Search Results for: Netherlands
1498 results out of 1498 results found for 'Netherlands'.
UK-GERMANY NEUCONNECT INTERCONNECTOR COULD PROVIDE MODEL FOR CHEAP CLEAN ENERGY DISTRIBUTION
The investment to build the interconnector will amount to EUR2.8 billion, with the EIB set to contribute up to EUR400 million for the financing construction of the section within the European Union (EU). Other financiers include the UK Infrastructure Bank, which will focus on the stretch within UK maritime and land territory, and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).…
SUSTAINABILITY ACCOUNTING STANDARDS – IMPACT ON TEXTILES INDUSTRY
INTRODUCTION
ACCOUNTING used to be restricted to financially measurable matters of profit and loss; expenditure and revenue; taxes and subsidies; investment and liabilities. But the mathematical and statistical skills underpinning a solid set of books and filed accounts are today increasingly being used to measure the environmental and social sustainability of a product, input, production process and supply chain.…
NORTHER EUROPEAN RULE ON LIVESTOCK STUNNING TIGHTEN, CHALLENGING HALAL SECTOR DEVELOPMENT
A disconnect is growing between some European jurisdictions and halal certification systems over the stunning of livestock, which has the potential to stymie the growth of halal meat production.
Since last December (2020), European Union member states have had a freer hand to impose stunning requirements, even on proponents of religious slaughter, including kosher as well as halal production, because of a European Court of Justice (ECJ) decision.…
FIGHTING FRAUD IN THE HALAL FOOD INDUSTRY
Fraud in the global halal food sector is emerging as a widespread problem. A series of scandals have rocked the industry worldwide, and shone a spotlight on the difficulty of eliminating non-halal practices from increasingly large and complicated food supply chains. …
CAP REFORM SHOULD AID DECLINING FARMING POPULATION, SAY EXPERTS
The European Union (EU) dairy industry is looking hard at the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms that were approved in June to see if they deliver enough help to rejuvenate what has become an ageing industry. Currently only 11% of EU farmers are less than 40 years old, the European Commission notes (1), a problem highlighted at this year’s European Milk Board general assembly.…
POLAND CAN MANUFACTURING AND FILLING SECTOR OFFERS STRENGTHS IN INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY
The Polish can manufacturing and filling industry continues to attract attention from major buyers and investors from around the world, aware that this strong and innovating national sector is able to rely on a strong, reliable workforce.
Global beverage giant PepsiCo, for example, has been drawn to the Polish can manufacturing industry.…
RENEWABLE DIESEL GROWTH SET TO DISRUPT LIQUID FUEL INDUSTRY AND MARKET
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. …
IMAGINATION AND INNOVATION PUSHES SMALL-SCALE RENEWABLES INTO SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Sub-Saharan Africa has natural resources that aids the development of renewable energy, it has lots of sun, plentiful wind, and much potentially sustainable biomass. With the development of small-scale affordable renewable energy technologies, such systems have been promoted by major aid agencies keen to prevent deforestation and excessive reliance on fossil fuels, that – even where they are plentiful, have not usually led to widespread economic development.
…SENIOR UNIVERSITY OFFICIALS EXPLORE HOW TO INCREASE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF FEMALE STAFF AND STUDENTS
Somalia universities are developing innovative ways to attract and retain women in their higher education sector either as students, administrators or as part of the teaching staff. In this way, higher education institutions in this country that is still recovering from civil strife and armed unrest, are seeking to undermine the lack of positive policies and ongoing discrimination preventing women undertaking higher learning and gaining academic jobs in Somalia.…
KNITWEAR INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION ROUND UP
With its complex supply and distribution chain, the international knitwear sector fosters innovation, with commercial partners cross-fertilising technical and design ideas that span digitisation and mechanical smarts, as well as consumer-focused creativity.
One key area of innovation in the past year has been warp knitting – for instance by leading northern Italian warp seamless knitwear manufacturer Cifra (1), which last December (2020) launched an innovative and sustainable garment concept for women, spanning beachwear, athleisure bodywear and lingerie.…
THE CORONAVIRUS HAS FUELLED RENEWED GEOSTRATEGIC COMPETITION
A key political question emerging from the Coronavirus pandemic has been how the disease might readjust relations between this world’s two largest powers – the United States and China. The two countries have had two very different experiences of Covid-19, which reflect their contrasting social and political systems.…
BANGLADESH PLANS TO TAP INTO UNTAPPED FANCY LINGERIE MARKETS OVERSEAS
The Bangladesh innerwear industry has been witnessing robust growth in the past decade and this outsourcing hub is now competing effectively with its major rival China. The production value of the country’s intimate wear jumped from US216 million in 2012 to US1.078 billion in 2021, according to a report from data service Statista (1).…
WHY DO WE FAIL WHILE OTHERS SUCCEED?
One of the world-changing impacts of the Second World War was an understanding that unfettered competition between nation states was not just undesirable, but – if taken to its logical conclusion – would lead to war. Amidst the ruins of Europe, as an exhausted continent stumbled out of conflict, new thinking emerged, that economic links between neighboring countries be deliberately forged to create interdependence that would encourage cooperation to achieve wealth.…
COVID-19 PROMPTS MAJOR RETHINK ON TRAINING, MENTORING AND MOTIVATION IN AML
The Covid-19 pandemic has delivered experience about how an external crisis – in this case health – that forces AML officers to work at home, poses challenges in maintaining professional excellence. According to the Bank for International Settlements’ Financial Stability Institute an estimated 300 million office workers worked from home in May 2020, including 90% of banking and insurance workers.…
EU’S PROPOSAL FOR NEW TOBACCO LEGISLATION - A GAME-CHANGER FOR E-CIGARETTES
The European Union (EU) is currently considering reforming its excise duty rules for tobacco products, with the tobacco industry and commentators seeing the negotiation on the integration of e-cigarettes being one of the hottest topics. Today, e-cigarettes in the EU are treated just like any other product, falling under EU VAT rules, and are not subject to EU-excise laws that apply for conventional tobacco products or spirits for instance.…
RESEARCHERS VALUE ML BY PREDICATE OFFENCE – BUT DATA IS JUST ONE FACED OF RISK-BASED APPROACH
While the estimation of sources of laundered money is made imprecise by its inherent covert nature, the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC) has estimated that the amount of criminal proceeds processed annually is 2%-5% of global GDP, or USD800 billion to USD2 trillion.…
EUROPE AND US CCS PROJECTS TAKE OFF – WITH TWO APPROACHES TO DECARBONISATION
European and US interest in carbon capture and storage/sequestration (CCS) and carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) is continuing to surge as governments make ever more ambitious climate change commitments.
In tandem with improvements in technology mean capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from industrial processes, power generation or directly from the air, and either storing or using it, CCS/CCUS is no longer viewed as a marginal solution with limited applications. …
ANTI-FRAUD INVESTIGATION TECH DEVELOPS APACE – BUT IT SHOULD AID RATHER THAN REPLACE FACE-TO-FACE QUESTIONING, SAY EXPERTS
With electronic communication methods proliferating, as machine learning and artificial intelligence systems develop fast, the potential for using technology to detect deception and lies is growing. But interrogation experts maintain that the most effective way of detecting lies and deceit remains a combination of face-to-face interviews, backed up with analysis that can help them assess the resulting exchange.…
ANTI-FRAUD INVESTIGATION TECH DEVELOPS APACE – BUT IT SHOULD AID RATHER THAN REPLACE FACE-TO-FACE QUESTIONING, SAY EXPERTS
With electronic communication methods proliferating, as machine learning and artificial intelligence systems develop fast, the potential for using technology to detect deception and lies is growing. But interrogation experts maintain that the most effective way of detecting lies and deceit remains a combination of face-to-face interviews, backed up with analysis that can help them assess the resulting exchange.…
REGULATION OF TRANSPORT OF BIO-BASED OILS AND FATS BY SEE GETS MORE COMPLEX – BUT COMMERCIAL REWARDS REMAIN HIGH
THE TRANSPORT of edible oils and fats by sea is not just big business – it has become increasingly regulated under international convention and controlled by industry standards, with a view to improving efficiencies and reducing the risk of pollution and contamination.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – ICCO POISED TO WEAVE SUSTAINABILITY INTO GLOBAL COCOA AGREEMENT
THE RULING council of the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) is preparing to agree major reforms to the International Cocoa Agreement, which should see the agreement increase its commitment to boost sustainability in the chocolate sector.
Council members are considering final changes committing the ICCO to ensuring that cocoa production, processing and manufacture is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.…
THERMAL BATTERIES KNOCK AT DOOR OF COMMERCIAL VIABILITY
Last July (2020), Infracapital, the infrastructure team at UK-based investment managers M&G plc, invested EUR 110 million (USD130 million) in EnergyNest, a small Norwegian company that has developed a novel thermal battery technology. Its ThermalBattery (a trademark) batteries, consisting of a concrete-like storage material made from abundant, recyclable and non-hazardous geomaterials, store excess industrial heat until needed, enabling the transfer of industrial waste heat into electricity and renewable power in industrial heat processes.…
PAKISTAN DIGITAL TEXTILE PRINTING BUSINESS GROWS DESPITE COVID OUTBREAK
WITH an estimated annual growth of 15% regarding Pakistan’s future digital textile printing business, according to (WHO?), the sector’s outlook is positive, notably because of increasing digitally printed textile exports.
This growth has continued in the past 18 months, despite Covid-19, with more than a million cases as of July, albeit with a low confirmed death rate of 23,500 from its 225 million population.…
EASTERN EUROPEAN PAINT MANUFACTURERS RIDE THE COVID-19 DECORATION BOOM – BUT INDUSTRIAL COATINGS SALES WEAKEN
Eastern Europe is often a region of diversity when it comes to paint and coatings sector trends, but in the past year, the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted most sectors in a similar way. They experienced booms in DIY decorative sales, weaker industrial coating sales and are mow struggling with increased input costs.…
LUMINESCENT YARM IS MAJOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT GROWTH ZONE – BUT SUSTAINABILITY IS A CHALLENGE
INTRODUCTION
In a global textile and clothing market that is increasingly integrating design with functionality, the potential of luminescent yarns is becoming ever more apparent. The focus of groundbreaking research and development, there is widening diversity in this segment from luminescent coatings on yarns to those that integrate LEDs (light-emitting diodes).…
FEARS FOR EU-SWISS AML/CFT COOPERATION AFTER KEY TREATY TALKS FAIL
The Swiss Federal Council’s (Switzerland’s cabinet) May 26 unilateral decision to end seven years of negotiations on a new agreement to govern future relations between Switzerland and the European Union (EU), citing sovereignty concerns (1), closes the door on attempts to ensure the country has a formal link with EU AML/CFT legislation.…
EU SINGLE MARKET FOR HEMP VAPES IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS
Last November (2020), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that cannabidiol (CBD) liquids for e-cigarettes that were lawfully produced in a European Union (EU) member state are not narcotics and can be sold in any other EU country. The ruling was welcomed by the EU CBD sector, which has said it helps open-up the European market to products that often fall into a legal grey zone due to their origins in hemp, or cannabis with little or no intoxication effects.…
LIBYAN ACADEMICS WANT MORE RESEARCH CAPACITY TO BOOST ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL GROWTH AS PEACE TAKES HOLD
Libyan universities are looking to boost research capacity targeted at economic sectors that will be vital as the country attempts to recover from seven years of civil war running since 2014. A tentative peace has been holding so far this year, with an interim government planning elections for this winter.…
OSINT INQUIRY RESOURCES EXPAND IN SCOPE, BUT ARE INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO MANAGE
THE COVID-19 pandemic’s boom in web usage has created opportunities for hackers and fraudsters to attack the unwary through electronic networks, however, on the plus side the scope for open-source intelligence (OSINT) inquiries online to reveal useful information about these criminals is growing.…
EU PLASTICS RESTRICTIONS PRESENT OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS FOR METAL PACKAGING INDUSTRY
On July 3, 2021, the European Union’s (EU) groundbreaking, detailed and wide-ranging directive intended to reduce plastic litter came into force: the directive on single use plastics (SUP) (1) – as it affects a key competitor, the metal packaging sector has been keeping a close eye on the fallout.…
GLOBAL ASSOCIATION HELPS MAJOR COMPANIES WITH TOUGH JOB OF SANCTIONS COMPLIANCE
Companies breach sanctions laws at their peril. Fines of many thousands of dollars, and even jail terms, await the unwary or careless. Fortunately, an Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists (ACSS) has been created to advise businesses on negotiating the complex world of international sanctions compliance.…
TURKEY LOOKS TO BUILD BACK CAPACITY FOR QUALITY FABRIC MANUFACTURE
Turkey is struggling to recover its position as an important supplier of high-end and luxury fabrics, recouping sales lost on cost to Chinese rivals. The industry retains great potential strength, being the world’s fifth largest supplier of textiles selling USD12 billion exported annually, according to Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association (İTHİB – İstanbul Tekstil ve Hammaddeleri İhracatcilari Birlig).…
US DOLLAR’S DOMINANCE BEING CHALLENGED BY CRYPTO – BUT WILL THIS WEAKEN AMERICAN SANCTIONS AND AML ENFORCEMENT?
