Search Results for: European Parliament

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has – somewhat grudgingly it appears – called off its investigation into alleged market sharing agreements between the large international brewers Carlsberg of Denmark and Heineken of the Netherlands. Brussels said it found no evidence that the suspected infringement continued after May 1995 and noted that under EU rules it had no power to fine companies where abuses could not be proved in the five years preceding the start of an investigation – in this case 2000.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has come down on the side of the European Commission in a dispute with Germany, (which has been supported by Britain in this case), over the payment of VAT when petrol suppliers redeem money-off vouchers they had distributed to retailers through a middle-man.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union is considering a range of requests from foreign governments to liberalise the access to its legal professions under commitments it will make in a future World Trade Organisation (WTO) deal, following the ongoing so-called Doha Development Round.…

Keith Nuthall
FORMAL consultation has been launched by the European Commission into whether it should propose legislation to free European Union (EU) drinks businesses from complicated and restrictive legislation that limit packaging sizes, notably bottles for wines and spirits. A Commission working paper has concluded that the EU is over-regulated regarding pack sizes.…

Keith Nuthall
A CONSULTANT for the California wine industry thinks the US will be prepared to cut a deal at next September’s World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico over European demands for a mandatory wine and spirits register of geographical indications.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has been asked to negotiate away restrictions maintained by European Union (EU) Member States preventing non-EU companies from providing “services incidental to mining” within the EU. The call has come from countries involved in the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) three years old services talks, which were rolled into the WTO’s general Doha Development Round at its Qatar summit last year.…

BY PHILIP FINE

A CONSULTANT for the California wine industry thinks the US will be prepared to cut a deal at next September’s World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico over European demands for a mandatory wine and spirits register of geographical indications.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission is improving its auditing of scientific research projects receiving European Union (EU) money after the EU’s financial watchdog the Court of Auditors criticised past accounting controls.

It said that the Commission could have better monitored its outgoing EU Fifth Framework Programme for research (budget Euro 14.9 billion), which is being replaced in January by the Euro 16.2 billion Sixth Framework Programme (FP6).…

BY ALAN OSBORN, in London, PHILIP FINE, in Montreal, and MATTHEW BRACE, in Sydney

WITH a new crackdown on counterfeiting being prepared by the

European Commission, some industry watchers will be surprised to hear that soft drinks is one the sectors that Brussels thinks needs close attention.…

BY PHILIP FINE, in Montreal, Canada

THE EFFECTS of September 11 have left their mark on the relationship between air traffic control national service providers (ANSPs) and their customers. The economic fall-out from the terrorist attacks now defines much of the dialogue between ANSPs, airlines and airports.…