execution over the implementation of common EU minimum rates for solid fuel energy taxation. The EU Council of Ministers fears sharp increases would damage these new members’ energy markets.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EASTERN and southern European countries who have now joined the European Union (EU) have been granted requested stays of execution over the implementation of common rules on energy taxation that were agreed last year for the old EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has codified and publicised the often complex set of rules controlling the migration of eastern and southern European workers from the 10 countries joining the EU on May 1. These transitional rules designed to ease the impact of their accession on the EU’s 15 established member states, have been posed online at the European Job Mobility Portal http://europa.eu.int/eures.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE 10 EASTERN and southern European countries joining the EU on May 1 are “on course” to meeting its food health standards, Brussels’ health and consumer protection Commissioner David Byrne has claimed. This masked problems however: temporary exemptions have given the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia between an additional three months and three years to ensure milk producers, slaughterhouses and food processing plants meet standards that should already have been in place.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BULGARIA has announced it will build a second nuclear power plant to replace the outdated Kozloduy power station, which the European Union (EU) insists should be closed by 2006. Construction will take place at Belene, in northern Bulgaria where work started on building a 1,000-megawatt plant in 1987, but ceased in 1991 following environmental campaigns.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
E-BUSINESS W@tch (NOTE – CORRECT SPELLING), an EU-funded monitoring organisation, is claiming that businesses in countries joining the European Union (EU) in May are embracing new Internet technologies rapidly – especially broadband – resulting in a smaller digital divide with existing members than expected.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved European Commission proposals that a Czech company breaking promises not to dump cut-priced malleable cast iron tube or pipe fittings on the EU market should have its exemption from 26.1 per cent anti-dumping duties removed.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE TRADES Union Congress (TUC) has called on the British government to spend more on the Heath and Safety Executive and local government workplace inspectors, following the release of a report from EU statistical agency Eurostat showing Britain suffering increasing rates of serious work accidents.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has moved to scotch a fresh round of so-called ‘Euro-myths’ falsely alleging that European Union (EU) legislation will ban treasured food traditions when 10 new member countries join the EU in May. Brussels officials are particularly sensitive to such stories, because of past bad publicity about – ultimately inaccurate – tales, such as EU laws insisting on straight cucumbers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE 10 EASTERN and southern European countries joining the European Union (EU) last weekend are “on course” to meeting its food health standards, Brussels’ health and consumer protection Commissioner David Byrne has claimed. His confident declaration masks some problems however, leading to temporary exemptions, giving the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia between an additional three months and three years to ensure milk producers, slaughterhouses and food processing plants meet standards that should have been in place on May 1.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has scotched rumours the accession of Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic to the European Union in May will lead to their citizens being banned from privately slaughtering pigs for home consumption. Brussels says the rule only covers pork sold commercially, branding the claim a Euro-myth, such as EU laws insisting on straight cucumbers.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
SEEN in the context of the past decade, the entry of 10 new member states to the European Union (EU) which took place on May 1 has proved nothing like the disaster for the nuclear industry that was once feared.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE 10 EASTERN and southern European countries joining the European Union (EU) last weekend are on course to meeting its food health standards, Brussels’ health and consumer protection Commissioner David Byrne has claimed. His confident declaration masks a series of problems, however, leading to many temporary exemptions and special measures, giving the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Malta, and Slovenia; the countries between three months and three years extra time to ensure slaughterhouses and food processing plants meet standards that should have been in place on May 1.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WHILST Britain’s record on serious accidents at work is declining, the factories, building sites and offices of some eastern European countries joining the European Union (EU) this weekend (May 1) are becoming safer, according to EU statistical agency Eurostat.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
RELIABLE statistics are of course vital to any insurance company’s assessment of risk, and nationally produced figures in countries such as Britain and the USA can usually be counted upon in actuarial calculations. But what about comparing countries when managing international policy portfolios?…