AMERICA has long been the global policeman of international sanctions, including breaches of AML rules, but evidence suggests that the US dollar’s use in international transactions could be weakening and is having to compete with the rising power of crypto currencies.…
EUROPEAN DAIRY INDUSTRY CONFIDENT IT WILL MEET EU CLIMATE LAW GOALS
EUROPEAN dairy experts say that the European Union (EU) climate law’s target to cut carbon emissions at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, compared to “between 50% and 55%” in the original proposal (1) and just 32.5% by 2030 in the 2018 law (2), will be a challenge, but one they can meet.…
DAIRY LEADERS EXPRESS SURPRISE AT BETTER-THAN-EXPECTED YEAR
Over the past year, the European Union’s (EU) dairy industry has weathered two storms: the departure of Great Britain from the EU single market and customs union, during the unprecedented lockdown measures adopted to contain Covid-19, all while EU lawmakers haggle over a major shakeup of agricultural regulations.…
COVID-19 TOBACCO SMUGGLING AND COUNTERFEITING IS BOON FOR ORGANISED CRIME
Covid-19 has reshaped commercial crime, and one lucrative offence taking a real turn for the worse is tobacco smuggling and counterfeiting. Keith Nuthall reports.
The Covid-19 pandemic has depressed incomes worldwide and forced lower income smokers to look for cheap smokes, which has included counterfeits or smuggled goods.…
COVID-19 TOBACCO SMUGGLING AND COUNTERFEITING IS BOON FOR ORGANISED CRIME
There is no doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic has fuelled the black-market trade in illicit and smuggled licit tobacco products. The disease has depressed income and forced lower income smokers to look for cheap smokes, which has included counterfeits or smuggled goods.…
GLOBAL CRYPTO-CURRENCY REGULATION NEEDED, SAY EXPERTS, AS AML/CFT CRYPTO-FINTECH GROWS IN SOPHISTICATION
An international model of rules for monitoring and control cryptocurrency operators and crypto-exchanges’ compliance with anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regulations worldwide, is needed, some AML/CFT specialists are arguing. Nina Kerkez, market planning director at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, said regulatory frameworks are currently being developed “at an alarming rate” in a wide range of jurisdictions, with significant divergences apparent in, for example, KYC/CDD requirements and when to file suspicious activity reports (SARs).…
EU ROUND UP – CYPRUS PRESSED TO APPOINT FULL-TIME EPPO PROSECUTOR
CYPRUS is under pressure to appoint a full-time prosecutor working with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), with the EPPO’s chief prosecutor Laura Kövesi claiming 10% of the office’s 3,000 anticipated initial cases will involve this small island country.
Kövesi was addressing a joint meeting of the European Parliament’s committees on civil liberties, justice and home affairs and budgetary control, saying the claim was based on data received from the 22 European Union (EU) member states participating in the EPPO, which includes offshore banking centre Cyprus.…
HYDROCARBON-BASED LUBRICANTS HAVE ROLES TO PLAY IN A DECARBONISING WORLD
Efforts to decarbonise transport and industry may be depressing global oil markets, but they are actually strengthening one key hydrocarbon niche – that of lubricants. Far from making such oils obsolete, the electric vehicles (EV) that are sold in increasing numbers (3.2 million worldwide in 2020 said the EV Volumes database) rely on transmission fluids, which can be made from fossil hydrocarbons.…
DUTCH FIU SETS UP BANK LIASON SYSTEM TO SHARE ANONYMISED AML ANALYSIS
The Dutch Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-Nederlands) (1) and four major banks – ABN AMRO, ING, Rabobank and de Volksbank – have set up the Fintell Alliance NL, a public private partnership (PPP) to work together at one physical location to combat the estimated EUR16 billion (USD18 billion) laundered through the Netherlands each year (2).…
CASH STILL KING FOR MONEY LAUNDERING, DESPITE IN CRYPTO AND ECOMMERCE FIAT TRANSACTIONS
Anti-money laundering specialists may be focusing on how crypto-currencies and online transactions pose an increasing ML/TF risk, especially with Covid-19 encouraging ecommerce, but the reality is that cash remains the money launderers’ best instrument for moving dirty money.
That is the conclusion of Gabriel Hidalgo, a managing director at risk specialists K2 Integrity, in New York: “Cash is king for ML; it continues to be king; and on the majority of levels, illicit actors will continue to use cash,” he said.…
MYANMAR CLOTHING SECTOR LIKELY TO BE MAJOR LOSER FROM COUP, WARNS USA INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION
The president of the United States Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) has warned that the military takeover in Myanmar could spark a significant shift in sourcing away from this south-east Asian country if democracy is not restored promptly. Julia Hughes told just-style: “If there is not a quick resolution, then yes we would expect a major shift to other Asian suppliers.”…
GOVERNMENT LARGESSE TO EASE COVID-19 IMPACT TARGETED BY FRAUDSTERS
THE ONSET of Covid-19 has caused many fraud problems, but a particular difficulty has been fraudsters exploiting the unprecedented government largesse released designed to prevent economic collapse at the hands of the pandemic. In the UK, for instance, the House of Commons public accounts committee issued a report in October (2020), saying that Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) had reported 8,000 allegations from employees that their employers – supposed to pay a lower level of wages to staff to receive furlough payments under the UK Job Retention Scheme – had not actually made these payments, or paid less than they should.…
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES PUSH FORWARD WITH KNOTTY PROBLEM OF PHASING OUT THEIR NUCLEAR POWER SECTORS
WHILE investment into nuclear energy continues, especially in emerging market countries such as China, in Europe, this sector continues to dwindle in size, with some key countries sticking to plans to phase out the technology.
Concerns about safety and the environmental cost of its waste have encouraged Belgium, for example, to stick to its goal, as laid down in a January 2003 law (1), of stopping any nuclear energy production within the country by 2025, experts have told Energy World.…
SAUDI ARABIA PAINT SECTOR VIEWS RECOVERY IN SHORT AND MEDIUM TERM AFTER COVID-19 PANDEMIC ENDS
The Saudi Arabian paint market is rebounding after a sluggish 2020, when sales declined due to an economic downturn caused by lower oil prices and the Covid-19 pandemic, as well the trebling of value added tax (VAT) across the kingdom. The World Bank has projected that this will cause a 5.4% contraction in national GDP, a highly unusual recession in a fossil-fuel rich country used to robust growth.…
EU LAUNCHES FIRST ‘EUDAMED’ MODULE, BUT MDR/IVDR BOTTLENECK REMAINS
THE EUROPEAN Commission on Tuesday (December 1) launched the first component of its behind-schedule IT system for registering certified medical devices, but an ongoing regulatory bottleneck could render many products impossible to certify for some time.
The first of six modules of its EUDAMED system will assign a ‘single registration number’ (SRN) to each medical device manufacturer, producer of procedure kits, importer, and a European Union (EU)-based representative of non-EU manufacturers.…
EGMONT GROUP LOOKS FOR NEW EU AML COORDINATION AND SUPPORT SYSTEM TO DELIVER PRACTICAL HELP TO FIUS
THE CHAIR of the Egmont Group, which links and advises financial intelligence units (FIUs) worldwide, hopes that a new European Union (EU) AML coordination and support infrastructure now under consideration for FIUs will help European FIUs deal with complex cross-border AML cases.…
EU COUNTRIES DRAGGING THEIR FEET OVER PUBLIC UBO REGISTERS
Many of European Union’s 27 member states appear to have been dragging their feet when implementing a key provision of the fifth anti-money laundering directive (5AMLD) (1), setting up a public ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) register. The registers should have gone live for the corporate world on January 10, 2020, and two months later on March 10 for trusts.…
MEAT-LOVING RUSSIANS READY TO GIVE SUBSTITUTES A CHANCE
Traditionally a society of meat lovers, Russians are now developing a taste for vegetable and cereal-based products that reflect the taste and texture of meat – food manufacturers are eager to cater to this trend.
International companies have been entering this segment in Russia, while ambitious local startups are rapidly expanding their production capacities.…
NEW EU PUBLIC PROSECUTOR CALLS FOR GOVERNMENTS TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE ON EPPO
The European Chief Prosecutor (ECP) of the embryonic European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has challenged the 22 European Union (EU) states (1) that have signed up to an enhanced cooperation pact underpinning its existence to properly fund the new institution. Without enough money, the EPPO will not be effective, ECP Laura Codruţa Kövesi told Fraud Intelligence.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP - CAOBISCO APPEALS TO BRUSSELS AND WASHINGTON TO END FOOD TARIFF WAR OVER AVIATION SUBSIDIES
EUROPE’S confectionery and sweet bakery association CAOBISCO has been pressuring the European Union (EU) to resolve a long-running trade dispute with the USA over aircraft manufacturing subsidies causing Washington to impose tariffs on European food exports. These include 25% duties on exports from the EU (including the UK) of raspberry, strawberry, apricot, peach and other jams; cherries and peaches; sweet biscuits from Germany; waffles and wafers from Britain and Germany; and an additional 25% on these jams when exported from Germany and France.…
HIGH RESOLUTION DIGITAL MAPPING DEVELOPMENTS ARE UNDERPINNING FUTURE ROLL-OUT OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
A RESEARCH consortium in Canada is developing an open source model to create data-rich digital maps that can improve the operations of autonomous vehicles (AVs). The inspiration behind ‘Open HD Maps’ is to enable the holders of mapping data outside existing proprietary mapping services to contribute their information to a collaborative platform on a profit-sharing basis.…
TURKISH DENIM MAJOR MAVI JEANS KEEPS GROWING WORLDWIDE, DESPITE COVID-19
Mavi, the Turkish denim giant, sold 9.7 million pairs of jeans worldwide in 2019, and, its chief executive has told just-style, has rebounded from the shuttering of the garment sector earlier this year with e-commerce sales doubling in its major markets.…
CAN MAKERS MUST TAKE CARE WHEN NAVIGATING THE COMPLEX WORLD OF LABELLING REGULATORY COMPLIANCE
IT goes without saying that can manufacturers and fillers have to comply with regulatory controls specifying how they make and fill cans, but maybe the biggest compliance challenge for the industry is following the world’s multifarious rules on food labelling.
