Search Results for: Finnish

In 2019, before Covid-19 knocked the industry off a seemingly unstoppable growth trajectory, 95 billion gallons of fuel was burned by commercial airlines worldwide said statistical service Statista.

Speaking to Petroleum Review, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) deputy director for environmental protection Jane Hupe said analysis undertaken by the UN agency found “that, by 2050, it would be physically possible to meet 100 percent of international aviation jet fuel demand with sustainable aviation fuels, corresponding to a 63 percent reduction in emissions.”…

The comprehensive set of reforms to the European Union (EU) AML/CFT system the European Commission proposed July 20 through a package of four legislative initiatives (1) could eliminate weaknesses in the fight against dirty money, but success will still hinge on implementation in the member states, experts have argued.…

Growth in demand for and production of renewable diesel is set to disrupt the global liquid fuels sector, with major increases in refining capacity being developed now. Renewable diesel has major potential as a transitional alternative energy source, because, unlike standard biofuels, in its highest quality form, it is chemically identical to fossil fuel diesel. …

THE FINNISH can manufacturing industry has been growing, with new production coming online in the past 10 years to diversify a sector that is able to draw on effective access to raw materials and a highly skilled workforce.

Both Rexam (now part of Ball) and Poland-based Canpack operate efficient Finnish can-making plants.…

WHILE the imposition of age limits on the consumption of tobacco and other nicotine products remains very much a national, and in some cases sub-national jurisdiction decision, there is no doubt that the general trend worldwide is for tighter restrictions on younger consumers, even if they are often tough to enforce.…

Aviation has always been regarded as a tougher sector to convert to low carbon fuels than road transport, because of the high intensity burn required to power planes – which traditionally been supplied by fossil-based kerosene. And a lot is burned.…

THE COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions that followed may have slowed down fibre development and innovation in the past year, but Singapore-based world’s largest viscose fibre producer Royal Golden Eagle, known as RGE Pvt Ltd, is forging ahead. A company statement sent to WTiN said that its “USD200 million investment commitment in next-generation textile fibre innovation [over 2019-29] is regardless of economic cycles.”…

The Gulf kingdom of Bahrain is kicking off 2021 with the grand opening of its new airport passenger terminal, a 210,000 square metre (sqm) building that is four times the size of the existing facility. Following its official opening on January 28, the terminal will be capable of processing 130,000 air traffic movements a year, up from 95,500 in 2019, and will have a handling capacity of 4,700 bags an hour. …

THE PERSONAL care product sector in south-east Asia has been looking ahead to how it emerges from the Covid-19 crisis, which has hit this diverse region in differing ways.

According to Finland-based Global Research & Data Services, sales of personal care products in Malaysia’s 31.6 million people market last year (2019) were worth USD557 million, based on UN data.…

THE PERSONAL care product sector in south-east Asia has been looking ahead to how it emerges from the Covid-19 crisis, which has hit this diverse region in differing ways.

According to Finland-based Global Research & Data Services, sales of personal care products in Malaysia’s 31.6 million people market last year (2019) were worth USD557 million, based on UN data.…

All five countries are also developed economies, whose consumers have money to keep their personal care product traders afloat.

According to Finland-based Global Research & Data Services, sales of personal care products in Norway’s 5.3 million people market last year (2019) were worth USD700 million, based on UN data.…

THE NORDIC region’s beauty market has, like every other country, been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the stability of societies in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland has meant that their retail sectors have avoided some of the chaos linked to the health emergency that that has harmed other markets.…

THE COVID-19 crisis has severely depressed sales of personal care products within Latin America and it is unclear when the market will pick up.

In Argentina, for example, a coronavirus-induced lockdown has pushed the economy deeper into recession, slashing sales of most unessential beauty and personal care products.…

INTRODUCTION – SERIES

A series of reports from WTiN is exploring the need for the textile and clothing sector to protect itself against attacks from cybercriminals as it invests in new transformative Industry 4.0 technologies – extended reality, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has called on EU member states and other EU institutions to work harder to fight the scourge of food fraud, which can damage the commercial health of legitimate manufacturers and risk consumer health. In a detailed policy statement (called ‘council conclusions’ in EU jargon), ministers said an EU “legal definition of food fraud” should be created that would underpin future regulatory actions fighting such wrongdoing, which can include deliberate mislabelling and the use of illicit ingredients.…

SHOWING consumers that dairy farming is sustainable, while surviving the less than favourable economic situation which all agriculture faces today, are the industry’s biggest challenges for 2020 and beyond, Pekka Pesonen, secretary general of European farming organisation Copa-Cogeca, has told Dairy Industries International.…

THE APPROVAL of a EUR3.2 billion set of subsidies by seven European Union (EU) member states could generate a major mineral supply and processing chain to manufacture lithium ion batteries within Europe. A decision announced yesterday (December 9) by the EU executive, the European Commission, loosening its usually tight control of national government support for industry, effectively greenlights a major collaborative project designed to strengthen European battery production.…

DISTRICT heating is an efficient way to provide heat, that can reduce carbon emissions compared to individual property-based heating. So, it is maybe heartening to learn that the Chinese central government and its municipalities are both growing district heating and encouraging the use of cleaner energies to power them.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) fourth anti-money laundering directive had not even been implemented before Panama Papers revelations on massive tax evasion highlighted critical gaps in the bloc’s regulatory framework, especially regarding cryptocurrencies and prepaid cards. The result was directive (EU) 2018/843 of May 30, 2018 commonly known as the fifth anti-money laundering directive.…

Described by environmental campaigners as “the elephant in the COP21 negotiations room” when climate change proposals were agreed in Paris during 2015, today – the electrification of shipping is moving ahead apace.

From inland ferries to cargo barges and cruise ships, vessels are being built or retrofitted with renewable power propulsion sources, curbing the shipping industry’s major emissions.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has passed a new European Union (EU) regulation that will limit the amount of trans-fats that can be present within food products sold across the EU from April 2021.

This new rule, authorised under powers already granted to the EU executive, will impose a maximum limit of trans-fats of 2 grams per 100 grams of fat, excluding naturally-occurring animal origin trans-fats.…

Turku-based Hesburger is now building sales in Belarus, having announced it would move into this country in 2017. This follows launches in Ukraine in 2015, and Bulgaria in 2016. Having branched abroad into Estonia first in 1996, now has 207 overseas outlets in eight countries (also including Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, as well as Germany, close to 271 it has in Finland.…

A FINNISH burger chain that has taken the plunge into some of Europe’s most challenging eastern markets now has almost as many outlets abroad as in its home market.

Turku-based Hesburger is now building sales in Belarus, having announced it would move into this country in 2017.…

AGREEMENT has been reached between European Union (EU) institutions on reforms to the EU general food law regulation ensuring that studies behind European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recommendations are made public. This would include data supporting a request for EFSA scientific advice.…

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. …

CONSUMERS in Nordic countries commonly prefer quality environment-friendly products and the paint and coatings sector is no exception.

Denmark is a case in point, being home to major Hempel A/S, which launched its advanced water-based technology range of decorative paints under the Crown Trades brand in January 2017, group president and CEO Henrik Andersen told PPCJ.…

THE NORDIC region is associated with cleanliness, environmentalism and healthy living, so maybe it is no big surprise that sales of natural organic personal care products are strengthening in these markets. So engrained is this trend, say experts, colour cosmetics lines are increasingly being developed as natural organic products.…

THE MALAYSIAN government has effectively scrapped the country’s Goods & Services Tax (GST) reducing its rate from 6% to 0%, effective June 1. The move follows the election of a new administration under former opposition alliance Pakatan Harapan, defeating the incumbent Barisan Nasional.…

Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with ambitious plans to build 16 nuclear reactors, both small and large, to generate 17GWe by 2040. While no tenders have yet been awarded, the kingdom is working with numerous international partners to develop its nuclear infrastructure and safety systems.…

THE INDIAN automobile manufacturing industry, which already has an annual output of 25 million vehicles, is bracing itself for a comprehensive switchover to electric vehicles, with the government developing clear policy that it wants combustion engines off the country’s roads. 

This push has been grounded in a report from the government’s key think tank NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India), which is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and hence very influential.…

JAPAN’S spa and beauty salon markets are well developed and established, undoubtedly a reflection of the country’s well-known traditions of cleanliness and looking good. Being well-established has arguably made further expansion and growth in the sectors more challenging, while Japan’s shrinking birth rate and population do not bode well for longer-term expansion.…

With an ever-increasing reliance on technology and global shift towards renewable energy to protect the planet’s resources, the Nordic industrial minerals sector finds itself at something of a crossroads in terms of sustainability.