BY ALAN OSBORN and MARK ROWE
THE LIBERALISATION of electricity and gas supplies in the European Union (EU) was finally agreed in 2003 and will come into full effect this year for business customers and in 2007 for households and all others.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A CZECH company found to have broken promises not to dump cut-priced malleable cast iron tube or pipe fittings on the European Union (EU) market should have its exemption from existing 26.1 per cent anti-dumping duties removed, proposed the European Commission.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has raised fears that citizens of some countries joining the European Union (EU) in May could defy EU regulations because they may not all have been translated into their national language. News service Malta Media has reported concern from officials working for EU enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen that the translation of the 85,000 page ‘acquis communautaire’ was behind schedule, especially in small countries such as Malta and Estonia, where few specialist translators are available.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and ALAN OSBORN
ACCESS rights to drive across ecologically-sensitive Alpine passes in Switzerland and Austria – plus to Bulgaria and Romania – are being granted to hauliers from the 10 eastern and southern European countries joining the European Union (EU) in May.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ASSOCIATION of British Insurers (ABI) is pressing the UK Government to maintain its raised level of spending on flood defences, as it works towards its next public spending round announcement in the summer. Following the spate of disastrous floods in 2000, Whitehall in 2002 increased its annual spending on the problem by Pounds 150 million.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN has been given a relatively clean bill of health in the latest Transparency International corruption rankings, being viewed as joint-11th least-corrupt country in the world, sharing its billing with Canada and Luxembourg. Finland was the most honest place in which to do business said the pressure group’s survey, followed by Iceland and the Denmark plus New Zealand at joint third.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE FIRST step towards admitting “interspecific” vines, or hybrids, to the top wine classifications in Europe has been taken by the European Commission, which has ordered a study to see if such vines can produce quality wines to rival Bordeaux, Graves or Chianti.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has welcomed the introduction of river basin management systems of water resources in the Czech Republic, a key requirement of the European Union’s (EU) water framework directive. This legislation has proved challenging for existing EU Member States, let alone countries joining the EU in May, such as the Czech Republic.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD WIDE Fund for Nature (WWF) has warned that the eight eastern European countries joining the European Union in May are failing to exploit their potential renewable energy capacity, making it harder for some to comply with the EU’s renewable energy directive.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
RESERVE anti-dumping duties against two Romanian producers of certain seamless pipes and tubes of iron or non-alloy steel are to be re-imposed, even though they had last year been declared illegal by the European Court of Justice.

Judges had ruled last January that the European Commission made administrative errors when fixing the level of protection required for European Union (EU) producers from exports made by Petrotub SA and Republica SA.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MEAT consumption in eastern European countries joining the European Union (EU) this May generally fell by 10-20 per cent during the 1990s, falling significantly below per capita consumption in the existing EU, according to a European Commission report.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SERIES of exemptions from the European Union’s (EU) new directive imposing minimum rates of energy taxation on coal have been proposed by the European Commission for seven of the 10 eastern and southern European countries joining the EU in May.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONCERNS have been raised by eastern and central European environmental groups about the possible worsening of drinking water quality that could be caused by the construction of the planned Danube-Oder-Elbe canal. The Czech Republic’s Friends of the Earth branch is leading green groups from Germany, Austria, Poland and Slovakia in pressing the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers to avoid including the project in its priority list for funding from the trans-European transport networks (TENs) scheme.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CZECH Republic has announced that it is extending the life of its 80 per cent safeguard duty on sugar imports until December 2004, claiming that its producers would be flooded by imports (mostly from Poland and the EU), if it lifted the protection.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A RULING from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over the protracted row over the rights to the names Budweiser and Bud could weaken an attempt to prevent US-based Annheuser Busch from importing its beer into Austria. Its Czech Republic rival Budejovicky Budvar has been trying to block such imports – named ‘American Bud’ – on the grounds that a bilateral convention between Austria and the Czech Republic reserves the name “Bud” for Czech beer in Austrian markets.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Investment bank (EIB) has drawn up plans to lend Euro 270 million to the Czech airport authority CSL to design and construct a new terminal (Terminal North II) at Prague Ruzyne International Airport. The new terminal would be dedicated to flights from countries in the Schengen area bloc.…