Canners and fillers with contracts to supply labelled cans have to take special care given these labelling rules do not just vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, (or even within jurisdictions), these regulations are a very dynamic topic – they change, often. …
CHEMICAL MAJORS EXPLORE DECARBONISING PETROCHEMICALS AS THEY LOOK TO REDUCE CO2 EMISSIONS
International efforts are stepping up to scope and map what it will take to wean chemical manufacturing off its high dependence on oil and gas feedstock for chemicals that are then used to make plastics, fertilisers and other important products.
Options include using building-block raw materials from biomass instead of fossil-fuel feedstock; boosting the yield of chemicals for a given quantity of feedstock; and, applying advanced recovery and recycling technologies in circular economy approaches.…
ENERGY CONSORTIUM RELEASES EUROPEAN HYDROGEN NETWORK PLAN
A PLAN to build a dedicated hydrogen pipeline network of almost 23,000 km within nine European countries by 2040 has been released by 11 European gas infrastructure companies. Enagás, Energinet, Fluxys Belgium, Gasunie, GRTgaz, NET4GAS, OGE, ONTRAS, Snam, Swedegas (Nordion Energi), Teréga and a consultancy Guidehouse call their proposed network a ‘European Hydrogen Backbone’.…
GLOBAL EGMONT GROUP OF ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING UNITS WANTS STRONG RELATIONSHIP WITH ACCOUNTANTS
Accountants have been asked by the head of a global anti-money laundering group to work more closely with specialist government agencies worldwide who swap intelligence, helping police and prosecutors detect and block dirty money flows.
These financial intelligence units (FIUs) analyse transaction reports from banks, accountants, lawyers, casinos and other sectors with a legal duty to report suspicions about money laundering and terrorist finance.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – UN FAO WANTS PERMANENT COCOA MARKET OBSERVATORY
THE UNITED Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has proposed creating a permanent ‘observatory’ monitoring cocoa markets, assessing value and costs, to help chocolate sales revenues be more equitably distributed throughout supply chains.
In a report called a ‘Comparative study on the distribution of value in European chocolate chains’, the FAO said such “objectified and cross-checked data” would aid “a multi-stakeholder discussion” at national and global levels on revenue sharing.…
ROBOTICS AND VITRUAL TECH OFFERS MORE SAFETY IN A DECARBONISING OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY
Offshore oilfield development options enabled by new technologies can boost safety and efficiency even before The possibility off processing moving subsea becomes reality. Indeed, the idea of reducing the number of personnel on board (POB) to conduct operations, maintenance and intervention in the offshore oil and gas industry has been attracting renewed interest since the 2014–2016 oil price slump, and again in the industry fallout from the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.…
SANCTIONS REGIMES TIGHTEN ON SYRIA AS BLOODY CIVIL WAR CONTINUES
As Syria enters its 10th year of civil conflict, the economy is in tatters, foreign currency is in short supply, and sanctions have not only been renewed, the USA has introduced new secondary sanctions. Illicit crime and sanctions busting abounds.
In May (2020), the USA issued further guidance on Syria, while the European Union (EU) extended its sanctions on Syria for a further year, to 1 June 2021.…
EU PAINT AND COATING INDUSTRY OFFERED COVID-19 FINANCIAL LIFELINE BY EUROPEAN COMMISSION PANDEMIC ECONOMIC RECOVERY FUND
CONSTRUCTION projects likely to generate major purchases of paints and coatings are likely to be a focus of a new ‘Next Generation EU’ budget commanding EUR750 billion between 2021 and 2024, financed by borrowing through bond issues against European Union (EU) direct revenues from sources such as import duties.…
EU MEMBER STATES MULL WATERPROOFING CHEMICAL CONTROLS
ENVIRONMENTAL regulators in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Denmark have requested information about the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including as textile waterproofing agents, as they develop a joint proposal to restrict their use in the European Union (EU), which would be authorised through REACH chemical control system.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION CRACKS DOWN ON 5AMLD AND 4AMLD NON COMPLIANCE
The European Commission has launched a series of infringement procedures for shortcomings in national legislation implementing the European Union’s (EU) fourth and fifth anti-money laundering directives (4AMLD and 5AMLD), including one against Britain, even though it left the bloc on January 31 (but remains subject to EU law during a transitional period to December 31. …
FOOD FRAUD IS BIG CRIMINAL BUSINESS THAT CAN PUT BUSINESSES AND CONSUMERS AT RISK
AS online food sales boom to aid self-isolation during the Covid-19 outbreak, the risks of counterfeiting and piracy within the food and drink sectors will become more evident. This comes as regulators are mulling tougher action to fight this commercial crime.…
IRISH DIPLOMACY WILL WORK HARD TO ENSURE EU TAX RULES REMAIN LIBERAL, NOW BRITAIN HAS LOST ITS SAY
WITH Britain having finally bowed out from the European Union (EU) on January 31, Ireland has lost its allied English-speaking Atlantic-oriented member state, with which it has fought battles within the EU Council of Ministers against proposals for greater harmonisation of EU tax rules.…
NEW TECH MAY HELP AML PROBES, BUT THEY ALSO INCREASE VULNERABILITIES FOR COMPLIANCE SYSTEMS
While new financial technologies and associated developments in machine learning and artificial intelligence offer AML/CFT solutions, anti-money laundering specialists are concerned about new risks being posed by new business and industrial innovations.
Banks are starting to adopt AI-based machine learning, but terrorists and criminals can use technology too: “It is really an AI arms race in financial crime”, said Kamer Yüksel, chief data scientist for Munich-based artificial intelligence start-up hawk:AI’s and author of more than 35 publications on AI.…
SCIENTISTS WORK HARD TO IMPRIVE ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF OSMOSIS POWER, SEEKING COMMERCIALLY SCALABLE SYSTEMS
In principle, the technology of osmotic power, known widely as ‘blue energy’, has a lot going for it: unlike wind or sunlight, its electricity generating technique of mixing freshwater and saltwater at the mouths of estuaries is constant, with electrically charged salt ions moving from salty seawater to fresh river water.…
INDONESIAN DAIRY SECTOR GROWING, BUT PRODUCTION CAN’T KEEP UP WITH DEMAND
South-east Asia is not known for a tradition of eating dairy products, but actually consumers in the region’s most populous country Indonesia (population 270 million people) have been eating cheese for more than a century (partly thanks Indonesia’s historic links with the Netherlands) and the country has a thriving domestic dairy industry.…
POLISH FINISHING SECTOR LOOKS TO DIGITAL PRINTING TECHNOLOGY TO SHARPEN ITS COMPETITITVENESS AS EUROPEAN OUTSOURCING CENTRE
Digital printing is still a relatively new concept to Poland’s traditional fabric finishing sector – but national pride in the country’s well-established textile sector is sparking a desire to modernise so it can maintain its competitive edge. Much of the resulting investment has been focused on local and independent textile printers located throughout the country – but a significant number of these are based in Łódz, central Poland, a key textile manufacturing hub, with the port-town of Gdynia also being home to upgraded finishing plants.…
DEMAND FOR CONDUCTIVE ADHESIVES INCREASE IN AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS
With electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) set to account for an estimated 30% of all vehicle sales worldwide within five years according to investment bank JP Morgan, the demand for conductive adhesives, which can transmit thermal or electrical energy between two surfaces, as an alternative to solder and even wiring is set to soar, according to Lux Research Inc, based in Boston, USA.…
FIBRE GLASS USES AND RECYCLING BECOME MORE SOPHISTICATED AS MANUFACTURERS’ APPRECIATION OF THIS MATERIAL VALUE GROWS
Global production of fibreglass is predicted to soar over the coming decade, as appreciation grows of its utility and cost effectiveness in expanding materials manufacturing sectors.
Driven by a push to increase reliance on renewable energy sources to help tackle the climate crisis, manufacturers of wind turbines are increasingly reliant on glass – and carbon – fibres to produce rotor blades, for instance.…
EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS AND GOVERNMENTS WORK HARD TO PROMOTE HYDROGEN VEHICLES AND REFUELLING SYSTEMS, BUT ARE STILL STRUGGLING WITH HIGH COSTS
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is taking a hard look at hydrogen as a low carbon option to help make Europe a first climate-neutral continent by 2050, a key policy goal that is at the heart of policy-making within the new European Commission of its president Ursula von der Leyen – however he need to make H-vehicles and renewables-based H-fuel cheaper is a major challenge. …
EUROPEAN NONWOVENS INDUSTRY FOCUSES ON INNOVATION TO STRENGTHEN ITS INTERNATIONAL MARKET POSITION
WORRIES about the future of manufacturing in Europe are certainly not being applied to the continent’s nonwovens industry, which has been growing steadily in recent years. Indeed, last year, the overall production of nonwovens in Europe in 2018 grew by around 1.3% year-on-year to reach 2.76 million tonnes, (the most recent Europe wide figures released by industry association EDANA).…
CERN-BASED PROJECT WILL USE PARTICILE PHYSICS ANALYSIS METHODS TO DETEC FRAUD
A NEW collaborative research project could lead to identification and prediction of fraudulent commodities markets trading by using particle physics technology currently deployed in the Large Hadron Collider, the particle accelerator built underneath Switzerland and France, near Geneva. The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, has teamed up with the Commodity Risk Management Expertise Center (CORMEC) – joint initiative of the Netherlands’ Wageningen University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as well as Wageningen University operating alone, to use advanced data analytics from particle physics to help protect commodity and financial markets under their ‘HighLo’ project.…
LEGAL ACTION AGAINST EIGHT COUNTRIES FOR 5AMLD NON-COMPLIANCE
The European Commission has launched infringement proceedings against eight countries over their failure to write the European Union’s (EU) fifth anti-money laundering directive (5AMLD) into national law by the January 10, 2020 deadline. The EU executive on February 12 sent letters of formal notice, the first stage in EU legal procedures, to Cyprus, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain for not having notified any 5AMLD implementation measures.…
CONTAMINATION A MAJOR CHALLENGE FOR RECYCLING SAY EUROPEAN SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS INNOVATORS
WITH demand for plastic recycling soaring like never before, European plastics companies have told Sustainable Plastics how they use innovation and expertise to maximise are environmental efficiency and output yields. “You’d be amazed what dirt we find in pure product waste,” Jack Snijders, director of Germany’s CIFRA Recycling GmbH, told reporters during a plant visit.…
THE NETHERLANDS IS PAVING THE WAY TO USE HYDROGEN AS A CLEAN ENERGY CARRIER
Europe’s first large-scale green hydrogen plant moved closer to reality in January (2020) when a proposed electrolysis project in the Netherlands won EUR11 million funding from the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH-JU), a European Commission/industry partnership supporting hydrogen technology innovation.…
CARBON CAPTURE UTILISATION AND STORAGE PROJECTS GROW AS INDUSTRY INCREASINGLY VALUES THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO PARIS AGREEMENT GOALS
There is broad consensus among energy and environmental experts that carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems built at commercial scale must play a key role if governments are to achieve their 2015 COP21 (Paris Agreement) ambitions for limiting carbon emissions. “All credible scenario modelling shows that CCS will be essential to meeting the targets set by the Paris Agreement”, commented a report co-ordinated by the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) for a European Gas Regulatory Forum meeting, staged last June (2019).…
EU AND WTO REGULATORY ROUNDUP – BRUSSELS LOOKS TO FOOD AND DRINK FREE TRADE IN FINAL STATUS DEAL WITH UK
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has set out plans for a future trading relationship with the UK after the current transitional period, where Britain follows EU rules, expires on December 31 – it includes unfettered free trade in food and drink products, without tariffs and without restrictive quotas.…
CHINESE PAINT MARKET IS ROBUST, BUT APPROACHING MATURITY - INCREASING RISKS FOR COMPANIES BURDENED WITH INVESTMENT DEBT
As paint company conferences go, the Sankeshu Paint Co’s annual Chinese New Year gathering was special. A room of sales executives wearing matching blue suits and red ties were serenaded with ‘Zui Mei de Shen Hu’ – ‘The Most Beautiful Shenzhou My Home’),” sung by a soprano before chairman Hong Jie strode on stage to rally his assembled ranks to shout in unison company slogans, such as “Full product range!…
REGULATION DRIVES CHANGE AS US PAINT AND COATINGS INDUSTRY URGES INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT
Sustainability issues are currently dominating the US paint and coatings industry with challenges and opportunities arising from stringent regulations and growing green markets, generating demand for environment-friendly business practices and sustainable consumer lifestyles. This change comes as the industry hopes for a fillip from the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), reforming North American trading arrangements, which has been hailed by the American Coatings Association (ACA) as “a win for America’s paint industry”.…
PAINTING AND COATING INDUSTRY FEARS BREXIT WILL MEAN DUPLICATE REGULATION
THE UK’s departure from the European Union (EU) on January 31 could lead to the development of a UK REACH, operating alongside the EU chemical control system, experts have predicted to Polymers Paint Colour Journal (PPCJ). Ongoing negotiations between the UK government and EU authorities would lay the groundwork for such a system whose goal would be to prevent disruption in a European chemical product market that is increasingly integrated.…
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES PUSH AHEAD WITH BUILDING WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTIONS
WHISTLEBLOWER laws may not be new, but they are becoming stronger and being implemented in an increasing number of jurisdictions worldwide – with progress being notable in Europe. The European Union (EU) has ensured in a new directive, approved last October (2019), that all 28 member states within the union last year – ahead of Britain’s January 31 exit from the EU – acquire whistleblowing laws with teeth through a new directive approved by EU ministers last October (2019).…
EU MINISTERS AGREE STRATEGY TO FIGHT FOOD FRAUD
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.…
ITALY BEAUTY CONSUMERS START TO SPEND MORE AS COUNTRY’S ECONOMIC GROWTH INCHES FORWARD
ITALY’S cosmetic and personal care product market remained strong through 2019, with major players in the industry focused on strengthening digital retail and production strategies to further connect with consumers, while deepening their presence in foreign markets, particularly in Asia.