Home to some of the world’s largest reserves of minerals used in critical technologies, with a profitable future predicted, the industry is being closely monitored by Nordic regulatory authorities to ensure mining is conducted as ethically and sustainably as possible.…

GLOBAL knitwear outsourcing centre Bangladesh is expected to soon ratify the emerging market D-8 PTA preferential trade agreement, newspaper reports in Dhaka say, indicating the government may have loosened demands over rules of origin. Bangladesh has been pushing for its manufacturers to gain privileged access to D-8 markets (Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Nigeria and Turkey, as well as Egypt if it also ultimately ratifies), if 30% of value in a product is created within Bangladesh.…

EUROPE’S nonwovens producers again served up a solid performance in 2016 against the background of (uneven and) uncertain trading conditions for the industry.

As usual, the just-published returns from EDANA, the representative organisation for the USD30 billion nonwovens industry in Europe, show some important national variations.…

THE CHAIR of Finland’s Broiler Association (Suomen Broileryhdistys) Suvi Rantala-Sarjeant has told GlobalMeatNews that there is no consistent rise in levels of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) and AmpC beta-lactamases – so-called drug resistant super bacteria – found in Finland-sold fresh chicken.

She was commenting on figures from the Finnish Food Safety Authority (Evira, or Elintarviketurvallisuusvirasto Evira) found in tests for 2016 that out of 309 samples, 53 contained E coli bacteria, which produce AmpC enzymes, while 15 contained ESBL-producing bacteria, which are resistant to drugs.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) paint and coatings companies and their retailers have been warned products on sale from June 1 must be classified, labelled and packaged in line with the EU classification, labelling and packaging (CLP) regulation (1272/2008). If not, they will have to be reclassified, repackaged and labelled or withdrawn from the market, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has said, noting that this deadline “marks the end of the transitional period for labelling mixtures.”…

GLOBAL knitwear outsourcing centre Bangladesh is expected to soon ratify the emerging market D-8 PTA preferential trade agreement, newspaper reports in Dhaka say, indicating the government may have loosened demands over rules of origin. Bangladesh has been pushing for its manufacturers to gain privileged access to D-8 markets (Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Nigeria and Turkey, as well as Egypt if it also ultimately ratifies), if 30% of value in a product is created within Bangladesh.…

Europe’s nonwovens producers again served up a solid performance in 2016 against the background of (uneven and) uncertain trading conditions for the industry. As usual, the just-published returns from EDANA, the representative organisation for the USD30 billion nonwovens industry in Europe, show some important national variations.…

IMPROVING airport management is often a matter of examining good practice overseas and for airports wanting to improve the time taken to move transfer passengers from one flight to another, their executives might learn from Helsinki Airport.

Finland’s key international airport has the fastest passenger flow in Europe for transfer passengers going on to other European destinations, with a minimum connecting time between flights of just 35 minutes, according to Finavia, the state company that operates Finland’s 21 commercial civilian airports.…

Ongoing concerns about underfunding and even the future abolition of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) could hamper the UK’s fight against bribery, according to the latest assessment report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) working group on bribery.…

THE ANCIENT Celts has a saying: “To the brave belong all things.” And in business, this remains true. Companies prepared to take big risks, can reap big spoils. But they can also stumble into disaster. Such calculations are always made when foreign companies consider trading or investing in so-called ‘failed states’ or those at risk of failure.…

THE US Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) has called on the new American administration of President Donald Trump to work hard to negotiate new bilateral trade deals with Asian markets now he has formally pulled his country from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.…

FINLAND’S independent contract car maker Valmet Automotive (VA) is experiencing a remarkable renaissance thanks to orders from Germany’s Mercedes-Benz, growth that is expected to continue with support from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

VA’s breakthrough came when it signed a deal with Daimler in July 2012 to make more than 100,000 Mercedes Series A models between 2013 and 2017.…

VIETNAM’S construction and manufacturing sectors are driving demand for paints and varnishes as economic growth remains healthy despite speed bumps this year. While this key south-east Asian emerging market’s economic growth took a hit this year thanks to environmental issues and weak global export demand, the country’s paints and coatings industry continues to grow.…

VIETNAM’S construction and manufacturing sectors are driving demand for paints and varnishes as economic growth remains healthy despite speed bumps this year. While this key south-east Asian emerging market’s economic growth took a hit this year thanks to environmental issues and weak global export demand, the country’s paints and coatings industry continues to grow.…

VIETNAM’S construction and manufacturing sectors are driving demand for paints and varnishes as economic growth remains healthy despite speed bumps this year. While this key south-east Asian emerging market’s economic growth took a hit this year thanks to environmental issues and weak global export demand, the country’s paints and coatings industry continues to grow.…

MILLIONS of Euros have been released by the European Union (EU) to fund projects deepening the international gas pipeline network in eastern Europe, a key element of EU plans for forge an ‘energy union’.

One major project is a EUR179 million plan to create the Bulgaria–Romania–Hungary–Austria (BRUA) system of gas lines.…

Finland is always different from its neighbours across the Baltic. Not Scandinavian, but still Nordic, Finland’s personal care product market has been experiencing hard times, as the country of 5.5 million people sees its economy seesaw between contraction and mild grow (-0.7% – +0.5%) in the last three years.…

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.…

Flushable wipes range from adult moist toilet tissue to feminine hygiene wipes, and the sector has been steadily growing for years. According to UK-based market researcher Euromonitor International, the global retail volume for personal care wipes nearly doubled between 2003 and 2013, from 93 billion units to almost 170 billion units sold, respectively.…

COMPETING fastfood chains are snapping at McDonald’s heels in Finland as the global player closes branches. McDonald’s now has just 72 outlets after chopping 10 in 2015. The remainder largely consists of franchises (59) with the rest owned by the Finnish subsidiary (13).…

After more than four years of protracted negotiations that included bursts of occasional intense lobbying, the biofuels standards and subsidies saga in Europe has been settled with a compromise that allows both the industry and environmental groups to draw some satisfaction.…

BRUSSELS DETAILS UPCOMING EU VAT REFORMS

THE EUROPEAN Commission has released a statement outlining the subject of planned VAT legislative proposals to be made next year (2016). These will reduce the administrative burden on businesses through VAT regimes varying between European Union (EU) member states.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) member states have suffered unevenly from Russia’s ban on EU food exports from last August, according to European Commission data.

While Finnish and Estonian extra-EU food and drink exports fell sharply in August-November 2014 compared to the same period in 2013 (32% and 22% down respectively), other EU food exporters saw only moderate falls in such sales, or even gains.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) legislators are moving towards agreement on EU legislation promoting biofuels, with the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers agreeing to reduce incentives for the use and manufacture of first generation products. A tentative political agreement, that now has the support of the European Parliament’s environment committee, will cap at 7% by 2020 the amount of transport energy consumption from biofuels made from crops grown on agricultural land.…

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.…

New domestic and foreign suppliers are entering the growing organic meat sector in Denmark, encouraged by its long term prospects, strong consumer demand and government backing.
Growth in both production and sales of organic chicken has been particularly impressive in Denmark since 2010, achieving a 26% increase in 2014.…

IN the highly competitive cosmetics and personal care market, producers of secondary packaging are creating ever more advanced, innovative shapes and decorations to attract consumers. Whether it conveys a message of sustainability, luxury, or simplicity – secondary packaging continues to play a crucial role, often communicating multiple ideas and emotions to consumers in an instant.…

Finland’s Atria is pushing ahead with plans to reduce its cost base in the face of lower revenues that are mainly being generated due to lost meat trade with Russia, following European Union (EU) and Russian tit-for-tat sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.…

PepsiCo has agreed that Finland brewer Olvi will market the US giant’s biggest brands in Belarus. Pepsi will use the Finnish company’s Belarus subsidiary Lidskoe Pivo to sell and distribute Pepsi, Mirinda, 7 Up and Adrenalin Rush immediately, with local production beginning later this year at Lidskoe Pivo’s facility in Lida, western Belarus. …

AIRPORT development projects are a key part of the Euro EUR315 billion development plan released before Christmas by the European Commission. A keystone of the pro-growth policies of new Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, the plan involves the EU, especially the European Investment Bank (EIB), leveraging public funds to generate private capital.…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has voted to allow individual European Union (EU) member states to reject the cultivation of genetically modified food on their territories, independent of what the situation is at EU level. This law, negotiated with the EU Council of Ministers, leaves room to national governments to ban the GMOs from being produced in their countries for other reasons than environmental or health risks.…

AFTER two years of talks, Finland and Estonia have reached an agreement (on November 17) to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) Balticconnector pipeline under the Gulf of Finland between the two countries by 2019.