BY MARK ROWE and KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is piling pressure on the 10 eastern and southern European countries joining the organisation next May to abolish tax laws that currently break EU regulations and directives. The EU Council of Ministers has drawn up a list of 30 tax measures deemed “harmful” to Europe’s internal market that apply in the countries planning to join the EU next year, namely Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EASTERN and southern Europe countries slated to join the European Union (EU) on May 1, 2004, have worked small wonders in recent years to set up anti-money laundering regimes, not necessarily because they believe this is good in itself but partly at least because EU entry might not be possible otherwise.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL in Paris, ALAN OSBORN in London, MARK ROWE in Singapore, ED PETERS and DON GASPER in Hong Kong, RICHARD HURST in Johannesburg, MONICA DOBIE and PHILIP FINE in Montreal, MATTHEW BRACE in Brisbane and ALEX SMAILES in Port of Spain.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ENHANCED powers, responsibilities and resources are being proposed for the new European Maritime Safety Agency to enable it to fight tanker pollution. The European Commission has proposed that it should buy or lease specialist anti-pollution vessels. It also wants its work expanded to cover maritime security and seafarer training.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THERE has been a lot of talk about water in international meetings and organisations this year. Report after report has spelt out that we are all using too much water and if reforms do not make systems more sustainable, then a thirsty future beckons.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is planning to lend Euro 24.5 million to help wood panel company Kronospan to build a standard furniture grade MDF plant in the Czech Republic. The bank wants to consolidate the Czech wood-processing sector, which it says has “traditionally been unproductive.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NON-FERROUS metal producers in the existing 15 European Union (EU) countries could see some lowering of labour costs after enlargement of the EU next year as low-paid Polish and other workers move into the higher wage countries like Germany, according to industry sources.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE GERMAN plastic container caps producer Loeffler Kunststoffwerk has announced plans to open a new plant in Russia to create greater capacity for its major clients n the region, which include Proctor & Gamble. Loeffler Kunststoffwerk, a unit of US Seaquist, will open the new plant in Vladimir, just outside Moscow, in the late autumn.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
FOR the non ferrous metals industries, the formal enlargement of the EU next May will not be an overnight sensation but rather the end of a ten-year process during which producers in eastern and central Europe have progressively adapted themselves to the western European model.…

BY MARK ROWE
IN the days of the Soviet Union, many millions of men and women had a choice of one state-manufactured brand of shampoo, toothpaste or soap. If anything, the authorities managed to limit even further access to such “indulgences” as perfume.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ITALY and Spain are living outside their means when it comes to fresh water abstraction, according to a new water report from the European Environment Agency (EEA). It brands these large European Union countries as being “water stressed,” exploiting more than 20 per cent of their annual fresh water supplies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EVERY year it seems, the international community has a pet topic in which it is fashionable to promote good behaviour, and this year the favoured cause seems to be water conservation. The World Bank, the UN Environment Programme and others have all produced weighty tomes on the need to conserve drinking water stocks.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has agreed a complicated, but flexible, set of anti-dumping duties to be levied upon certain flat rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel from Bulgaria, South Africa, Serbia & Montenegro and Taiwan; plus certain iron and steel tube and pipe fittings from Thailand, the Czech Republic, Malaysia, South Korea, Russia and Slovakia.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE INSTITUTIONS of the European Union (EU) have invited applications for about 375 lawyer posts to help meet the demands imposed by next year’s enlargement of the EU from 15 to 25 countries which will add 75 million to the EU population.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CREATION of an “audit culture” in the public administrations of the 10 eastern and southern European countries planning to join the European Union next May would help ease growing concerns in Brussels that would-be Member States are failing to meet EU financial probity standards, MEPs have heard.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NOW the arguing is over and the dye has been cast, it is time to start work on the practicalities of admitting 10 new countries to the European Union, making this long discussed enlargement work for British and western European farmers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE IMPENDING enlargement of the European Union, admitting countries that were once part of the communist eastern bloc, poses risks for the western European pharmaceutical sector, as well as benefits from the opening up of new markets, a senior industry figure has warned.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE POLISH government is launching a disputes case at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), complaining about the Czech Republic’s imposition of 50 per cent additional duties on Polish pig-meat exports. Poland says that the duty is illegally discriminatory, as they have not been imposed on imports from other countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union is granting 512 meat processing establishments in six eastern European countries additional time to bring their health standards in line with European Union law once their home states join the EU next May.