The year 2019 was also dynamic in terms of acquisitions, with a handful of Italian BPC (beauty and personal care) companies buying businesses that specialise in new and different products to extend their reach in new product categories, both domestically and abroad.…
CRETA FARM TAKEOVER DEAL IS CLOSE, SAY OFFICIALS CLOSE TO NEGOTIATIONS
The Netherlands-based investment trust, Impala Invest BV, has reached an agreement with creditors banks and will take over troubled Greek pigmeat, turkey, cheese and other deli product manufacturer Creta Farms, according to sources close to a planned deal. While company representatives have yet to release a formal statement on the plans, because Crete-based Creta Farms operates under temporary administration appointed from a court of first instance, the final approval of the deal is expected to be announced in the next few days.…
NASCENT HYDROGEN CAR MARKET STARTS TO DEVELOP IN EUROPE
THE DEVELOPMENT and use of hydrogen-fuelled automobiles is starting to gather pace in the European Union (EU), with the EU’s executive, the European Commission encouraging growth in this environment-friendly segment as it pursues a goal of achieving a climate-neutral Europe by 2050.…
UK VAPING COMPANIES EYE LIBERALISATION SHOULD BRITAIN QUIT THE EUROPEAN UNION
E-cigarette manufacturers in the United Kingdom pondering a Brexit from the European Union (EU) that is currently scheduled for January 31 are hoping to benefit from looser rules than currently apply in the EU, if the UK does quit the EU.…
KENYAN EXPORT ZONE BOSS HAILS NEW SRI LANKAN CLOTHING FACTORY LAUNCH
THE HEAD of the Kenyan export processing zone that will be hosting a new factory run by Sri Lankan apparel and textile manufacturer MAS Holdings, has told just-style that the new plant will involve the creation of between 3,000 and 3,500 jobs directly, when it starts operations by January 20.…
AUSTRALIA DAIRY SECTOR FEARS IT WILL LOSE OUT FROM EU TRADE DEAL MANDATING GI PROTECTION
A free trade deal between Europe and Australia is in the making but European Union (EU) trade negotiators have managed to generate some serious concerns among Australian dairy industry in the process. The EU wants Australia to recognise the exclusive rights of EU cheesemakers to the traditional names of almost 60 different types of cheeses through Australia recognising EU geographical indications (GI) within any agreement.…
HEALTHY COMPETITIVE MARKET FOR BEAUTY PACKAGING SEES INVESTOR CAPITAL DRIVE INCREASING MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
A highly competitive market combined with healthy sums of investor capital look set to drive forward an increase in merger/acquisition (M/A) activity in the cosmetic packaging sector, as companies seek to deliver added value to existing customer bases and extend their footprint into new territories, both geographic and product ranges.…
ERASMUS+ SPENDING ON AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES IS RISING – WITH HOPE EXPANSION WILL CONTINUE
THE EUROPEAN Commission – the European Union (EU) executive – has claimed its Erasmus+ higher education exchange initiative is significantly boosting tertiary studies for African students and academics, with 8,500 Africans benefiting this year (2019).
In a report on the programme, which has been hailed as a flagship of the EU’s positive international impact, the Commission said that this figure was poised to keep growing, so that it will have helped more than 35,000 African students and academics by 2020.…
AML DATA AGGREGATION WILL BECOME MORE ATTRACTIVE, AS TRUST BUILDS IN AI SOLUTIONS
Aggregated data on shared utility platforms operating across global financial services would “remove banks’ fiefdoms, internal silos that stop them from making the KYC process more informed” and “reduce the risk of bad actors entering the financial system through a weak link,” a report from financial services technology providers Celent, in Boston, USA, has claimed.…
WILL 6AMLD STOP EU CRIMINALS SHOPPING AROUND FOR BEST REGIME?
The new so-called European Union (EU) sixth anti-money laundering directive that harmonises penalties for money laundering across the bloc is a key back up to the EU’s existing AML legislation. While dubbed the sixth anti-money laundering directive (6AMLD), Directive (EU) 2018/1673 on combating money laundering by criminal law (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2018/1673/oj…
NICARAGUA BOOSTS T-SHIRT SALES TO THE EU, BUCKING A DECLINE IN OVERALL APPAREL EXPORTS
Nicaragua, a leading apparel producer in Central America, has been suffering a decline in revenue on exports to the European Union (EU) this year, expect for one category that is bucking the trend: T-shirts.
According to the EU statistical office Eurostat, total revenue from the country’s apparel and footwear exports to the region dropped 6.8% to EUR178.2 million in the first half of 2019 from EUR191.2 million in the same period in 2018.…
EAST AFRICA PUSHES AHEAD WITH SOLAR POWER ROUTE TO RURAL PROSPERITY
Despite having high solar radiation with between 2,800 and 3,500 hours of sunshine in a year (when there are 8,760 hours for each non-leap year), the solar energy potential in East Africa is yet to be fully exploited.
But in this region, it is not fossil fuels that dominate.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP - NEW EUROPEAN COMMISSION MAY PUSH HARMONISATION OF SUGAR FOOD LABELLING
THE INCOMING European Commission may seek to further harmonise European Union (EU) food labelling rules on sugar content. This pledge comes from the nominee for new EU health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, a Cypriot parliamentarian, whose EU role includes being responsible for food safety and standards.…
FIFTH ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING DIRECTIVE AIMS TO PLUG CRITICAL CRYPTO REGULATORY GAPS
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.…
TURKISH PLASTICS MARKET FACES TOUGH TIMES, BUT HAS STRONG FUNDAMENTALS FOR SUSTAINABLE PROSPERITY
THE TURKISH plastics manufacturing sector has grown exponentially over the past decade, but growth has spluttered over the past year due to the country’s economic downturn and currency depreciation raising the cost of raw materials. Investment has also slowed, but manufacturers are optimistic the sector will rebound, with exports remaining strong.…
GLOBAL DECOMMISSIONING INDUSTRY GROWS AS OI AND GAS OFFSHORE STRUCTURES REACH END OF OPERATIONS
A WAVE of oil and gas structure decommissioning in the North Sea, a steady continuing flow in the USA’s Gulf of Mexico fields, and a similar longer-term challenge in south-east Asia are concentrating minds on the infrastructure needed to dismantle such equipment safely.…
EUROPE IN TWO-SPEED SHIFT TO ELECTRIC CARS
Europe’s transition to electric vehicle ownership is developing at two clear speeds, with richer countries headed for mass market penetration in the early to mid 2020s but poorer countries lagging.
This is posing a regulatory challenge for manufacturers – EV sales have to increase Europe-wide for carmakers to meet tough European Union (EU) CO2 emissions limits.…
INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY AND MATERIALS HELP OIL AND GAS SECTOR CLEAN UP - AND SMARTEN UP - PROTECTIVE CLOTHING
As an industry much maligned for its heavy carbon footprint, the oil and gas sector is increasing its use of sustainable materials and manufacturing methods making textiles used for its protective clothing. This segment has also been focusing on improving the comfort and aesthetics of this apparel.…
FORMER UNAOIL EXECUTIVE PLEADS GUILTY TO CORRUPTION
A former executive of oil consultancy company, Unaoil, last week (July 15) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to give corrupt payments in a UK court case brought by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO). Basil Al Jarah, whom the SFO described as “Unaoil’s former partner in Iraq,” pleaded guilty in Southwark Crown Court to five charges of conspiracy to give corrupt payments linked to the award of contracts to supply and install single point moorings and oil pipelines in southern Iraq. …
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – REGULATORS BOOST GLOBAL COOPERATION TO FIGHT FRAUD
INTERNATIONAL, regional and national regulators are cooperating more widely as they create strategies and operations to fight fraud that is often conducted on a trans-national basis.
For instance, European Union (EU) police agency Europol has worked with financial intelligence units (FIUs), such as the USA’s FinCEN, and FIU umbrella organisation the Egmont Group to raise concern about business email compromise fraud (BEC).…
EU LAWS DRIVING CHANGE BUT MEETING TARGETS CHALLENGING
EUROPEAN Union (EU) regulations are driving change in plasticisers and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production, as well as recycling, but meeting targets on recycled content is challenging, industry speakers told participants in a June 24-25 media field trip to the Netherlands. The event, inclouding a visit to Dutch Shin-Etsu and Kras Recycling plants, was sponsored by the PVC sector’s 10-year sustainability programme VinylPlus and organised by chemical industry group European Plasticisers.…
BULGARIA HAS USED LOW COSTS TO BUILD EXPORT SALES – AND LOOKS TO QUALITY TO MAINTAIN THEM
BULGARIA’S plastics industry has been making the most of the growing demand for supplies from major western markets. The sector has been particularly buoyant over the past five years, with Bulgaria’s comparatively low costs and occasional regulatory light touch making its plastics companies competitive with competitors in western Europe.…
ASIAN REGULATORY ROUND UP – HONG KONG AND CHINA STRIKE DEAL OVER ACCESS TO AUDIT WORKING PAPERS
A MEMORANDUM of understanding (MoU) has been signed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) with China’s ministry of finance and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) boosting SFC access to audit working papers from audits of HK-listed mainland companies.…
TOBACCO COMPANIES BID TO REDUCE THEIR CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT
EVERY manufacturing and agricultural industry has an impact on climate change – and the tobacco sector is no different. Faced with long-standing criticism of the health impact of its products, the tobacco industry is now facing attacks that its work generates carbon emissions and hence climate change.…
WOLLASTONITE OFFERS GREAT POTENTIAL AS BASE FOR DEVELOPING CARBON EMISSIONS REDUCTION TECHNOLOGY
WOLLASTONITE has been described by a Canadian producer as “a white mineral for a greener world,” and it seems governments, businesses and industries agree – with wollastonite is set to see increased market growth in its traditional uses plus a new focus on its powerful qualities to help tackle climate change.…
WOLLASTONITE OFFERS GREAT POTENTIAL AS BASE FOR DEVELOPING CARBON EMISSIONS REDUCTION TECHNOLOGY
WOLLASTONITE has been described by a Canadian producer as “a white mineral for a greener world,” and it seems governments, businesses and industries agree – with wollastonite is set to see increased market growth in its traditional uses plus a new focus on its powerful qualities to help tackle climate change.…
TUNISIA UNDERPINS SUCCESS AS DENIM OUTSOURCER THOUGH PROMOTING ITS QUALITY AND SUSTAINABILITY
Tunisia is underpinned its sustained growth as a denim supplier through promoting its quality specialist production that employs sustainable environmental and social practices.
