Search Results for: International Law

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is pushing ahead with its plans to harmonise European Union (EU) contract law, inviting legal practices to join a special policy-making network. This CFR-Net (common frame of reference) group will also incorporate consumer organisations and business groups.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GAZ de France’s domestic market dominance is risking energy liberalisation progress made by the French government, the International Energy Authority has warned. Although Paris had taken “commendable steps towards a sound legal and regulatory framework for liberalised energy markets….challenges…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE AWARD to Cyprus of the key European Commission health and consumer affairs portfolio could signal a waning of Brussels’ enthusiasm for tougher rules against smoking and cigarette sales. Cypriot Markos Kyprianou, 44, has been given the job in the new Commission that takes office in November.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
A SMALL group of Quebec wine and cider producers is trying to topple the Canadian province’s alcohol monopoly via an obscure 19th century law. The Association des Producteurs de Boissons Alcoolisées du Québec and some private supermarket owners have invoked an 1864 temperance law, petitioning municipalities to call local referendums on whether the monopolistic Societé des Alcools du Québec (SAQ) should sell alcohol in their areas.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A FORMAL ban on importing fur into the European Union (EU) from animals caught by leghold traps (and others considered inhumane) could finally be written into EU law. The European Commission has proposed a directive transposing international agreements struck in the late 1990’s with Russia, Canada and the USA, committing these countries to phasing out certain traps deemed particularly painful.…

BY EDWARD PETERS, in Hong Kong
HONG Kong might be renowned for being one of the safest cities in the world – mugging and other forms of street violence are practically unknown – but that’s not to say that commercial crime doesn’t rear its ugly head in the Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China, reports Edward Peters.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD’S oceans are acidifying by absorbing an unprecedented amount of carbon dioxide, maybe threatening the long-term survival of many marine species, especially calcifying organisms including corals and shellfish. This conclusion came in research released to a UNESCO/ International Council for Science meeting.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NASCENT tourism hotspot is being nurtured by the United Nations in Afghanistan, where the former Taliban government exploded the famous Bamiyan Buddha statues. The site also sports other archaeological remains and the scenic Band-i-Amir Lake, so is being visited by Kabul ex-pats Kabul and wealthier Afghans.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has its critics, heaven knows, but the renewable energy industry is rarely among them. Brussels likes green electricity production and is prepared to fund it. This is important as the EU has large budgets, as every Eurosceptic likes to point out.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
The fact that some member states have now missed the deadline for implementation coupled with variation in the measures passed means that there will be “an imbalance of obligations on lawyers across the EU” said the American Bar Association’s Section on Business Law (SBL).…