A memorandum released by the European Commission’s enlargement directorate general, says that 332 of these operations are in Poland, where the deadline for compliance has been extended to December 2007; 14 establishments in Lithuania have until January 2007.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CITIZENS of eastern and southern European countries seeking to join the European Union (EU) consider improvements to the safety of the food they eat to be the top priority of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy. Of those polled by the Eurobarometer organisation, 88 per cent cited food safety as their top priority for the CAP, rather than improving the income of their local farmers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CZECH Republic has announced that it is extending the life of its 80 per cent safeguard duty on sugar imports until December 2004, claiming that its producers would be flooded by imports (mostly from Poland and the EU), if it lifted the protection.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IF accountants want to give really useful advice to their clients that applies almost anywhere in the developed world, they should tell them to get married and have kids.

That would be the most logical conclusion that could be drawn from the latest Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) publication on tax, “Taxing Wages.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ESTABLISHMENT of special anti-fraud coordinators in all eastern and southern European countries applying to join the European Union (EU) has been welcomed by OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud office.

In a memorandum on the fight against fraud in an enlarged EU, OLAF said: “By putting Anti Fraud Co-ordinating Service offices in place, the candidate countries have demonstrated in concrete terms their commitment to fighting fraud.…

BY MARK ROWE and ALAN OSBORN, in London, PHILIP FINE and MONICA DOBIE, in Montreal, and RICHARD HURST, in Johannesburg

RATCHETING up security has been a prime concern of the nuclear industry since the September 11 attacks, with all countries possessing commercial reactors addressing the issue to some extent.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE MOST important driver of reform in the institutions of the European Union today is the impending enlargement of the EU eastwards, to take in (Greek) Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has abandoned a review of European Union (EU) anti-dumping duties imposed on imports of threaded malleable cast-iron tube or pipe fittings from Brazil, the Czech Republic, Japan, China, South Korea and Thailand, after affected exporters failed to assist Brussels its investigators.…

BY PHILIP FINE

CZECH brewer Budejovicky Budvar can call its beer ‘Budweiser’ in Hungary but it cannot call it ‘Bud’. That was the message given to the Czechs by the Hungarian Patent Office in the latest chapter in a battle between the state-owned brewery and American brewer Anheuser-Busch.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE FLOODS in central Europe last August and September took a tragic toll of lives, disrupted local economies and devastated numerous museums with the irretrievable loss of cultural artefacts. In Dresden, the worst hit city, thousands of artworks had to be moved when both the Zwinger Palace, site of one of Europe’s great art museums, and the Albertinum Museum became victims of rising floodwater.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MALE-MENOPAUSE ridden men buying powerful motorcycles that they cannot ride properly is one of two reasons for a levelling off in a 10-year decline in road accidents in rich countries, an OECD report claims. The other problem is an increase in illicit drug use by drivers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DOUBLE checking systems introduced by the European Union to police steel trade systems struck with eastern European countries who now want to become Member States are to be indefinitely extended. The European Commission has proposed that these monitoring systems be maintained in place to guard against illicit steel exports from the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland and Slovakia until they are finally accepted as formal members of the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union and its allies at the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) negotiations over the creation of a global register for protected geographical indications in the wine and spirit trade have made a significant concession, which may be the basis for a future deal.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union and its allies at the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) negotiations over the creation of a global register for protected geographical indications in the wine and spirit trade have made a significant concession, which may be the basis for a future deal.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have formally approved the creation of an EU Solidarity Fund, helping Member States deal quickly with the effects of natural and man-made disasters; its funds will be mobilised immediately to assist regions affected by the floods of August and September 2002, which should help reduce the burden that has to be met by insurance companies.…

KEITH NUTHALL
INNOVATION is important in the provision of water services, whether that be to prevent the contamination of supplies by a return of this summer’s floods, or to source drinking water for arid areas where ground reserves are running dry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have formally approved the creation of an EU Solidarity Fund, helping Member States deal quickly with the effects of natural and man-made disasters; its funds will be mobilised immediately to assist regions affected by the floods of August and September 2002.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Road Transport Union (IRU) has called on the European Union (EU) to take precautions in preparation for the admission of new Member States from the east, to make sure the EU road haulage market is not flooded with cut-priced cowboy hauliers from these former communist countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed the creation of a central European Union aid fund commanding between Euro 500,000 and Euro 1 billion, which could be raided by Member States and eastern European countries wanting to join the EU that fall victim to natural disasters.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union ministers have been asked to impose definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of certain welded tubes and pipes, or iron or non-alloy steel from Czech Republic, Poland, Thailand, Turkey and the Ukraine. The proposal follows the imposition of provisional duties in March.…