Since its 2011 revolution that launched the ‘Arab Spring’, exports of denim jeans from Tunisia have doubled. According to the Tunisian exports and promotions agency CEPEX the value of jeans exported from Tunisia have risen from Tunisian dinars TND586.40 million (USD202 million) in 2010 to TND1.32 billion (USD455 million) in 2018.…
PRESSURES GROW ONTO CHINA’S GOVERNMENT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT PORK
AFRICAN swine fever (ASF) has been squeezing pork supplies in China to a point where the country’s political leadership fears upheaval, as reflected by the country’s government influenced social media restricting ASF-related discussion. Even academic articles, if ASF-themed, now require explicit regulatory approval before publishing, informed sources in China, who requested anonymity, told just-food. …
ANTI-FRAUD AWARENESS AND TRAINING IS A LYNCHPIN OF CORPORATE POLICIES FIGHTING GRAFT AND FINANCIAL SCAMS
ANTI-fraud experts understand that managers always need to be aware of the potential for their organisations to lose money to fraud and corruption. But the fact that the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/acfepublic/2018-report-to-the-nations.pdf
estimates an average 5% of public and private revenues are lost to fraud indicates that more awareness is needed.…
ANTI-FRAUD AWARENESS AND TRAINING IS A LYNCHPIN OF CORPORATE POLICIES FIGHTING GRAFT AND FINANCIAL SCAMS
ANTI-fraud experts understand that managers always need to be aware of the potential for their organisations to lose money to fraud and corruption. But the fact that the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/acfepublic/2018-report-to-the-nations.pdf
estimates an average 5% of public and private revenues are lost to fraud indicates that more awareness is needed.…
EUROPE STILL HAS SIGNIFICANT WORK TO COMPLETE BEFORE HARMONISING ITS NATIONAL GRID
MARCH’S approval by the European Parliament of new European Union (EU) electricity market rules, designed to increase consumer choice, boost renewables access and cap power subsidies, were hailed by the European Commission as a new dawn for the creation of the EU’s much vaunted Energy Union.…
MONGOLIA LOOKS TO LEVERAGE DAIRY TRADITIONS TO CREATE SUSTAINABLE EXPORT SECTOR
MONGOLIA’S grassland ecology has always lent itself to livestock and hence milk production, so it is no surprise that the development of a dairy industry has been a priority for its government and international institutions.
A five-year loan worth USD12 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development via Mongolia’s XacBank announced in February (2019) is just one such related initiative.…
TURNING MANURE INTO ENERGY: THE GROWTH OF MANURE-TO-BIOGAS SYSTEMS ON DAIRY FARMS
PROMISING a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, energy cost-savings, sustainable manure management and a diversified revenue stream, the number of anaerobic digestion (AD) plants producing renewable biogas on dairy farms is growing globally. When upgraded to natural gas it can be sold to local utilities companies and used as transportation fuel as well as generate on-farm combined heat and power (CHP) – this biogas can be an important source of income.…
PLANNED EU RULING MAY REGULATE TATTOO INKS FOR THE FIRST TIME TO AVOID HEALTH RISKS
While today 12 out of every 100 Europeans are tattooed or have some sort of permanent cosmetic treatment, experts are increasingly concerned that these skin colouring agents may contain hazardous substances, known or suspected to have adverse health effects causing cancer, allergies or mutations.…
RUSSIA’S PAINT SECTOR GROWING SLOWLY – BUT UPCOMING ECO-RULES MAY HIT PRODUCTION
RUSSIA’S paint industry is slowly growing but upcoming chemical regulations could limit the output of some potentially hazardous products. There are two such laws in the pipeline. One is a technical regulation ‘On the safety of chemical products’. This was adopted and ratified by the Russian government in 2016, and will come into force in 2021 (on July 1), and bans the use of a range of hazardous chemicals, some used by Russian coatings manufacturers. …
ECHA SAYS PAINT COMPANIES SHOULD CONTINUE TO PREPARE TO BREXIT, EVEN WITH NEW DELAYED EXIT DEADLINE
THE EUROPEAN Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has recommended that companies concerned that their compliance with European Union (EU) chemical control system REACH might be impacted by Brexit should continue preparations for Britain’s possible withdrawal. With the UK having been given a new flexible exit deadline of October 31, ECHA has said it “recommends companies to continue preparing for a new, flexible withdrawal date”.…
GLOBAL AML/CFT REGIME’S EFFECTIVENESS IN DOUBT AS ITS 30TH BIRTHDAY APPROACHES
This July is the 30th anniversary of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which developed its 40 recommendations on anti-money laundering (AML) and nine special recommendations on combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) – but the jury is still out on whether the AML/CFT system it has created is really working.…
HENAN KEDI DAIRY ANNOUNCES PLAN TO BUY HENAN KEDI QUICK FROZEN
CHINA’S Henan Kedi Dairy has notified its shareholders that it plans to buy an associated autonomous company Henan Kedi Quick Frozen Food Co Ltd for a tentatively set transaction price of Chinese Yuan Renminbi CNY1.48 billion (USD221.28 million) via share issue.…
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA AIRPORT SECTOR EXPANDS AS AIR TRAFFIC PUSHES FACILITIES TOWARDS CAPACITY LIMITS
AFRICA is without doubt the continent to watch for airport and air traffic control investment in the future. It is the world’s second most populous continent (home to more than 1.2 billion people), and according to Airports Council International (World) – ACI World – Africa was the fastest growing region for air passenger traffic in 2017 and 2018, which rose 6.3% in 2017 year-on-year and 10.8% in 2018 to June year-to-date, year-on-year.…
MULTIMILLION EURO CRYTO-CURRENCY LAUNDERING SERVICE SMASHED
In the first law enforcement action of its kind, the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD), has shut down a cryptocurrency mixer service Bestmixer.io, alleging it has broken money laundering laws. The service blended potentially identifiable or ‘tainted’ cryptocurrency funds with others, obscuring the trail back to the fund’s original source.…
EU/WTO REGULATORY ROUND UP – EU TRANSFAT REGULATION RELEASED
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.…
LEGALISATION OF CANNABIS-ASSOCIATED BEAUTY PRODUCTS ADVANCES UNEVENLY WORLDWIDE
THE LEGALISATION nationwide of recreational cannabis in Canada last October (2018) was a groundbreaking move – a first for a major western country – and from this coming October 17, at the latest, one that may have significant implications for the beauty business.…
RUSSIA LOOKS TO INCREASE PAINT AND COATING INGREDIENT PRODUCTION
THE RUSSIAN government has in the past decade has a policy priority of re-establishing it country’s industrial base, and reducing its reliance on imports, paid for by Russia’s energy exports.
These goals cover its paints and coatings sector, and by 2021 Sibur, a Russian petrochemical company, plans to launch production of key ingredient maleic anhydride, with a plant in Tobolsk, Siberia, producing up to 45,000 tonnes a year.…
ASIA REGULATORY ROUND UP – HK STOCK EXCHANGE, CENTRAL BANK AND FINANCE MINISTRY REFORMS TO OFFER GREEN ACCOUNTING WORK
HONG Kong accountants may see an increase in demand for non-financial assessments, with the HK Stock Exchange consulting on proposed new environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting. It is proposing introducing mandatory disclosure requirements to include board statements considering ESG issues; and what reporting principles are used to develop company ESG reports.…
EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES MUST EMBRACE FLEXIBILITY WHEN DRIVING INNOVATION COLLABORATION
Europe’s universities have been told how they need to be flexible when developing models to generate innovation with real value to society, ensuring this work meshes effectively with business partners.