“There are no negatives in this investment.…

A European Parliament committee yesterday (Dec 3) vowed to swiftly approve any formal proposal for mandatory labelling for processed meats, claiming 90% of its members favour such a European Union (EU) law . Parliamentarians of all stripes claimed a comfortable majority of European Union consumers want to know where their meat comes from and what it consists of following the horsemeat scandal of two years ago.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) seems to have sparked a regulatory trend with its REACH chemical control system, with more and more countries in Asia adopting REACH-inspired chemical management laws. Thus textile finishing units, companies and suppliers will have to pay increasingly close attention to chemical regulations in Asia-Pacific countries such as China and South Korea.…

Sweden’s meat sector has established Svenska Köttföretagen (SKF), a new broad-based trade organisation that will promote the industry’s special interests and provide expert advice to members.

The SKF’s founding owners comprise Sweden’s biggest slaughterhouses, including Skövde Slakteri, Dalsjöfors Kött, KLS Ugglarps, Dahlbergs, Ginsten and Nyhléns Hugosons.…

THE NEW European Commission of president Jean-Claude Juncker, which will take office for five years on November 1 is expected to be more political than its predecessors and certainly has a clear brief from its boss: more growth and jobs.

Juncker, a consummate European Union (EU) insider, a former president of the Eurogroup of Euro-zone finance ministers, and an ex-prime minister of his native Luxembourg, will use powerful vice-presidents to keep his team in line.…

UTILITY executives will have been carefully analysing the unveiling on Wednesday (September 10) of a new European Commission team to take office from November 1. As well as new personnel, a key initial move with potentially important implications for European Union (EU) energy policy was the uniting of the current energy and climate portfolios.…

GERMANY’S Günther Oettinger, who is currently the European Union’s energy commissioner, has been nominated to become the EU’s new digital economy commissioner. He would replace the current digital agenda commissioner, Neelie Kroes of the Netherlands, who will leave her job on Nov 1, when the new team of commissioners under incoming president Jean-Claude Juncker comes into office.…

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.…

WHEN Finland’s Tobacco Act came into force on October 1, 2010, it made news around the world. For the first time a country had stated explicitly it wanted to end smoking on its territory and gave a date: Finland would be non-smoking by 2040.…

The Nordic paints and coating market is competitive and growing, being dominated by a handful of strong players headed by Tikkurila and Teknos in Finland and Jotun in Norway. In Dyrup, the region could boast a fourth major local player, although American corporation PPG Industries paid the Danish firm’s parent, Monberg & Thorsen, EUR115 million for the company in 2011.…

NORWAY may have suspended military cooperation with its neighbour Russia over the Ukraine crisis, but it seems less keen to mothball its coordination on energy policy, notably in the high Arctic.

Norwegian and Russian energy companies have long been eyeing the potential hydrocarbon resources in the Barents Sea to the north of the Russo-Norwegian border, and both sides want to exploit them without causing major environmental problems.…

Concerns are growing about the potential impact of reforms to Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG – Erneuerbare Energien Gesetz) on the country’s cogeneration sector. On April 8, (2014) the German federal government proposed a bill amending the EEG, following the tabling of an initial plan about potential reforms in January.…

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.…

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.…

DETAILED work is under way to create a plan to further diversify the European Union’s (EU) energy supplies routes, after EU heads of government agreed to “address the issue of external energy dependency.” The urgency follows concern sparked by Russia’s annexation of the Crimea from Ukraine.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has released official guidance on how to protect the environment when ‘fracking’ for shale gas. It has given European Union (EU) member states 18 months to follow its suggestions, saying it will “review the effectiveness” of this voluntary approach after this deadline.…

THE USE of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags in the food and drink sector might have grown exponentially in the past 10 years, but the technology is likely to become even more ubiquitous worldwide. UK-based retailers and pioneers in the use of the technology Marks & Spencer and Tesco can now chalk up a decade of experience in the use of RFID, from distribution centre (DC) operations right through to retail floor item-level tagging.…

BY LEE ADENDORFF

THE USE of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags in the food and drink sector might have grown exponentially in the past 10 years, but the technology is likely to become even more ubiquitous worldwide. UK-based retailers and pioneers in the use of the technology Marks & Spencer and Tesco can now chalk up a decade of experience in the use of RFID, from distribution centre (DC) operations right through to retail floor item-level tagging.…

IT is a curious irony that for an industry as technical as cogeneration that maybe the biggest handicap to its sustained growth in Europe is actually emotional. Both commercial markets and governments are swayed by sentiment as well as hard cash – and currently both influences are failing to pull in co-gen’s favour.…

IT is a curious irony that for an industry as technical as cogeneration that maybe the biggest handicap to its sustained growth in Europe is actually emotional. Both commercial markets and governments are swayed by sentiment as well as hard cash – and currently both influences are failing to pull in co-gen’s favour.…

A SENIOR official within an organisation charged with increasing European textile exports to Russia has told WTiN.com that Russia’s 2012 accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has created real opportunities for European manufacturers to score Russian sales.

Igor Salomakhin, head of the Moscow liaison office of the Russia-Europe Textile Alliance (RETA), has told WTiN that it is helping a growing number of European textile businesses expand their sales in Russia by helping establish direct contact with new customers in Russia.…

Finnish steel maker Outokumpu has told Steel First that it still hopes to finish its sale of Italian steel subsidiary Acciai Terni Speciali (Terni) by the end of this year, saying talks should take another “six to eight weeks”.

Outokumpu vice president for communications Saara Tahvanainen said: “Discussions continue with a number of interested parties.…

The ongoing investigation into Swedish telecoms group TeliaSonera’s involvement in suspected money laundering (ML) and bribery in Uzbekistan has prompted a fresh push by government to introduce tougher reporting rules for a broader range of ML offences in 2014.

Significantly, the new measures will give law enforcement agencies greater powers of arrest and asset seizures where money laundering is suspected.…

Although it has been the subject of intense speculation over recent years, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tagging has fulfilled many of the predictions made by industry forecasters more than 10 years ago, when pilots of wide scale deployment by giant department store retailers began.…

WITH Europe’s economy still struggling to deal with the fall-out of the global financial crisis, its co-generation sector has had to fight to expand, or in some cases hold its position. Tightening national government budgets have meant that the co-gen industry has had to argue persuasively for public subsidies and tax breaks, or even the right to have equal treatment with renewable energies.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has questioned the legality of Euro EUR52 million’s public subsidies to convert Gdynia-Kosakowo airport from a military to a civilian facility. The money was paid by local authorities of Gdynia and Kosakowo to operating company Port Lotniczy Gdynia-Kosakowo Sp.…

the once-in-a-decade handover of power within China’s Communist Party government now complete, the country’s new administration is beginning to find its feet. It is a process that has profound implications for the cogeneration sector in the world’s most populous nation.

At the heart of the opportunities related to cogeneration is a government plan entitled Guiding Opinions of the Deployment of Gas-Fired Distributed Energy. …

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.…

ESTABLISHED telecoms operators are identifying new business models to stop their revenues from declining in future, predicts Daniel Pataki, director of the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO). Speaking to European Communications in an exclusive interview from his Brussels office, Pataki said: “We believe there is more value and knowledge in [the industry] than being dumb pipes only.”…

SUCCESSION issues are a significant and growing challenge for companies and could be an opportunity for qualified accountants who may step up internally or be drafted in to even become the next CEO or CFO.