Keith Nuthall
INSURANCE companies will be able to reduce their exposure to natural and technological disasters within the European Union and eastern Europe in the future, assuming EU ministers agree plans to establish a central contingency emergency aid fund commanding between Euro 500,000 and Euro 1 billion; it would be raided by Member States and eastern European countries wanting to join the EU that fall victim to such disasters.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CZECH Republic’s Ministry of Industry and Trade has launched an investigation, which is expected to lead it to imposing temporary safeguard duties on a range of flat non-alloy steel and iron products, as well as bars, rods, angles, shapes, tubes and pipes.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has taken an important step towards giving EU water legislation more teeth, by moving against Belgium’s system of “tacit approvals” of pollution. Belgian law allows companies to assume that they have a right to pollute if they make an application to regulators and then receive no reply.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IN unkind moments, critics of the insurance industry might say that the sector revels in misfortune, making money out of pessimism and encouraging its clients to prepare for the worst. Of course, like most unconditional statements about business, the truth is far off and is a lot more murky.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
WORK is a lot more dangerous and unhealthy in the countries that will join the European Union in 2004 and later, than it is in the existing EU. A study by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions finds there is “nearly double the risk to health and safety at work in the candidate countries.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CZECH Republic has warned it may impose temporary safeguard duties on cocoa powder imports, which it claims boomed following its imposition last year of protective duties on sugar substitutes.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
WORK is a lot more dangerous and unhealthy in the countries that will join the European Union in 2004 and later, than it is in the existing EU. A study by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions finds there is “nearly double the risk to health and safety at work in the candidate countries.”…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
THE CZECH Republic has warned it may impose temporary safeguard duties on cocoa powder imports, which it claims have boomed following its imposition last year of protective duties on sugar substitutes. Current cocoa powder imports are 174.93 times higher than average, claims Prague.…

BY MARK ROWE
Jokes about slow-moving Skodas have long gone out of date but more than 30 Singapore car buyers may disagree, – they are still waiting for delivery of their Czech cars nine months after they each paid US$9,000 for them.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
REPRESENTATIVES from the governments of Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Turkey have attended training courses staged by the EU’s Joint Research Centre, designed to improve their performance in combating the illicit trafficking of nuclear material.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ALMOST all eastern European countries applying to join the EU have asked for special transitional periods averaging three years to raise health standards at some of their food processing plants to meet EU regulations. Products from plants where improvements are still being made will not be able to circulate the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PRACTICE of allowing companies to deduct bribes paid to secure contracts overseas from their domestic tax bills is still widespread, with a United Nations report saying it was allowed in 50 per cent of countries surveyed. The paper on how the organisation’s 1996 declaration against Corruption and Bribery in International Commercial Transactions said that it was however banned in Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Iceland, Nigeria, Norway, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the management of European Union ‘SAPARD’ agricultural development funds by the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This means that meat producers in the two countries will benefit from annual grants worth Euro 22.4 and 18.6 million respectively, payable until the countries join the EU, maybe by 2005.…

From Alan Osborn
The European Commission has opened a formal State aid investigation