The message came at the European University Association’s (EUA) annual conference, in Paris, on April 11-12.…
INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES AIM TO HELP AIRPORTS RESPOND TO DISASTER EMERGENCY RELIEF EFFORTS
INTERNATIONAL efforts are under way to improve how airports can serve as effective humanitarian logistics hubs, reducing the risk that they become bottlenecks in disaster relief efforts. These moves follow research and a growing consensus in the air and aid sectors that while airports are undoubtedly a lifeline during crises, they can also hamper the efficient delivery of aid to victims.…
MEPS APPROVE WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION DIRECTIVE
The European Parliament has backed a ground-breaking directive that would protect whistleblowers European Union (EU)-wide by 591 votes in favour and 29 against. Currently only 10 of the EU’s 28 member states (France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Slovakia, Sweden and the UK) have national legislation that effectively protects whistleblowers, according to the European Commission.…
BANGLADESH – A CASE STUDY IN THE CHALLENGES OF IMPOSING TRANSFER PRICING IN TAX COLLECTION
IN a country where tax collection remains weak, Bangladesh accounting experts now hope that a 2012 transfer pricing (TP) law is finally starting to increase revenues, although progress is slow. Demonstrating the difficulties involved in rolling out complex tax legislation in emerging market states that targets powerful multinationals, the country’s National Board of Revenue (NBR) says that it collected just USD1.2 million’s worth more taxes from 10 multinationals (which it would not name) in the financial year to last June (2018) than without taking TP into account.…
CO-CREATIVE INNOVATION MUST BE CORE MISSION OF UNIVERSITIES, EXPERTS SAY
EUROPEAN universities need to embrace change by continuing to forge alliances with innovative companies and independent research groups to use and develop their knowledge in cooperation with the outside world, experts agreed at the March 8 launch of the European University Association (EUA)’s new report ‘The role of universities in regional innovation ecosystems’.…
PLANNED EU RULING MAY REGULATE TATTOO INKS FOR THE FIRST TIME ACROSS EUROPE TO AVOID HEALTH RISKS
BODY artists in Europe may have to reconsider the pigments that they use in future, with the European Union (EU) drafting new rules that could regulate what chemicals can be used in tattoo inks. While today 12 out of every 100 Europeans are tattooed or have some sort of permanent cosmetic treatment, experts are increasingly concerned that these skin colouring agents may contain hazardous substances, known or suspected to have adverse health effects causing cancer, allergies or mutations.…
ISRAELI COMPANIES AND DESIGNERS INNOVATE IN CREATING NEW 3D PRINTING TEXTILE SYSTEMS
ON the back of Israel’s innovation-embedded work culture, the Middle East country is making headway in the 3D-printed garment sector. The country is the joint-headquarters of 3D-printer manufacturer Stratasys, which has a key base in Rehovot, south of Tel Aviv. Stratasys offers a wide range of 3D printers – https://www.stratasys.com/3d-printers…
ONLINE TOOLS OFFER ANTI-FRAUD INVESTIGATORS INCREASINGLY SOPHISTICATED SURVEILLANCE OF CRIMINALS
With more than 5.48 billion (see https://www.worldwidewebsize.com) pages on the internet, fraud investigators have a wealth of material at their fingertips to help trace fraudsters and link target individuals, objects, locations and events. Thankfully, there are also increasingly sophisticated sites and tools available online to make this task more efficient and less time-consuming.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION GETS TOUGH OVER 4AMLD COMPLIANCE
THE EUROPEAN Commission is getting tough in enforcing compliance with the 4th anti-money laundering directive (2015/849), with a large majority of member states now facing infringement proceedings. The European Union (EU) executive said on March 7 that it had sent letters of formal notice opening legal proceedings to six EU countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Sweden, and the UK) over their failure to apply its anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules.…
WELLNESS CONFECTIONERY PRODUCTS GROW PRESENCE AS CONSUMERS BECOME MORE HEALTH CONSCIOUS
While the confectionery industry is traditionally associated with high sugar levels and unhealthy indulgence, market research indicates that efforts to also appeal to consumers with a growing interest in health and wellness trends are paying off. According to UK-based market researcher GlobalData, in 2016 alone USD3.7 billion worth of confectionery with functional or fortified attributes was sold globally.…
IRISH ACCOUNTANTS SAY THEY CAN MAKE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT MORE EFFICIENT, IN WAKE OF NEW HOSPITAL SCANDAL
Few issues give Irish politicians as much grief as the health service. Perennial budget overruns and waiting lists have ruined several ministerial careers. But what should have been a good news story, the building of a new National Paediatric Hospital, in Dublin, has done perhaps the most damage.…
EU INVESTMENT BANK FOCUSES ON DEVELOPING NEW PLASTICS TO LIGHTWEIGHT E-CARS
WITH auto manufacturers looking for ways to light-weight electric and hybrid vehicles, to boost performance and battery life, the European Union (EU) is investing in a Spanish company that is seeking to develop recyclable thermo-plastic alternatives to rubber for auto parts.…
EU COUNTRIES FALLING SHORT ON BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP MONITORING
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. …
HORSEMEAT TRIAL SPARKS DEBATE OVER WHETHER NEW MEAT ORIGIN CONTROLS ARE SUFFICIENTLY STRONG
The opening of trial in Paris on the ‘Spanghero’ affair, known also as ‘Horsegate’, during which cheap horsemeat ended up in ready-made meals sold as ‘pure beef’ across Europe six years ago, has sparked concerns that the scandal has damaged meat consumer confidence in the long-term.…
CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE SECTOR MATURES – BUT IT IS FAR FROM STOPPING CLIMATE CHANGE
A TECHNOLOGY entwined with fossil fuels that, by the of 2018, boasted 43 large-scale facilities, (18 in commercial operation, five in construction and 20 in development), and which processed almost 40 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of CO2, is clearly more than a passing fad.…
RENEWABLE ENERGY SUBSIDIES STILL NEEDED DESPITE FALLING RENEWABLES COSTS, SAY EXPERTS
THE EUROPEAN and global energy landscape is changing fast – and the biggest winners are renewable energies, Dr Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), has argued – even as green subsidies decline. Dr Birol told the November 27 Brussels launch of the ‘World Energy Outlook 2018’ report.…
ITALIAN CONSUMERS’ PASSION FOR BEAUTY MEANS RETAILERS STILL WANT TO INVEST IN ITALY, DESPITE ITS SLUGGISH ECONOMY
Considerable investments continue to be made in Italy’s beauty and personal care market continue despite this being a stagnant market, according to sector-specific and general economic data and forecasts,
Despite this, global retailers in the beauty and personal care (BPC) industry continue to eye up what remains one of continental Europe’s largest domestic BPC markets, knowing that consumer demand remains solid, even if not growing.…
EASTERN EUROPE’S MARKET DIVERSITY POSES REAL CHALLENGE FOR BEAUTY MAJORS SEEKING HIGH REGIONAL PROFILE
EASTERN Europe remains a highly diverse market, where major beauty brands must think strategically to achieve economies of scale and a regional presence that really deliver profits. This is also a region where some markets are significantly bigger than others – with Russia and Poland being key targets.…
EUROPEAN AUTO SECTOR WARNS JOB LOSSES MAY FOLLOW NEW EU CAR AND VAN EMISSIONS REGIME
EUROPEAN automobile industry associations have warned member companies and European Union (EU) governments to face potential auto sector job losses caused by a new EU emissions regulation, now approaching final approval.
This is because compliance will almost certainly require a significant expansion of the European e-vehicle market.…
MAJOR REPORT RELEASES BLUEPRINT FOR PROMOTING EUROPEAN CARPET SECTOR SUSTAINABILITY
A DETAILED consultants’ report released yesterday (Dec 4) has included two policy blueprints for shifting Europe’s major carpet manufacturing industry towards a more sustainable future, increasing recycling and reuse of products. The paper by UK-based Eunomia Research & Consulting Ltd outlines policy options for European Union (EU) member states to move the carpet industry towards being part of a circular economy that is a key priority of the current European Commission.…
TRADE WAR OR NOT, CHINA SEEKING ALTERNATIVES TO US SOYBEANS
The US and China at the G20 meeting in early December settled for a 90-day suspension of their bilateral trade war including a halt to any additional tariffs, but sourcing patterns are not going to become business-as-usual any time soon for China’s soybean sector.…
THAILAND’S ROBUST ECONOMY REFLECTED BY GROWTH IN BURGEONING PAINT AND COATINGS SALES
AS the second largest economy within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, Thailand remains a key market in the region for paint and coatings sales. Regarding sales of home paints and coatings, including lacquers and varnishes, London-based market researcher Euromonitor International says that sales have been growing strongly.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP - RETALIATORY DUTIES ON USA CONFECTIONERY AND INGREDIENTS EXPORTS CHALLENGED AT WTO
THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) Disputes Settlement Body (DSB) has approved establishing disputes settlement panels ruling sought by the USA on whether retaliatory duties imposed by the European Union (EU), Canada, China, and Mexico on US confectionery and sweet bakery and associated ingredient exports, imposed in response to America’s controversial steel and aluminium tariffs, break WTO rules.…
DUTCH CARIBBEAN UNDER SPOTLIGHT OVER MONEY LAUNDERING CONTROL WEAKNESSES
THE DUTCH Caribbean continues to have a weak reputation for fighting money laundering, and to a lesser extent terror financing, with the US 2017 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) highlighting weaknesses in its three autonomous jurisdictions. See https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/268024.pdf
Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten are ‘countries’ within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with their own prime ministers, while less populous islands Bonaire, St Eustatius (Statia) and Saba are municipalities, with fewer powers vested in their island councils, and the Dutch government being responsible for enforcing international anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) norms.…
MEPS SLAM CASH FOR PASSPORT SCHEMES IN TAX CRIMES REPORT
Centre right members of the European Parliament’s special committee on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance (TAX3) have hit out at the 18 EU member states, that offer citizenship or residence in exchange for investments. The MEPs, members of the European People’s Party (EPP), spoke out November 14 as the committee handed down a draft report*, with findings and recommendations, including phasing out such rights.…
CHARITIES STILL STRUGGLE TO AVOID BEING TAINTED WITH TERRORIST FINANCING
Charities continue to be at risk of being exploited by terrorist groups looking to transfer money and finance their operations, with the Middle East a high-risk area.
These non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are, however, criticising the extra scrutiny the sector is facing from regulators, banks and governments, saying it is driving charity financing into the shadows, actually increasing risks of financing by crime and terror groups.…
AFRICAN SOURCING AND FASHION WEEK EXPLORES HOW CONTINENT’S CLOTHING AND TEXTILE SECTOR CAN GROW SUSTAINABLY
As he took in the fourth Africa Sourcing and Fashion Week (ASFW) in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa last week, Kenneth K Han, managing director of Shints ETP Garment Plc, said he is optimistic over the country’s potential in the textile and apparel sector, despite many challenges.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – US-CHINA TRADE WAR HITS CONFECTIONERY EXPORTERS
AMERICAN confectioners may suffer from the latest tit-for-tat tariff exchange between the USA and China, with retaliatory duties from China targeting US confectionery exports. Many of these duties are high – at 25% – imposed from September 24 on US-made sugar; cocoa powder; milk powder; honey; jams; and more; plus 20% duties on US-made confectionery without cocoa; chewing gum; some chocolates; and more.…
CHINA PUTS KNITWEAR INTO RETALIATORY DUTY FRAME AS TRUMP TRADE WAR INTENSIFIES
THE CHINESE government has directly targeted the American knitwear sector in the latest tit-for-tat response in the trade wars launched by US President Donald Trump. Beijing has highlighted knitted goods in a list of products that maybe subject to retaliatory tariffs, should the USA impose a threatened third list of duties on Chinese tech, drafted over alleged thefts of American IP.…
EXPERTS POINT WAY AHEAD FOR INJECTING TECHNOLOGY INTO AFRICAN CLOTHING AND RELATED SECTORS
SUB-SAHARAN Africa may not have been the most fertile ground for technological innovation in the clothing, textile and fibre sectors but speakers at an International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) conference in Nairobi, Kenya, September 7-9, stressed the best way ahead.…
GREENLAND GOVERNMENT LOSES PARLIAMENTARY MAJORITY OVER AIRPORT ROW
GREENLAND’S coalition government has lost its parliamentary majority after accepting that the Danish state could pay Danish Krone DKK700 million (USD109 million) to secure a 33% share of Greenlandic airport operator Kalaallit Airports A/S. Partii Naleraq, a pro-independence party, quit the ruling bloc because it would give Denmark, which controls Greenland defence and foreign policy, control over island transport policy.…
EU’S PROPOSAL TO REDISTRIBUTE HORMONE-FREE BEEF QUOTA COULD CREATE TENSION
THE EUROPEAN Commission has attempted to heal a long-standing dispute with the United States by requesting authorisation from European Union (EU) ministers to open negotiations on the redistribution of quotas for hormone-free beef imported in European countries. Speaking to GlobalMeatNews, the secretary general of the European Livestock and Meat Trades Union (UECBV), Jean-Luc Mériaux said he supports the tasks and forging “a consensus aiming at consolidating trade flows”.…
ONLY 11 MAJOR EXPORTING COUNTRIES PUNISH COMPANIES FOR GRAFT
A new report from Transparency International has found that only 11 major exporting countries in the world significantly punish companies that pay bribes abroad. The report, called ‘Exporting Corruption’, also found that more than half of world exports come from at least 33 jurisdictions, including several European Union (EU) member states, where companies that export corruption along with their goods and services face weak consequences. …
REPORT SLAMS IMPACT OF EXCESSIVE CORPORATE LOBBYING AT EU LEVEL
Excessive corporate influence over policy-making remains a serious threat to the public interest across Europe and at European Union (EU) level, warns a new report published September 24 by the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation in the EU (ALTER-EU).…
EU ROUND UP – EU FRAUD MAYBE DECLINING, BUT MILLIONS OF EUROS LOST TO SCAMS EVERY YEAR
THE CONTINUED vulnerability of European Union (EU) revenue collection and spending to fraud has been brought into sharp relief by a new European Commission statistical analysis on financial crime.
That said, a working paper noted that in terms of revenue through external import duties (called ‘own resources’ in EU jargon) detected fraud cases involving EUR10,000 or more alone in 2017 indicates losses have been falling – but still to EUR76 million.…
FAST CHARGING SPREADING ACROSS EUROPE
With lower battery and auto prices boosting the battery electric vehicle (BEV) market in Europe, the race is on to ensure there are enough fast-charging stations to satisfy demand.
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) warned European Union (EU) lawmakers July 5 that plans to force a continent-wide switch to BEVs through swingeing cuts in CO2 emissions caps for manufacturers, was doomed to fail due to the lack of charging points.…
ENERGY CLUSTERS ARE THE WAY FORWARD IN EU INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS, EXPERTS SAY
SUPPORTERS of the European Union (EU) as a political concept stress how it has the vision, and the money, to promote energy projects of common interest (PCIs) between its (for now) 28 member states. Their goal is to promote an effective continent-wide energy market that offers European citizens more security in their supply of gas, electricity and to a lesser extent oil.…
WHISTLEBLOWING LAWS WILL BOOST FIGHT AGAINST MONEY LAUNDERING, SAY EXPERTS
NEW European Union (EU) rules on whistleblower protection proposed by the European Commission will help the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, EU experts have told Money Laundering Bulletin.