“Many businesses spend very little time, if any, thinking through who will lead the various aspects of their business in the future,” said Karen Young, a director for the senior finance section of global recruitment experts Hays, and whose remit includes qualified accountancy jobs including finance director, financial controller, management accountant, financial accountant, or practice accounting.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) member states have suffered unevenly from Russia’s ban on EU food exports from last August, according to European Commission data.
While Finnish and Estonian extra-EU food and drink exports fell sharply in August-November 2014 compared to the same period in 2013 (32% and 22% down respectively), other EU food exporters saw only moderate falls in such sales, or even gains.…

MAJOR companies within the European Union (EU) suffering from major cybercrime attacks will have to inform regulators under a proposed EU directive on network and information security. If the legislation is approved by the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers, it would assign that duty to operators of critical infrastructure in the financial, transport, energy and health sectors; IT services, such as app stores, e-commerce platforms, internet payment systems, cloud computing companies, search engines and social network; plus public administrations.…

THE EUROPEAN Environment Agency (EEA) is the only European Union (EU) agency whose 2011 accounts have not been approved by the European Parliament’s budgetary control committee. MEPs cited concerns about the agency’s public procurement procedures, which have been the subject of a probe by EU anti-fraud agency OLAF.…

A EUROPEAN Union (EU)-backed research project has developed new ways of applying patterns within deposited layers of nanoparticles that can be adjusted to create special properties such as super-waterproofing. Hungarian and Finnish researchers working for the CompNanoALD have developed atomic layer deposition (ALD) techniques, which can “deposit one atomic layer of a material at a time in a step-wise manner”, said Dr Imre Miklós Szilágyi, of Budapest University of Technology and Economics, in a European Commission note.…

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 BRITISH government is creating a unique regime of energy price incentives to spur commercialisation of carbon capture and storage systems, yet significant barriers remain to unlocking the billions of Pounds Sterling needed to build a CCS industry of sufficient mass in the UK able to create economies of scale for investors.…

BY GERARD O’DWYER, IN HELSINKI

Finnish semi-state industrial group Ruukki will have been helped in its plans to streamline its steel and engineering businesses by the European Commission’s approval of a new joint venture Fortaco, a senior manager involved in the deal told Steel First.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

AFTER two years from the entry into force of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP) between the European Union (EU) and the United States, the European Commission patted itself on the back, claiming the agreement is working.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL AND JOHN PAGNI, IN HELSINKI

THE DEVELOPMENT of nanotechnology, especially in commercial consumer products such as textiles and clothing, is being stunted by continuing concerns over health risks, an international conference has been told.

The International Congress on the Safety of Engineered Nanoparticles and Nanotechnologies (SENN2012), in Helsinki, staged by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) received a series of papers on the latest research into nano-silver, a key anti-bacterial input of known worth within the textile and clothing sector.…

THE LUXURY packaging seent of the personal care product industry has always been important, but with the industry’s high end becoming increasingly profitable worldwide, packagers are assuming a really critical role.

Simply, while revolutionary formulations are being developed to tap wealthy markets, the resulting cosmetics and personal care products need to set themselves apart for marketing with classy exteriors.…

BY BLAKE BERRY, IN WARSAW; JOHN PAGNI, IN HELSINKI; DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS; LEE ADENDOORF, IN LUCCA, ITALY; CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS; MJ DESCHAMPS; AND ALAN OSBORN

IF you are a biofuel manufacturer, you could be forgiven for being frustrated with the complexity of the market in Europe.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS, ALAN OSBORN, IN LONDON, LEE ADENDORFF, IN LUCCA, ITALY; MICHAEL KOSMIDES, IN ATHENS; DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS; ANDREW KURETH, IN WARSAW; AND JOHN PAGNI, IN HELSINKI

THE POTENTIAL of micro-CHP (combined heat-and-power) for industrial businesses, residential complexes and individual homes is becoming increasingly clear across Europe.…

BY GERARD O’DWYER, IN HELSINKI

THE FINNISH government is considering the introduction of a tax on mining activities in 2013 to reduce a growing budget deficit. Finland’s updated Mining Act, which took effect in July 2011, does not cover production or exploration-based royalties.…

IT is a curious irony that for an industry as technical as cogeneration that maybe the biggest handicap to its sustained growth in Europe is actually emotional. Both commercial markets and governments are swayed by sentiment as well as hard cash – and currently both influences are failing to pull in co-gen’s favour.…

BY GERARD O’DWYER, IN HELSINKI; AND MONIKA HANLEY, IN RIGA

BRITAIN has been facing unusually cold and snowy winters in recent years and should this become a long-term climate trend, UK utilities will have to take note and change their operational practices to suit.…

BY MONIKA HANLEY, IN RIGA; ALICE TRUDELLE, IN WARSAW; CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS; EUGENE VOROTNIKOV, IN ST PETERSBURG; ROBERT STOKES, IN MALAGA; GERARD O’DWYER, IN HELSINKI; LEE ADENDOORF, IN LUCCA; ALAN OSBORN; MJ DESCHAMPS; AND KEITH NUTHALL

IT is a curious irony that for an industry as technical as cogeneration that maybe the biggest handicap to its sustained growth in Europe is actually emotional.…

BY MONIKA HANLEY, IN RIGA; ALICE TRUDELLE, IN WARSAW; CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS; EUGENE VOROTNIKOV, IN ST PETERSBURG; ROBERT STOKES, IN MALAGA; GERARD O’DWYER, IN HELSINKI; LEE ADENDOORF, IN LUCCA; ALAN OSBORN; MJ DESCHAMPS; AND KEITH NUTHALL

Meanwhile, there have been positive developments in Nordic co-gen markets.…

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 CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

PAOLO Canonico, the chairman of the European Technology Platform for the future of textiles and clothing has told researchers and textile businesses he sees enormous opportunities for textile research and innovation in the Horizon 2020 programme proposed in December by the European Commission.…

BY JOHN PAGNI, IN HELSINKI, AND KITTY SO

When officially opened on May 8, Finland’s new 90MW Kymijärvi 2 power station will break ground in its novel energy efficiency and environment technology: a waste-to-energy combined heat and power (CHP) production unit using clean bio-gas as its fuel.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, IN BRUSSELS

SOLVING corruption and mismanagement problems in the African extractive industries would be boosted by the mandatory disclosure by companies of tax and revenue payments, a Brussels European Union (EU)-Africa conference on mineral wealth heard yesterday.

The continent’s paradox is that many of its nations are rich in mineral resources yet they remain some of the world’s poorest economies.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, IN BRUSSELS

SOLVING corruption and mismanagement problems in the African extractive industries would be boosted by the mandatory disclosure by companies of tax and revenue payments, a Brussels European Union (EU)-Africa conference on mineral wealth heard yesterday.

The continent’s paradox is that many of its nations are rich in mineral resources yet they remain some of the world’s poorest economies.…

By Paul Cochrane, in Beirut

Saudi Arabia’s failure to secure a wide-ranging atomic energy treaty with the USA, continues to push the oil-rich country into the arms of other nuclear suiters, experts on the kingdom have argued. The Saudi's plan is to invest USD112 billion over the next 20 years to build 16 nuclear power plants (NPPs) to offset rising domestic energy demand and retain its position as a leading hydrocarbons exporter.

A memorandum of understanding on nuclear energy was signed with the US in 2008, but the two countries have yet to sign Section 123 of the US Atomic Energy Act, essentially a prerequisite for nuclear cooperation between the US and other nations.…

BY GERARD O’DWYER

DENMARK’S centre right government has brushed off criticism directed at its public health policies and has sanctioned the roll-out of its most controversial piece of tax-legislation, the imposition of a so-called ‘Saturated Fat Tax’ on food products. The new law is scheduled to take effect on October 1.…

BY JOHN PAGNI

A FINNISH company is claiming to have invented a new system for sequestering carbon dioxide emissions, diluting them in water, which is filtered through feldspar minerals, turning CO2 into bicarbonate. Cuycha Innovation Oy claims the system will be trialled in Botswana and South Africa this year and next.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

STIFF competition both domestically and abroad, paired with mature markets in western economies, explain lacklustre first half financial figures from mobile telecommunications manufacturers and from telecoms equipment vendors, analysts say.

Selected results for H1 2011 illustrate what happens when manufacturers fall behind in introducing competitive mobile phones.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

SAUDI Arabia’s failure to secure a wide-ranging atomic energy treaty with the USA, continues to push the oil-rich country into the arms of other nuclear suiters, experts on the kingdom have told World Nuclear News. The Saudis plan is to invest USD112 billion over the next 20 years to build 16 nuclear power plants (NPPs) to offset rising domestic energy demand and retain its position as a leading hydrocarbons exporter.…

BY GERARD O’DWYER

THE HELSINKI-Malmi Action Group’s (HMAG) capital investment proposal to develop Helsinki-Malmi airport as the Finnish capital’s main hub for budget airlines has yet to garner significant support within Finland’s new conservative-socialist rainbow government.