procedure into a decision by the German government to give financial

assistance to BMW for the construction of a new car plant in Leipzig. Total

investment in the factory is around 1.2 billion euros (about pounds 720

million) of which some 418.6 million euros (pounds 250 million) is covered

by the planned aid.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development is to lend Euro 14 million to a Czech subsidiary of French agri-business company Groupe Soufflet so it can expand its malting interests in the east European country. The money will enable Malterie Soufflet République Tchéque to acquire shares in Obchodní Sladovny, the malting subsidiary of Czech company Tchecomalt Group.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development will lend Euro 14 million to a Czech subsidiary of French agri-business company Groupe Soufflet so it can expand its malting interests in the east European country. The money will enable Malterie Soufflet République Tchéque to acquire shares in Obchodní Sladovny, the malting subsidiary of Czech company Tchecomalt Group.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
LITHUANIA has imposed safeguard duties on imports of non-dried pastry yeast. Special tariffs of 22 per cent will be imposed from March to December, and 16 per cent from next January to December. Lithuania has been particularly concerned about increased imports from Germany, France, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Turkey, Italy and the Czech Republic.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CZECH Republic has launched an investigation which may lead it to impose safeguard duties on citric acid imports, which Prague claims rose by 18.72 per cent in 2001, threatening domestic producers, who shed 11 per cent of their workers last year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CZECH Republic has launched an investigation into concerns about increases in imports of certain welded tubes and pipes, of iron or non-alloy steel and of circular or non-circular cross-section, which it claims are damaging its producer industry to such an extent that temporary safeguard duties may have to be imposed.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
“SERIOUS concern” has been expressed by the European Commission over the failure of a number of Member States to set up telecommunications and IT networks to establish a New Computerised Transit System, which should seal an administrative loophole bleeding millions of Euro’s in defrauded revenue.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AMERICAN beer giant Anheuser-Busch has welcomed proposed changes to the European Union’s register protecting geographical references attached to traditional EU drinks products, which would allow it to challenge any application for inclusion by its Czech rival Budejovicky Budvar of its Budweiser brand.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CZECH Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria are cooperating in a project to harmonise their licensing procedures for fuel rods; the four countries are being encouraged to work together by the European Union, as they are the only eastern European countries wanting to join the EU who are operating Russian pressurised water reactors.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers (general affairs) has extended the double-checking system on certain steel exports to the EU from Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic until this December 31. The regime is designed to detect any abuses of the trade preferences enjoyed by these countries under association agreements with the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS acts of international largesse go, the expansion of the European Union eastwards and southwards must rank as being one of the most generous in history. With research estimates claiming that the size of the EU budget will soar to accommodate the needs of the former communist republics, (plus Cyprus and Malta), we are talking Marshall Plan here; billions of Euro’s being transferred from national coffers in western Europe to the east, via Brussels.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CZECH Republic has launched a trade investigation which may lead it to impose safeguard duties on imports of citric acid, which Prague claims have been booming, threatening domestic producers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FUTURE phytosanitary agreements between the EU and third countries should focus on “a limited number of products of undoubted importance to the parties,” said the European Commission following the emergence of a number of “practical problems” in existing deals.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WHAT could be more straightforward or fairer, you might think, than the European Union’s veterinary and phytosanitary agreements with non-member countries?

The idea is that each party pledges that the food it exports to the other – be it derived from animals or plants – meets the requirements of its own food safety legislation and that this is then taken on trust by the receiving country.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has stated that the mass petition brought by Austria’s far right Freedom Party against the continued operation of the Temelin Nuclear Plant will not hinder negotiations on granting EU membership to its home country, the Czech Republic.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
PROVISIONAL safeguard duties of 113 per cent have been applied by the Czech Republic to imports of cocoa powder containing 80 per cent or more by weight of sucrose, (including invert sugar), or isoglucose. These tariffs will apply until June 2002, pending the erection of definitive duties.…

KEITH NUTHALL
INNOVATION is important in the provision of water services, whether that be to prevent the contamination of supplies by a return of this summer’s floods, or to source drinking water for arid areas where ground reserves are running dry.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank is lending the Czech Republic Euro 170 million to help it upgrade and expand its motorway network, notably improving key routes within this central European country between Germany and eastern Europe. The money will support the construction of various sections of Czech motorways, totalling some 80 km.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE THREAT of thefts of nuclear material in eastern Europe is declining, despite the recent upsurge in Islamic terrorism, the Milan-based United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, (UNICRI), has claimed, in a study on environmental crime.…

BY MIKE FOX
THE HISTORIC political changes, which swept across Europe in the previous decade, have also brought huge changes to the world of aviation; the European Civil Aviation Conference, (ECAC), has welcomed 16 countries from the region as members since 1990.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
HEALTH experts have been discussing a report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, (OECD), which has shown Britain performs poorly against its competitors in western Europe and north America, regarding the number of nurses employed per head of population in the late 1990’s.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRANZ Fischler has been making a lot of speeches recently. It is not because he has time on his hands, he is in charge of the European Commission’s largest two budgets, agriculture and fisheries after all. Rather it is because he is cross with the Americans, whom he accuses of playing Janus at the WTO.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CYNICS may look at the hastening political process of allowing eastern European countries, and their large agricultural sectors, into the European Union, and ask, ‘what’s in it for us?’