The proposals unveiled on April 23 for a directive ‘on the protection of persons reporting on breaches of Union law[*], “will strengthen the enforcement of the fourth anti-money laundering directive [4AMLD], complementing the directive’s existing rules [Article 61] on whistleblower protection, aligning them with the common high standards of protection,” a Commission official said.…
COMPETITION RAMPS UP FOR RTE BREAKFAST CEREALS IN CHINA
Seeing strong growth in China’s adult-targeted, ready-to-eat (RTE) breakfast cereals sector, global cereals manufacturers are speeding up new product launches in China to stay competitive. Nestlé, for example, introduced Fitness Granola into China last May (2017), initially via its online stores.…
FRENCH PAINT MARKET SET TO PROFIT FROM BUOYANT CONSTRUCTION AND HOME IMPROVEMENT MARKET
THE FRENCH paint and varnishes industry saw sales decline for the third consecutive year in 2016, contracting by 1.6% year-on-year to EUR2.9 billion, according to market research company Euromonitor International. It believes, however, that business should pick up in the coming years due to rising construction of homes.…
EU RESEARCH PROJECT TO SCALE UP AVIATION BIOFUELS
A NEW EUR16 million research project – majority funded by the European Union’s (EU) Horizon 2020 programme – will scale up industrial production and consumption of sustainable aviation fuel, made from lipids such as used cooking oil. Researchers will also investigate Camelina a drought-resistant non-food crop grown on marginal Mediterranean agricultural land.…
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS KEY TO STOP ILLEGAL USE OF VIRTUAL CURRENCIES, SAY EXPERTS
JOINING expertise from the public and private sector to combat money laundering or terrorism financing (TF) aided by virtual currencies (VCs) is the way forward, financial crime experts told MEPs at the June 18 meeting of the European Parliament’s special committee on terrorism.…
NEW ZEALAND KEEPS PUSHING TO REDUCE MONEY LAUNDERING PROBLEM, DESPITE CLEAN REPUTATION
NEW Zealand maybe top of the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index but dirty money abounds – this March (2018), New Zealand Police said that New Zealand dollars NZD1.35 billion (USD916 million) is laundered annually, primarily from drug and fraud offences.
See http://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/publications/fiu-nra-2018.pdf…
FRAUD STATISTICS IMPORTANT, BUT NEW PROACTIVE DETAILED DATA COULD BE MORE EFFECTIVE IN DRIVING POLICY, SAY EXPERTS
FRAUD poses a “tremendous threat to organisations of all types and sizes, in all parts of the world”, according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) – which like many expert groups have sought to demonstrate the scale of the problem with statistics.…
FRAUD STATISTICS IMPORTANT, BUT NEW PROACTIVE DETAILED DATA COULD BE MORE EFFECTIVE IN DRIVING POLICY, SAY EXPERTS
FRAUD poses a “tremendous threat to organisations of all types and sizes, in all parts of the world”, according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) – which like many expert groups have sought to demonstrate the scale of the problem with statistics.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – TRADE WARS THREATEN CONFECTIONERY AND SWEET BAKERY SECTOR
THE INTERNATIONAL Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) has released an ambitious policy plan designed to steer the industry towards sustainability. Called the Berlin Declaration, having been released at the fourth World Cocoa Conference, of governments, farmers, traders, grinders, processors, manufacturers, researchers, trade unions, civil society organisations, trade unions, consumer organisations, it says higher farm gate prices should be paid.…
MALAYSIA’S PAINT SECTOR BECOMES MORE INNOVATIVE AND GREEN AS HOME SALES GROW
TAKING tips online, Malaysians are increasingly adopting a DIY stance for comparatively simple home maintenance tasks such as painting walls – a trend that has led the country’s home paint sales to surge – notwithstanding weak economic conditions, experts say.
Indeed, an economic softening in 2016 partly led consumers to opt for DIY so that they can cut the cost of hiring professionals to paint walls, an analyst from London-based market intelligence company Euromonitor International said.…
IRISH EXPORTERS LOOK TO CIRCUMNAVIGATE BREXIT TRADE TAXES
The prospect of significant hikes in taxes and administrative red tape on Irish exports and imports travelling through the UK to and from the rest of Europe once Britain leaves the European Union (EU), has prompted Irish exporters to seek more options for direct maritime trade.…
ADULT INCONTINENCE TRIGGERED INNOVATION IN 2017 AND CONTINUES TO OFFER SIGNIFICANT OPPORTUNITY FOR NONWOVENS
THE NONWOVEN adult incontinence market in Europe is offering hygiene product manufacturers and brands a chance to profit in a wider sanitary segment that has been and remains highly competitive.
Western Europe has a high per capita consumption in sanitary protection and a fiercely competitive retailing environment, according to Miles Agbanrin, an analyst for market researcher Euromonitor International.…
HARMONISED TAX APPROACH FOR NOVEL TOBACCO PRODUCTS WILL BECOME A REALITY ONCE THEY REACH THE MASS, EXPERTS SAY
THE DECISION of the European Commission not to propose a harmonised European Union (EU) approach for excise duty on e-cigarettes and other novel tobacco products has been welcomed by the tobacco sector for avoiding punitive taxation on a nascent segment.
But should such rules ultimately be introduced the tobacco sector may not oppose them if they reflect the lower health risks involved in consuming such products by enabling lower excise duty bands.…
SOUTH AFRICAN PAINT AND COATINGS SECTOR ANTICIPATES ROBUST GROWTH, DESPITE SOME REGULATORY AND INGREDIENT CHALLENGES
SOUTH Africa’s paints and coatings market will grow a cumulative 40% to South African rand ZAR9.77 billion (USD823 million) between 2016 and 2021, driven by continued construction and urbanisation, according to new figures.
Statistics supplied by market researcher Euromonitor International have forecasted that the country’s home paints market will grow from ZAR3.48 billion (USD293.3 million) to ZAR4.88 billion (USD411.5 million) during this five-year period.…
CIRCULAR ECONOMY PACKAGE NEEDS STRONGER LEGISLATIVE BASE, SAY PLASTICS INDUSTRY EXPERTS
THE EUROPEAN Commission’s ‘third circular economy package’ of pro-recycling reforms and regulations, proposed January 16 which contains an ambitious European Union (EU) plastics strategy, should be enshrined in hard law, with sector-wide targets, plastics industry experts have told Plastics News Europe.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – EU SUGAR EXPORTS BOOM AFTER PRODUCTION QUOTAS FALL AWAY
BEET and cane sugar exports from the European Union (EU) boomed in 2017, the year production quotas were scrapped (on September 30), according to figures released by the European Commission. They rose by 42.9% year-on-year, up from EUR631 million in 2016 to EUR902 million in 2017.…
BENELUX COSMETICS MARKET STILL STRONG BUT SALES CHANNELS ARE SHIFTING, SAY EXPERTS
SALES of cosmetics and toiletries in the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) may be steady, but these developed markets are shifting amid growing diversity in distribution. Products are increasingly bought online and in non-traditional channels such as budget, lifestyle and fashion stores.…
EU POLICY PLANS TO SECURE EUROPE’S GAS – BUT NATIONAL ENERGY SOVEREIGNTY CONCERNS ARE BUBBLING UP
Efforts to safeguard the security of supply of gas to the European Union (EU) and its countries are gathering pace after recent EU regulatory changes. Gas transmission system operators (TSOs) are now developing a new, collaborative system for managing supply crises.…
MALTA’S FAILINGS ON MONEY LAUNDERING UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT
The murder of graft-busting journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta on October 16 focused the world’s attention on the tiny Mediterranean tax haven and its failure to combat money laundering and corruption.
But even before the murder, Malta was under fire for its shortcomings in tackling money laundering.…
SENIOR UK THINK TANK CALLS TO BOOST IN AML/CFT CONTROLS FOR BRITISH MONEY SERVICE BUSINESSES
A SENIOR UK-based think tank has made detailed proposals to ensure Britain’s booming money services business (MSB) sector is better protected from abuse by money launderers and terrorist financers.
The Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies, of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) highlighted National Crime Agency (NCA) claims that the 2,000 non-bank money remitters, currency exchange or cheque-cashing services registered in the UK help launder GBP1.5 billion (USD2 billion) of criminal proceeds annually.…
AMLD COMPLIANCE LACKING AS EU STRIKES DEAL ON NEW RULES
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) fourth anti-money laundering directive (4AMLD – 2015/849) was hailed as major step forward in combatting money laundering when it was adopted in May 2015, but member states are dragging their feet on compliance, just as the bloc moves towards adopting its fifth update.…
BANGLADESH MAKING INROADS INTO LINGERIE AS CHINA SHIFTS GEAR
LURED by a shifting global market and better margins, Bangladesh’s apparel producers are rushing into the lingerie space, predicting Chinese manufacturers will secure fewer export orders for these lines as their costs rise.
This new niche opportunity for the Bangladesh industry is fortuitous, as it dovetails with the country’s textiles and clothing makers’ core strategy of moving from their traditional low-cost growth pillars, such as t-shirts, shirts, trousers, jackets and sweaters.…
DRONES MAYBE THE FOCUS OF INITIAL CIRCULAR RUNWAY TESTS
THE CONCEPT of building circular runways with a slight camber to keep planes on the ground as they land and take-off, has received significant attention, but is the idea a practical solution to airport capacity problems? Practical tests on the idea are being discussed, with their use for drones rather than piloted planes maybe being the focus of initial assessments and prototypes.…
RUSSIA TO INVEST USD200 MILLION IN BOOSTING DAIRY CATTLE BREEDING
RUSSIA’S ministry of agriculture is planning to invest up to USD200 million this year and next (2018-2019) in developing breeding stock and systems for the country’s dairy cattle industry. According to a ministry spokesperson, these plans will be implemented by experts at the ministry department of livestock, as well as some leading Russian research institutions in cattle genetics, although specific participants will be announced later this year.…
NEW CONSUMER HABITS CONTINUE TO SHAKE UP ITALY’S BPC MARKET
MERGERS and acquisitions are always motors of change in the beauty and personal care product sector, and 2017 saw some significant shifts in the key Italian industry. Important acquisitions designed to extend product portfolios and boost market share included the move by Lombardy-based global leader in colour make-up and skincare Intercos to acquire leading contract manufacturer of skin-, hair- and body-care, Cosmint. …
EU COUNCIL ADOPTS CONTROVERSIAL MONEY LAUNDERING AND TAX FRAUD BLACKLIST
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers today (December 5) adopted a money laundering blacklist, bringing widespread criticism because the listing – designed to prevent tax fraud and evasion – only covers countries outside the 28-nation bloc. Despite the European Commission screening 92 jurisdictions worldwide, the final list of non-cooperative jurisdictions in taxation matters only contains 17 jurisdictions: American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, Grenada, Guam (another US territory), South Korea, Macau (a China special administrative region), the Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, Panama, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).…
UKRAINE INCREASED MEAT EXPORTS BY 1.5 TIMES THIS YEAR
UKRAINE meat exports have increased by 1.5 times this year to USD397 million in value terms, looking at sales for January-September compared to the same period during 2016, with the country shedding its previous reliance on Russian markets. A report from the Ukraine Institute of Agrarian Economics said that the biggest growth in overseas sales was in the poultry segment, where exports for the first nine months of the current year grew by 38.2% in value terms year-on-year to USD294.86 million.…
AFRICAN CLOTHING MANUFACTURERS PROJECT GROWTH AS CHINA LOSES COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE AS AN OUTSOURCER
African clothing exporting countries are banking on rising costs in China and changing consumption patterns worldwide to attract buyers to the continent to take advantage of lower production costs.