Krista Kiuru, Finland’s communications minister, says the government is interested in considering state-support for developing a budget airline airport near Helsinki, but will await investigative reports before making a decision.…

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

The European Union (EU) robustly protects traditional drink product names, so a Finnish brandy maker took risks when using the name Cognac on its bottles. These were made clear today (July 14), when the European Court of Justice (ECJ) annulled Gust.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, MARK ROWE, GERARD O’DWYER, ALAN OSBORN and MJ DESCHAMPS

COGENERATION has been something of a test-bed for European Union (EU) energy development policy, and like any experiment, some things have worked and others have not. Also, because other energy priorities have become the subject of more effective legislation recently, cogeneration has been left behind to some extent in the EU’s push for a cleaner, greener, sustainable and more liberal energy sector.…

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 KEITH NUTHALL

PERSONALISED medicines are one of those innovations that are so patently a good idea, it is almost inconceivable that they will not be the norm in 10 or 20 years’ time. Taking pharmaceuticals without checking your molecular make up for side-effect risks will probably be seen as dumb, or worse, the subject of negligence claims.…

By John Pagni in Helsinki

The Areva/Siemens project to supply Finland’s TVO with the world’s first third generation EPR (European Pressurised water Reactor) at Olkiluoto on the Finnish west coast has suffered a number of problems but these have not shaken the faith of those concerned in the essential viability of the design.…

BY JOHN PAGNI

FINLAND is bucking the post-Fukushima trend of abandoning nuclear power, pushing ahead with its reactor construction programme.

The cost of building Olkiluoto 3, the 1,600MW European pressurised water reactor nuclear power plant is currently Euro EUR3.2 billion. Although four years behind schedule, project supporters remain positive: "Once we were told it would be delayed, the timetable didn’t matter.…

BY JOHN PAGNI

While the rest of the world has called a halt in nuclear energy development after the Fukushima disaster, Finland’s pace-setting enthusiasm flows serenely on with construction and new plant permits continuing apace. The Finns’ pragmatism was illustrated in April’s general election when the Greens lost five seats after a 1.2% fall in their vote despite what might have been thought a powerful and timely boost for the anti-nuclear lobby.…

BY JOHN PAGNI

Åland islands gird themselves for renewed battle over snus

Autonomous Baltic archipelago wants clarity over snus sales on ferries. It fears existing complications will cause ferries to become Swedish-flagged, losing it revenue and jobs. Åland government wants the issue considered under the EU’s tobacco products directive review.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

The European Union’s (EU) agriculture commissioner wants to preserve or even increase EU food spending beyond its current Euro EUR44 billion-a-year whileEU national governments implement austerity cuts. In a debate yesterday (January 13) at a European Parliament policy challenges committee meeting DacianCiolo?…

BY JOHN PAGNI

NORDICS take their global civic responsibilities seriously – paying more than mere lip-service to requests to cut global warming emissions especially. Finland is a case in point, putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to renewable fuels.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

WITH sales of biofuels still very much in their nascent stage and concerns rising about the environmental impact of biofuels growing, research and development into ‘second-generation’ biofuels is going ahead apace. And a key element of this work is lowering CO2 emissions from fuel by using waste alternative sources of material for conversion to biofuel.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

WITH sales of biofuels still very much in their nascent stage and concerns rising about the environmental impact of biofuels growing, research and development into ‘second-generation’ biofuels is going ahead apace. And a key element of this work is lowering CO2 emissions from fuel by using waste alternative sources of material for conversion to biofuel.…

BY KEITN NUTHALL

30

THE NORTH Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is taking the threat of cyberattacks on business and government computing networks so seriously, it is staging cyberwarfare trials. The world’s strongest military alliance in November held the Cyber Coalition 2010 exercise near Mons, Belgium, and remote locations to test cyber-attack agencies and NATO strategic decision making.…

BY KEITN NUTHALL

THE UNITED States has been asked to consider extending the statute of limitations for prosecuting foreign bribery offences. The call comes in a report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development’s (OECD) Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

ALTHOUGH the regulatory push towards the use of biofuels has largely been inspired by environmental motives – primarily aimed towards delivering carbon savings – many concerns have been raised around the idea that these eco-friendly fuels might be damaging engines and vehicle performance.…

BY JOHN PAGNI

THE NORD Stream natural gas pipeline, linking Russia with Germany, is not just making political waves, but inspiring technological innovations. Its developers appear to be taking environmental issues seriously. This could appease the project’s doubters.

When completed by the end of 2012, two parallel pipelines will stretch 1,224 kilometres from Vyborg in Russia to Greifswald on Germany’s Baltic coast, linking with EU networks, notably those run by DONG Energy (Denmark), Germany’s E.ON…

BY JOHN PAGNI

MAINLY known as a flagship paper and telecommunications outpost, the Nordic country of Finland is poised for an unprecedented metals mining boom, its government is claiming. Employment and economy ministers Mauri Pekkarinen said on August 8 at Haapranta at the official opening of Tapojärvi Oy’s new plant for handling stainless steel slag: "Finland will become a major European miner within the next 10 years with mine output growing tenfold based on demand for metals and rare earths allied to increasing production technology efficiencies.…

BY MARK ROWE and GERARD O’DWYER

CONCERNS over climate change often refer to the potential thawing of the Arctic permafrost, where large-scale releases of methane could significantly accelerate global warming. Yet at the same time, governments and energy companies are weighing up the potentially lucrative reserves of methane lying below the permafrost that covers the Siberian continental shelf, and extends up to 1,000 kilometres into the Arctic Ocean.…

BY GERARD O’DWYER

IF there is one region where high standards in fighting money laundering and terrorist finance are expected, it is surely the five Nordic states: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. Notwithstanding the criticism leveled at Iceland’s financial regulators during the credit crunch, all five countries have admirable traditions of public openness, government efficiency and international cooperation, especially amongst themselves.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has signalled it is unlikely to intervene to prevent the proposed takeover of Ukraine’s gas pipeline network by Russia’s Gazprom. Displaying his relatively relaxed attitude to closer energy links with Moscow, new German EU energy Commissioner Günter Oettinger told a press conference: "The decision has to come between Kiev and Moscow and not in Brussels."…

BY MONIKA HANLEY

THE BALTIC States and their eastern neighbours have long been viewed as a cheap supply of labour and goods to the rich countries within the European Union (EU), but now local companies and governments are looking to expand biofuel production to satisfy both growing domestic and export demand.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Union (EU) research project is developing a polymeric nano-composite designed to frame non-load bearing curtain exterior walls for buildings, replacing the aluminium and steel used in the past.

The FACOMP project, funded with Euro 954,000 from the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), involves British composites manufacturer Exel Composites, which is based in Runcorn, Cheshire, and is part of a Finnish-owned global group.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WITH a new European Commission in office, major decisions can now be made on pushing ahead with European Union (EU) energy policy priorities: Brussels has released a Euro 4 billion package of 31 gas infrastructure (and 12 electricity) projects.…

BY GERARD O’DWYER

NORDIC governments are pushing ahead with energy-centered reforms to build a significantly larger regional market for the production and sale of biofuels. All these neighbouring countres are expected to follow Sweden’s lead and implement policies to eliminate fossil fuel dependence by 2030, Sigbjørn Johnsen (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT), Norway’s finance minister, said in an address to the country’s Storting (parliament) on December 14.…

BY JOHN PAGNI

HAILING from arguably Europe’s most egalitarian country, Finns take equality seriously. So when it appears that some are being treated differently from others, even the normally phlegmatic, taciturn Finnish trucker may be roused into voicing an opinion.

Being a large country with a small population and a good road network, congestion is rare.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

A SHIPMENT of Chinese ‘Global Accessories’ branded scarves have been seized by Finnish border authorities because the garments’ dark blue stripes contained banned azocolourants, reported European Union consumer alert service RAPEX. These azocolourants broke European Union environmental legislation because they leached over 15 times the allowed amount of benzidine and over six times the legal amount of 3.3′-dimethoxybenzidine.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE POLISH and Finnish governments have come under intense legal pressure from the European Commission to implement European Union (EU) directive 2008/39/EC on plastic materials and articles in contact with food. Brussels has sent legal final warnings to Warsaw and Helsinki giving them two months to explain how they will bring their national laws in line.…

BY GERARD O’DWYER

FOR those seduced by the idea that Nordic countries are full of healthy statuesque blond super-beings eating perfect diets and exercising regularly, it may come as something of a surprise to learn that obesity is on the rise in the region.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CHEMICAL companies including dying businesses and their suppliers were invited to the first Helsinki Chemicals Forum in May 27-29, which will be an annual meeting of chemical firms, researchers, regulators and pressure groups. It is being organised by the Chemicals Forum Association, the European Commission and the European Chemical Agency (ECHA), which is based in the Finnish capital