It’s a good question given that the 10 countries that are at the front of the membership queue, (with the tiny exceptions of Malta and Cyprus), are hardly wealthy.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ENVIRONMENTAL crimes are in many ways the most damaging of offences, given that they can harm millions of people, whether through damaging the ozone layer, increasing pollution levels or damaging biodiversity. The United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, (UNICRI), has published a study on this modern scourge.…

BY MARK ROWE and BEATA PLONKA
THE CENTRAL European Air Traffic Services (CEATS) project, first tentatively suggested back in the early 1990s, is intended to radically redraw the aviation map of the region. The project aims to provide a significant boost to the airspace capacity of what many commentators call eastern Europe and address the main challenges facing aviation in the 21st century; safety, delays and rising volumes of traffic.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EASTERN European countries applying to join the European Union should be given transitional periods to align their excise duties on cigarettes with the laws loosely harmonising those of existing Member States, says the European Commission.

It has formally suggested that Poland, Romania and Slovenia should have two years from the time that they join the EU in which to amend their rates, and that Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovakia should have three years’ grace.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
HOLIDAYS and pregnancy leave are a serious business, both for the employees who take them and the employers who pay for them. Unfortunately for personnel departments who might want a little more flexibility over whether they should shell out or not, recent cases at the European Court of Justice have underlined the right of EU citizens to take paid leave, rather than erode them.…

KEITH NUTHALL
BRITISH hauliers may not in future find themselves at such a competitive disadvantage with eastern European competitors regarding the commercial transport of animals, because of a planned updating to a Council of Europe welfare convention.

Its commitments apply to countries both outside and within the European Union, where hauliers already have to comply with expensive rules on trailer standards, journey times, rest periods and the watering and feeding of livestock.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CITIZENS of eastern European countries which have signed association agreements with Brussels, paving the way for their accession to the European Union, cannot be refused the right to live in a Member State, if they can become successfully self-employed, the European Court of Justice has ruled.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on imports into the EU of certain steel and iron cables from the Czech Republic, Russia, Turkey and Thailand.

Its decision – by the written procedure used during Brussels’ summer break – follows an inquiry, which “confirmed” concerns that the sale of cut-priced cables from these countries was harming EU producers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed that the EU Council of Ministers imposes definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of certain iron or steel ropes and cables from the Czech Republic, (47.1 per cent), Russia, (50.7 per cent), Thailand, (42.8 per cent), and Turkey, (31 per cent).…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE GERMAN government has been told that it must cut back its regional aid for the construction of a new Volkswagen car factory in Dresden to 85 per cent of the sum proposed. The revised aid of 145 million Deutschmarks, (about Pounds 47 million), is part of a total investment of DM 1,000 million for a so-called “transparent factory,” which would allow a customer to observe the final assembly of his vehicle on site.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MULTILATERAL sea and river organisations are usually created to deal with existing problems that cross national borders, but a new body has been making progress on a shipping issue that has yet even to happen: the exploitation and transport of subterranean solid mineral deposits.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE IMPORTANCE of European Union employment within the UK and other EU Member States is widely accepted and its authority is only going to grow over the next 10 years. This is because of the planned accession of eastern European countries to the European Union, meaning that EU employment directives will shape the law of their lands and that their national courts will become subject to the rulings and case law of the European Court of Justice, a key guardian of EU legislation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU’s Scientific Steering Committee has advised that it is “likely” that BSE is present in cattle herds in Albania, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, that it is “unlikely” to be present in India, Pakistan, Colombia and Mauritius, and “highly unlikely” to be in the cattle of Brazil and Singapore.…

KEITH NUTHALL
FREIGHT forwarders may be freed of the burden of guaranteeing the payment of duty during EU transit operations, where hauliers transport goods across national borders in Europe, without paying duties or dealing with import procedures, except for the country where the consignment is delivered.…