ENDS…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

ARSENIC and lead has been discovered by UK authorities in unmolassed sugar beet pulp pellets exported from Austria, the European Union’s RASFF food product consumer safety alert system has warned. Meanwhile, Finnish health authorities have reported the presence of norovirus in frozen raspberries from Poland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has raised concerns about the effectiveness of the European Union’s (EU) RAPEX rapid alert consumer protection service that highlights dangerous products – often clothing and textile containing illegal dyes banned in the EU. Although the system swiftly alerts consumer protection authorities within the EU’s 27 countries, it has encountered difficulties in tracing original manufacturers outside the EU, warned a Commission report.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE DEBATE over alternative sources of energy for aviation has not been confined to aircraft. The issue has airport managers pondering how such fuels would be used on the ground and at the same to seek to reduce the carbon footprints of their own ‘mini-cities’.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE COSMETICS markets in Scandinavia, as elsewhere in the developed world, face an uncertain 2009. Iceland’s economic crisis is well documented but the few surviving local producers are presenting a determined face to the challenges they face. On the other hand, the markets of Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark look likely to slow after healthy growth in 2008 (this growth almost universally excluded sunscreens, on account of the wet summer of 2008), but also to escape the worst of the problems.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FINLAND’S VTT Technical Research Centre is coordinating a project involving the production of biofuels from rotting fish waste. The Euro 2.5 million European Union-funded ENERFISH project is using waste form a Vietnam catfish-processing plant as feedstock. A biodiesel production plant will be built next door to quickly commercialise technology developed during the three-year project.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN EXTRAORDINARY European Union (EU) Council of Ministers energy meeting has agreed medium and long-term measures to prevent a recurrence of a future gas supply crisis resembling this month’s row between Russia and the Ukraine. Ministers said the EU would fund improved metering, promote administrative transparency in gas supply systems feeding into member states’ networks, improved gas interconnection infrastructure and creating a better early warning system.…

By Alan Osborn

The European Commission has launched a major consultation about the development of information and communications technology (ICT) in the EU following indications that Europe is slipping further behind in the global technology race.

The consultation runs until 7th November (see http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=ICTRDI)…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

INTERNATIONAL standards ensuring cigarettes are designed with a reduced risk of them causing fires are being taken forward in Europe, with the European Commission requesting a technical guideline by 2010. This would be approved by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) whose European standard would try to ensure a "reduced ignition propensity of cigarettes."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CONCERNS that antibacterial cleaning products are weakening the natural immunity of children against diseases will be assessed by Euro 6 million research project involving 7,000 children in Finland, Estonia and north-western Russia’s Karelia. All three test areas have similar ethnic backgrounds, but widely differing standards of living and domestic cleanliness.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WORKING groups for the new European Nuclear Energy Forum have started investigating the opportunities and risks facing Europe’s nuclear power sector, while examining how it can improve its transparency.

Following up an inaugural conference held in Bratislava last November 2007, three groups of high level nuclear experts have staged meetings and circulated papers.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

NEARLY a year after Nicolas Sarkozy was elected president, the widely expected Thatcherite revolution in France he was supposed to bring about has still to arrive. He talked boldly during his election campaign of radical labour market reforms including an end to France’s rigid employment practices, overhaul of the 35-hour working week and at least a start at dismantling the hugely expensive pensions and other perks enjoyed by transport and utility workers.…

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 KEITH NUTHALL

UNANIMOUS agreement has been secured at the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers over a recovery plan for bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Amidst widespread concern about overfishing and low stock levels, ministers have written into EU law, stock management policies for eastern bluefin tuna recommended by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) in 2006.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has circulated throughout the European Union (EU) series of consumer alerts made over potentially harmful nail polish receiving retail bans in member states. Using its RAPEX alert service, the Commission warned of a marketing ban in Estonia of US-made nail polish range Pinnacle.…

BY LUCY JONES, in Dallas, Texas, ALAN OSBORN, in London, and PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut.

AS American gas prices once again edge closer to the US$3 a gallon mark – the point at which an all-pervading quiet panic besets the US retail market – staff at the country’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s hotline know busy times are ahead.…

BY MARK ROWE

WEATHER-resistant and anti-corrosion coatings and sealants are being developed with the aid of nanotechnology that will significantly enhance the lifetime operation of buildings and property across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. Most of the developments are expected to be particularly welcome in the Asia-Pacific region, where the hot and humid climate imposes a more onerous regime on paints and coatings.…

BY RACHEL JONES, in Caracas

A NUMBER of factors have contributed to a booming Latin American market in soap, perfume and cosmetics – most importantly, regional economic growth and a healthy overall GDP. Hair care is the region’s biggest seller, but an increase in life expectancy has created a growing demand for skin care products, especially those related to anti-aging and sun protection.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission will plead at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a ruling telling Finland to guarantee that temporary visitors to the country are exempt from paying its car registration tax. Brussels claims the Finnish system breaks European Union (EU) taxation rights enshrined in EU directive 83/182/EEC.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) air passengers are generally supportive of today’s increased airport security measures, a European Commission-funded Gallup opinion poll has revealed. Across all 27 member states, a majority of informed respondents (61%) consider airport security controls appropriate, one quarter (24%) insufficient and only 16% excessive.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FINLAND’S alleged failure to crack-down sufficiently hard on the sale of oral tobacco in its autonomous Åland Islands region has prompted the formal warning of potential further legal action by the European Commission. It is threatening a request that Helsinki receive daily recurring fines of Euro 1,000s until the islands comply with European Union (EU) directive 2001/37/EC, which bans oral tobacco from the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and CHRISTOPHER JONES

WHEN the idea of creating a European Institute of Technology (EIT) was tabled by the European Commission last year, it provoked intense criticism amongst the European academic community. But now, 18 months after the first formal proposals were released, the EIT looks likely to be established anyway.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS concerns increase about the security of the European Union’s (EU) supplies of oil and gas, the European Commission has put in place a network of security experts charged with monitoring threats to the EU’s energy flows and raising alarms if necessary.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has censured Finland for requiring drivers of vehicles who motor in Finland for more than a week to secure Finnish registration, at the full fee rate, even if their car is legally registered elsewhere in the European Union (EU).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COMPROMISE over the vexed question of how vodka should be labelled in the European Union (EU) looks likelier after the European Parliament’s environment committee largely backed the approach pioneered by last year’s Finnish presidency of the EU.…

BY MARK ROWE

NANOTECHNOLOGY is assisting paint manufacturers to offer new products across an extremely diverse range of industries, a new report from the Scotland-based Institute of Nanotechnology has claimed. Distinctive features include nanostructured antibacterial surfaces, anti-microbial polymers and coatings; self-cleaning and changing colours; and anti-microbial and anti-corrosion coatings.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

AFTER nearly five years of intense negotiation and an unprecedented degree of lobbying, the European Union’s (EU) REACH system (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) is close to final agreement by the EU institutions. The legislation, which will vitally affect the cost and availability of raw materials to the solvents and adhesive industries and – industry watchers fear – may potentially drive many smaller companies out of business, is strongly supported by health and environment organisations but fiercely opposed by industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

LEGAL experts are undermining the provisional compromise agreement over the European Union (EU) definition of vodka stitched together by the current EU Finnish presidency. The Finns have claimed "a broad majority" for a deal where vodkas made from non-traditional products, such as grapes, are sold as ‘vodka made/distilled from (add ingredient used)’.…

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 Union (EU) Council of Ministers has today (Tue) delayed a decision on setting new raised minimum excise duties on alcohol for up to seven months and maybe longer, asking the European Commission to investigate the issue.…

BY ANDREW CAVE, in Bologna

THE INTENSE concerns felt by the European food industry over the incoming European Union (EU) regulation on nutritional and health claims on labelling have been aired at a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) conference. The opening day of a three-day meeting in Bologna, Italy, allowed delegates from major food companies and key regulators to debate the regulation, that businesses still want reformed before it comes into force.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have moved towards finalising a deal over the vexed question of what ingredients are allowed in an EU-sold drink labeled ‘vodka’, although this would discriminate against vodka-style drinks made from non-traditional products.

The Finnish presidency of the council said there was "a broad majority within the council" which could support its "general approach" regarding a hotly contested "proposal for a regulation on the definition, description, presentation and labelling of spirit drinks…" This is a significant advance on previous council meetings, where there has been no agreement.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) body established to help EU prosecutors and crime fighters pursue cross-border investigations has signed an agreement with the United States, maybe making it assist trans-Atlantic extraditions. In a potentially controversial move, given the uproar surrounding cases such as the Nat West Three extradition, Eurojust can now stage joint meetings with USA judicial authorities, "where data regarding cases under evaluation of charges are considered".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE FINNISH government has helped secure the withdrawal from sale of 14 lines of tops because of concerns that their drawstrings could strangle children wearing them. The offending products were from Denmark, China, India, Hong Kong and Estonia, and included the BOYSTAR fleece-jacket; the BOGI Aaron-jacket; JONATHAN ECO CLIMATE baby overalls; and other lines, reported the European Commission’s RAPEX consumer alert service.…

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 ALAN OSBORN

CURRENT European Union (EU) president Finland will this year urge fellow member states to raise the political profile of alcohol across Europe as a threat to public health, bringing in specific measures to curb abuses. Its views are particularly important this year, because the European Commission is buffing up just such a plan for release in September or October, and the Finns will be pushing or agreement at the EU Council of Ministers in December.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FINLAND has been told by the European Commission to scrap a law telling drivers of vehicles who motor in Finland for more than a week to secure Finnish registration, at the full fee rate, even if a car is legally registered elsewhere in the European Union (EU).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and DAVID HAWORTH, in Brussels

SIIM Kallas is the first European Commission to have been appointed with the explicit job of fighting fraud in the European Union (EU). Every anti-fraud specialist knows that the complex and sometimes opaque procedures and administration of the EU can present a honeypot to fraudsters, and the EU has long had difficulty in nailing the problem.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE NEW Finnish presidency of the European Union (EU) has given reforming alcohol taxation a fourth priority regarding financial and economic affairs for the next six months. In a report to the first EU finance council, which it chairs, Finland said alcohol tax reform, levelling up minimum rates, should be considered ahead of VAT reform, expanding the Euro currency, and finalising the EU budget.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is dangling the carrot of a comprehensive European Union (EU) free-trade deal in front of Russia, as a way of securing cheaper and more reliable gas and oil supplies. Commission president José Manuel Barroso has said the EU will offer Russia an outright and comprehensive free trade deal once it has joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO), something that could happen this year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission’s dangling the carrot of a comprehensive European Union (EU) free trade deal in front of Russia to secure cheaper and more reliable gas and oil supplies would also encourage their mutual trade in nuclear materials and technology.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Commission-funded report has recommended that alcoholic drinks carry health warnings on bottles and cans, a proposal that could find favour with the oncoming Finnish presidency of the European Union (EU). Finland has already stated that reducing health problems caused by alcohol would be a priority of its July-December presidency, and could be a willing ally if the Commission follows up the recommendation.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

THE FINNISH government is to challenge the European Commission’s proposals for a broad definition of vodka under the proposed new European Union (EU) spirit labelling regulations, exploiting its oncoming strong position as EU president. Finland will use its control over EU Council of Ministers business to try and secure agreement that only drinks made from cereals or potatoes can be labelled ‘vodka’.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH

THE PAINT and coatings industry is a small but brightly shining star in the Finnish economy’s firmament, and one, which, as might be expected, has all the virtues of specialised Nordic industrial sectors.

These include a mature market, a great familiarity between manufacturers and customers in a society of little more than five million and harsh winter conditions, which dictate the high consumption of paints.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A SPECIAL European Parliament hearing on European Union (EU) energy liberalisation has heard concerns that cross-border supplies could actually raise prices in European countries currently enjoying cheap bills. The parliament’s industry, research and energy committee was told by Finnish green-left MEP Esco Seppänen that consumers in countries where energy prices have been low because of cheap nuclear and hydro power could rise: "We don’t want to have German or Dutch prices in Finland and our consumers don’t want to suffer because of the liberalisation of energy markets," he said.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has censured Finland’s road tax laws for preventing Finnish resident frontier workers, with a job in another European Union (EU) member state, from bringing their car home from their workplace. The ECJ has declared Finland "in breach of its EU treaty obligations on the freedom of movement of workers" by insisting Finland residents obtain Finnish car tax for their vehicles, even those generally used for work abroad.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Helsinki

BY its own lights Finland is a model of Nordic virtue and is snooty about crime in neighbouring countries round the Baltic. But Interpol begs to differ, ranking Finnish criminality as high for an industrialised economy.…

BY LIZ HALL, in Alicante

SINCE March 2005, Operation White Whale, an extensive international anti-money-laundering operation spearheaded by the Spain’s National Police (the Policia Nacional), has produced the arrest of 57 people and the laundering of at least Euro 250 million euros obtained through illegal drug trafficking, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry (Ministerio del Interior).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has supported proposals to allow Finland re-impose restrictions beer its citizens can import from Russia, because of fears about booming cross-border sales. Under European law, private travellers can normally import 200 litres of beer from third countries into Finland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have been asked to allow Finland to re-impose restrictions on the beer that its citizens can import from Russia, because of fears of runaway cross-border sales. Under EU directive 69/169/EEC, private travellers would normally be entitled to import 200 litres of beer from third countries into Finland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) courts should not “disproportionately” reduce insurance payouts to passengers involved in car accidents when they are partly of wholly responsible for a crash, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. Setting an EU precedent in a Finnish case, judges said that under European law, the fact a passenger might also be the owner of the vehicle involved was “irrelevant” when assessing policy payments.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ANTI-DRUG officials in the European Union (EU) have confessed to being such cultural dinosaurs, it was five years after reports about ecstasy emerged in youth, music and lifestyle magazines before they started collecting and reporting data on the drug.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE GOVERNMENT’S introduction of identity cards has long been a hot political issue, but whatever the result of this week’s election lawyers will get their own cards, courtesy of the European Parliament. Its internal market committee has suggested creating a European Union (EU) professionals’ identity card, helping British lawyers gain international recognition for their skills.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has moved to extend its control of fishing in the Baltic Sea, following the accession of four Baltic eastern European states to the EU last year. With Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania becoming member states, the Baltic is largely an EU zone, excluding small stretches of Russian territorial waters – off Kaliningrad and St Petersburg.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
UNTIL now the human eye has reigned supreme in textile and clothing companies wanting to carefully check dye colour quality in their products, but that, claims the European Space Agency (ESA), is now ending. It has helped to develop an artificial eye, now being sold to textile companies to help them monitor dying quality, reducing wastage.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) courts can excuse insurers from having to pay compensation payments owed by motor policyholders when their victims are partly to blame for a road accident, a European Court of Justice (ECJ) official has concluded. Advocate general Leendert Geelhoed said national court judges should decide such cases, unfettered by EU directives on insurance and civil liability.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition of Finnish snacks company Chips group by Norway consumer good producer Orkla. This follows the Norwegians’ offer to scrap Chips’ distribution of frozen pizzas within Finland via Sweden’s Gunnar Dafgard, to prevent the merged group dominating the Finnish frozen pizza market.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) courts can excuse insurers from having to pay compensation payments owed by motor policyholders when their victims are partly to blame for a road accident, a European Court of Justice (ECJ) official has concluded. Advocate general Leendert Geelhoed said national court judges should decide such cases, unfettered by EU directives on insurance and civil liability.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has supported proposals to allow Finland re-impose restrictions beer its citizens can import from Russia, because of fears about booming cross-border sales. Under European law, private travellers can normally import 200 litres of beer from third countries into Finland.…

BY LIZ HALL, in Alicante

SINCE March 2005, Operation White Whale, an extensive international anti-money-laundering operation spearheaded by the Spain’s National Police (the Policia Nacional), has produced the arrest of 57 people and the laundering of at least Euro 250 million euros obtained through illegal drug trafficking, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry (Ministerio del Interior).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A FORMAL complaint has been lodged with the European Commission by the Finnish Food Marketing Association about Finland’s alcohol sales monopoly system, which the group claims breaks European Union (EU) competition law. The association claims Finland’s Alko has moved away from its original role of limiting the sale of alcohol, instead becoming an effective marketing machine.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has confirmed that countries in its eastern Europe and central Asia area of focus are booming because of high oil prices. Its annual 2004 Transition Report says Russia and the Ukraine are experiencing “skyrocketing annual growth”, making the former Warsaw Pact the world’s second-fastest-growing region (up 6.1%), next to China and its southern neighbours.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is taking Finland to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) claiming that the country’s vehicle transfer permit system breaks European Union (EU) freedom of movement of goods rules. Residents of Finland wanting to bring into the country a vehicle previously registered and used in another EU member state must apply at the Finnish border for a temporary transfer permit, including temporary licence stickers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) pesticide residue laws are designed to prevent food consumers poisoning themselves with insect killer, but that important fact has not stopped European law being as much of an ass as its British cousin. For the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is expected to rule that vine leaves are not covered by European Union (EU) pesticide residue legislation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SPANISH and Finnish governments have failed in a legal attempt to scrap the European Union’s (EU) working time directive regarding professional road transport drivers. Both countries claimed at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that the legislation should not have applied to self-employed drivers, but this was rejected by the ECJ, along with other complaints.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
ESTONIA’S prime minister Juhan Parts has refused to increase his government’s planned 20% hike in strong alcohol duty rates, despite pressure from neighbouring Finland for a steeper rise. Visiting Helsinki, Mr Parts heard arguments that next year’s planned tax change would add only a few cents to a bottle of strong grain liquor which retails for about Euro 3 in Estonia, while selling for Euro 9 a bottle in Finland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A STUDY ordered into the effects of European Union (EU) chemical control system REACH has been roundly criticised by members of the European Parliament committee that ordered it. Wiesbaden-based company Arthur D. Little’s report claimed that REACH could cause “a 2.9% loss in GDP and a 24.7% loss in (chemical and related industry) production”.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
ESTONIA’S prime minister Juhan Parts said his government would not boost a planned 20% hike in strong alcohol duty rates, despite pressure from neighbouring Finland. Visiting Helsinki, Mr Parts heard arguments that next year’s planned tax change would do little to halt the boom in personal alcohol imports to Finland since Estonia joined the EU in May.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FINNISH courts should examine their country’s ‘autovero’ car tax system to see whether it is unfair to drivers importing cars from other European Union (EU) member countries, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. If national judges say it is unfair to charge the full tax on drivers who have already paid car tax in another EU country, then they should demand the system be reformed, said the ECJ.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FINNISH government has cut its high spirits taxes by one-third on average and its levies on wine and beer by around five and 10 percent respectively, to stop massive cross-border shopping when neighbouring low-tax Estonia joins the European Union (EU) in May.…

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 MARK ROWE
THE LARGEST museum in the world and – arguably – the grandest of them all, the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg is returning to its roots. In the middle of a long and painstaking modernisation process, the Russian museum is striving, in addition to the urgent physical restoration required to bring the museum into the 21st century, to recapture the ambience of its Imperial origins, when its vast palaces were the residence of the Tsars.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
INERT mining residues should be regarded as waste under European Union (EU) and national laws controlling their disposal, unless they are immediately reused, for instance by filling disused mine shafts, the European Court of Justice has ruled. It was making an advisory judgement in a Finnish case involving mining company AvestaPolarit Chrome Oy, which wants to dispose of underground waste from a chromium mine by crushing, dressing and fine-dressing.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Commission proposals to boost nuclear energy safety in Europe have come under fire from the British and German governments as well as the European Parliament, making it highly unlikely that they will be approved unscathed. In an unusual joint letter to the Commission, UK prime minister Tony Blair and German chancellor Gerhard Schröder criticised Brussels’ proposed directive, claiming that it would not deal tangible benefits in nuclear security.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the acquisition of full control of the Finnish pharmaceutical distributor Tamro Oyj by German pharmacist Phoenix International Beteiligungs GmbH. The decision followed a cursory examination of the potential competition problems. The Commission swiftly decided there were none and fast tracked the decision, after being notified about the deal on August 29.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Commission proposals to boost nuclear energy safety in Europe have come under fire from the European Parliament. MEPs has supported a critical report by Finnish MEP Esko Olavi Seppänen saying it fails to indicate any weaknesses in existing nuclear safety regulations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has offered to open up the European Union’s market in environmental services to suppliers based outside the EU, as part of the ongoing Doha Development Round at the World Trade Organisation.

If its trading partners offer adequate concessions in return, Brussels is offering to remove regulatory restrictions to foreign providers of waste water, sanitation, solid and hazardous waste management, soil clean-ups, air pollution reduction and similar services.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FINNISH government is being threatened with legal action at the European Court of Justice for allegedly failing to protect the vulnerable Siberian flying squirrel (Pteromys volans). Finland is the only European Union home of this species, which lives in old forests.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A LARGE step has been made by the European Commission towards guaranteeing non-European Union lawyers and law firms the right to establish themselves in any EU Member State, with this principle, (hedged by some exemptions), being offered at the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Development Round.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FINNISH lawyers are the most lightly regulated in the European Union (EU), according to the surprising results of a European Commission-funded survey designed to promote the need for liberalisation in Europe’s liberal professions. Oddly, Greece, not known for its adherence to EU rules, has the union’s most heavily regulated legal profession; under a statistical indices developed by the Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, Greece has a regulation burden of 9.5, while the laissez-faire Finns score a tiny 0.3.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FINNISH Energy Industries Federation has published guidelines on how to improve corporate social responsibility in its sector. The European Commission said that the paper was of particular relevance to the nuclear industry, as four reactors supply 30 per cent of the country’s electricity, a figure set to grow because of the approval of a new reactor by Finland’s parliament this year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
COMPETITION clearance has been granted by the European Commission to the planned deal involving Finnish paper manufacturer UPM-Kymmene Corporation acquiring Morgan Adhesives, a United States-based company making adhesive labels for manufacturers. Brussels concluded after an inquiry that the takeover would not damage competition in the European Union (EU) as US-based Avery Dennison would remain the market leader in Europe.…

Keith Nuthall
FINLAND’S tough levy on non-reusable beverage packaging is under attack from the European Commission, which is claiming that the charge could be a disguised and illegal trade restriction. Brussels is threatening to take the Finnish government to the European Court of Justice over the matter, which could order it to reform the system.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared a deal under which the UK’s Corus Group will relinquish its joint control of the Finnish undertaking AvestaPolarit Oyj Abp, a producer of stainless steel to the present joint owner Outokumpu Oyj, a Finnish mining company.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE GLOBAL demand for paper is set to surge ahead, despite the harbingers of doom who predicted that IT advances would create a paper-less world, according to the latest World Commodity Survey of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, (UNCTAD).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
STONE discards stored by a quarry for future sales, should be classified as waste under European Union regulations, even if they do not “pose any real risk to human health or the environment” the European Court of Justice has ruled.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
LETS face it. The reputation of the European Union for taking firm action against crime is not solid. Rather it is known for issuing waffley communiqués that say what needs to be done, without saying when or how.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FINNISH government has been ordered by the European Commission to change legislation that disqualifies car passengers from insurance cover when the driver is drunk and involved in an accident. Brussels says this exclusion of passengers’ injuries contravenes the EU’s second motor insurance directive, which seeks to harmonise national regulations for the sector and to safeguard the interests of persons who may be injured in a motor vehicle accident.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A FINNISH district heating business has been given permission by the European Commission to secure sole control of a Swedish electricity joint venture in which it already has 50 per cent ownership. Fortum Oyj will now be able to own 100 per cent of Birka Energi AB, which is currently part owned by the City of Stockholm.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FATHER Christmas would have been appalled; European Commission officials have been censured for enjoying the hospitality of a Russian game exporter, which they subsequently granted permission to send reindeer meat to the European Union.

Jacob Söderman, the European Ombudsman has played Santa, ruling that these Eurocrats compromised themselves during a fact-finding mission to Russia, by allowing Sweden-based company Norrfrys Ab to lay on lunch, hotel and flight reservations, temporary fax facilities, interpretation services and inspection cars.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
AN ADVOCATE General of the European Court of Justice has ruled that by using the value of a new car as a yardstick for determining the taxes on an imported second-hand vehicle, Finland is violating EU treaty regulations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is threatening to take Belgium and Finland to the European Court of Justice, claiming that their mandatory no-claims bonus systems for motor insurance breaks the EU’s third non-life insurance directive.

Brussels claims that the regulations deny insurers the freedom to set scales of premiums allowed in the EU legislation.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
FINNISH steel companies Rautaruukki and Outokumpu are set to benefit from European Commission funding of Euro 600,000 granted to support the distribution of steel across Europe using alternatives to road transport.

The funded transport project is part of the EU’s PACT programme, which aims to move containers and similar units away from roads to rail, sea and inland waterways.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SIMPLICITY is not one the virtues that is readily associated with the institutions of the European Union, so it is refreshing to note that the European Parliament has recently taken a straightforward step to boost its accountability to the citizens of the continent that it serves.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FARMERS and food industry cooperatives have been encouraged by the European Commission to use the Internet as a way of improving communications with fellow producers, processors, distributors and customers.

Speaking to the Praesidium of EU cooperative movement COGECA, information society commissioner Erkki Liikanen urged these rural industries not to miss out on the opportunities offered by the development of e-commerce technologies.…