Major hurdles abound, but manufacturers are hopeful that clothing facilities built from scratch that abide by international best practices will help the continent’s apparel sector develop.…
ACTION NEEDED TO COMBAT PRODUCTIVITY LOSSES DUE TO SICKNESS ABSENCE
SINGAPORE’S HR sector needs to plan ahead to beat an estimated productivity loss of SGD3.3 billion (USD2.43 billion) by 2030 due to sickness absenteeism among its workers, experts have warned.
This estimated loss is 43% more than the productivity loss in 2016 because of sickness absenteeism in Singapore, according to an October 2017 study entitled ‘Aging Workforce: Cost and Productivity Challenges of Ill Health in Singapore’ compiled by New York-based HR consulting firm Mercer together with New York-based professional services company Marsh & McLennan Asia Pacific Risk Center (APRC). …
CANNABIS MONEY LAUNDERING CONTROLS TO BECOME MORE COMPLEX AS LEGALISATION GROWS IN NORTH AMERICA
Of course, it is not doing this by increasing policing and the number of suspicious transaction reports, but by liberalising what is now a criminal activity, the growing, processing, sale and consumption of cannabis for recreation.
By doing so, it plans to be the first G20 country to legalise and regulate the recreational use of cannabis nationwide by July 2018.…
CANNABIS MONEY LAUNDERING CONTROLS TO BECOME MORE COMPLEX AS LEGALISATION GROWS IN NORTH AMERICA
WITH the introduction of Bill C-45 into the Canadian House of Commons earlier this year, and its securing a second reading vote in June (see https://openparliament.ca/bills/42-1/C-45/), Canada’s government has moved closer to removing millions of dollars of dirty money from its economy.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP - EU TIGHTENS FOOD HEALTH COOPERATION AFTER EGG SCANDAL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) member states and the European Commission have agreed to strengthen monitoring and information sharing systems on food fraud, to help prevent the emergence of damaging scandals such as this summer’s Netherlands egg contamination scandal. Rapid common risk assessment procedures are to be created including swift convening of Commission/member state meetings to exchange relevant scientific information.…
BRAZIL DIGITAL TEXTILE COMPANY PROSPERS FROM BUILDING DOMESTIC BRANDS WITH BRIGHT FABRICS
‘Colourful’,’ young’, ‘big’ and ‘clever’ are words often bandied about to describe the positive qualities of Brazil, and they certainly could be used to define La Estampa, a Brazilian textile company specialising in digital print B2B.
With a global print capacity of 25,000 metres per day, La Estampa is able to punch its weight in global digital textile markets.…
VIETNAM TEXTILE EXPORTERS LOOK TO ASIA TO BOOST SALES
VIETNAM’S textile and clothing and textile sector is looking to sell more product into Asian markets such as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan, while solidifying its traditional export bases like the US and EU, the latest trade data indicates.
Last year, Vietnam exported USD2.28 billion’s worth of clothing and textiles to South Korea – a 7.45% gain compared with 2015, according to Vietnam customs data analysed by the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS). …
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP - LIFTING EU'S SUGAR QUOTA SHOULD INCREASE PRODUCTION BY 20%
RESTRICTIVE quotas limiting European Union (EU) sugar production to 13.5 million tonnes have finally been scrapped, freeing producers to hit market demand. The abolition of the quotas from October 1 sees European Commission officials predicting that EU sugar production will increase 20% and reach 20.1 million tonnes for the next harvest.…
INDUSTRIAL GROWTH BOOSTS DEMAND FOR FIRE RETARDANT PAINTS IN BANGLADESH
WHILE there is little doubt that the Asian fire resistant coating market is large – indeed New Jersey-based chemical consultancy Growney Kusumgar, Nerfli & Growny has argued that it is several times larger than that of the USA’s USD100 million-market – marketers can struggle to make sales. …
HYDROGEN SET TO COME OF AGE IN EUROPE’S ENERGY SYSTEM
A new industry roadmap to advance the development of power-to-gas in Europe is just one reason advocates of hydrogen production and storage are optimistic about the next decade. The laying of foundations for larger-scale developments of power-to-gas (P2G) in Europe have gathered momentum throughout 2017, with the European Association for Storage of Energy (EASE) and the Joint Programme on Energy Storage under the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) laying plans.…
EU REGULATORY ROUND UP – EU PLOTS VIRTUAL CURRENCY FRAUD CONTROLS
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed a new revamped European Union (EU) directive on combating fraud and counterfeiting of non-cash means of payment, with a key aim of criminalising scams associated with virtual currencies.
This legislation, which updates now obsolete 2001 rules, would insist EU member states treat as crimes possessing, selling, procuring, importing and distributing a stolen or unlawfully appropriated counterfeited or falsified non-cash payment instruments.…
EASTERN CANADA HOSTS SWIFT FOR FOCUS ON SNOW REMOVAL INNOVATION
Upgrades and advancements in airport winter management technologies and techniques, especially regarding wet snow, were highlighted at this year’s SWIFT Airfield Operations Conference & Equipment Expo, which was staged at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, for the first time.
The largest city in Atlantic Canada has a reputation for receiving large doses of such snow at Halifax Stanfield International Airport, with high humidity from the Atlantic Ocean combining with the intense cold of eastern Canadian winters.…
HONEY BEES MAYBE DYING FAST, BUT GLOBAL DEMAND FOR NATURAL SWEETENER CONTINUES TO GROW
Customer willingness to pay a premium for the natural health qualities of honey appears to be outweighing price hikes for the natural sweetener amid falling production levels as beekeepers have battled catastrophic colony losses.
This has reduced worldwide bee numbers, prompting fears that confectioners might adapt production methods to replace honey with other naturally occurring sweeteners, such as stevia.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY NEWS ROUND UP – EU/CHINA GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS DEAL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) and China have struck a geographical indications deal preventing the names of 100 traditional food and drink items from either jurisdiction being used by manufacturers based outside their historic production regions or following standardised production techniques. Without complaints from manufacturers, the agreement will be formalised later this year.…
EU MINISTERS WILL HAVE AN EXTRAORDINARY MEETING AT THE END OF SEPTEMBER TO DISCUSS THE EGG CRISIS
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to hold a special meeting with European Union (EU) ministers and food safety authorities over the ongoing scandal about fipronil-contaminated eggs to gather information on how to manage such crises in future. The EU executive will stage the meeting on September 26, it told just-food today, allowing time for more information to emerge.…
DUTCH HEALTH AUTHORITIES IMPOSE CONTROLS ON CATTLE FARM OVER SECOND INSECTICIDE SCANDAL
The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) has told just-food it is blocking the movement of beef cattle from a Dutch veal and broiler poultry farm to allow tests on whether another unauthorised insecticide could pose health problems.
NVWA spokesperson Tjitte Mastenbroek explained that while Amitraz can be used as a veterinary medicinal product for cattle and pigs, its use as a pesticide is prohibited, because large doses can affect the nervous system.…
NETHERLANDS INCREASES CONTROLS ON FIPRONIL-TAINTED EGGS
The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA – Nederlandse Voedsel- en Warenautoriteit) is acting to protect European consumers from buying Dutch-produced eggs contaminated with fipronil, a toxic insecticide, a spokesperson has told just-food. “We have printed a list of 137 egg codes from the 180 companies [a fifth of all Dutch poultry farms] investigated, so consumers can check if they have the right or wrong eggs in their fridge.”…
NETHERLANDS DENIES PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE OF FIPRONIL CONTAMINATION
CLAIMS by the Belgian authorities today (August 9) that the Netherlands knew about eggs contaminated with the toxic insecticide fipronil as early as last year are false, the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA – Nederlandse Voedsel- en Warenautoriteit) has affirmed.…
NETWORKED TECHNOLOGIES AND BETTER PRODUCTION WORKFLOW FOR DIRECT-TO-GARMENT PRINTING BOOST MASS-CUSTOMISED PRODUCTION WITHOUT MISPRINTS
INDUSTRY 4.0 and the Internet of Things are gathering pace, says Europe’s largest industry group for manufacturing systems engineering, Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau e.V. (VDMA) in Germany. Elgar Straub, managing director at VDMA Textile Care, Fabric and Leather Technologies said: “Thanks to digital textile printing, it is now possible to print apparel, shoes and technical textiles directly.…
BREXIT MAY AID FRAUDSTERS, AS LEGAL COMPLEXITY GROWS AND ENERGY IS WASTED ON NEGOTIATING DETAILED COOPERATION - EXPERTS
WITHOUT European Union (EU) supervision, the fight against fraud, in the UK at least, will become more difficult after ‘Brexit’, European fraud experts claim.
“London is already known to be a major money laundering centre, so that can only get worse once the EU ‘strings’ have been severed,” predicted Hugh Penri-Williams, fraud consultant and vice president of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) France.…
NO MAJOR EVIDENCE THAT FOOD AND DRINK COMPANIES SHIRT CHANGER EASTERN EUROPE ON TASTE – BUT REPUTATIONS ARE RISKED ANYWAY
EASTERN and central European food consumers have often complained that international branded food tastes worse in their countries than in western Europe – even when comparing the same brands in similar packaging.
But the question is whether these grumbles are effectively urban myths – or if there is evidence suggesting that these differences are real.…
DG SAYS OLAF WILL RETAIN VITAL ANTI-FRAUD ROLE ONCE EUROPEAN PUBLIC PROSECUTOR IS LAUNCHES
THE OUTGOING director general of the European Union (EU) anti-fraud office OLAF has stressed how his agency will continue to proactively fight fraud once the new European Public Prosecutors Office (EPPO) is established.
Giovanni Kessler, writing in the last OLAF annual report in his seven-year mandate, has stressed that his agency’s role will be important, now that just 20 out of 28 EU member states have decided to work with the EPPO.…
USA PAINT AND COATINGS SECTOR EXPECTED TO GROW, IF TRUMP DOES NOT TORPEDO TRADE POLICY
International politics and trade relations are set to influence the medium-term future of the US paint and coatings industry, analysts have predicted, highlighting a generally positive outlook with certain caveats.
USA PAINT AND COATINGS SECTOR EXPECTED TO GROW, IF TRUMP DOES NOT TORPEDO TRADE POLICY
The state of the economy and its knock-on effect to the construction and manufacturing sectors (the World Bank is forecasting 2.2% GDP growth for the USA in 2017), is encouraging for paint and coatings producers.…
EU LAWMAKERS DEMAND CO2 CRACKDOWN, AUTOMAKERS SCEPTICAL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) lawmakers are calling for a seismic shift towards low carbon mobility in the auto sector, including requiring manufacturers to meet a 25% minimum fleet quota for electric vehicles by 2025 and a sales ban on cars emitting carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2035. …
NORWAY’S INDUSTRIAL MINERAL RICHES GENERATE SUSTAINABLE GROWTH, WHILE REGULATORS KEEP AN EYE ON ECO-CONTROLS
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.…
TWENTY COUNTRIES SET UP EPPO AFTER EU FAILS TO AGREE AS BLOC
TWENTY European member states agreed to set up a European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) under an ‘enhanced cooperation’ regulation agreed at the June 8 Justice Council after the EU as a bloc failed to gain the necessary unanimity on a European Commission proposal. …
EU TRADE GROWING SLOWLY AS NORWAY PRISES OPEN PROTECTED DAIRY MARKET
With its rich dairy heritage and reliance on milk-based products in its diet, Norway is slowly opening up trade in its dairy sector, looking to capitalise on demand for dairy-based health and wellness products, both domestically and abroad. The country has traditionally protected its food sector, but the Norwegian dairy sector has a lot of innovative strengths.…
DAIRY ROBOTICS SET TO INCREASE EUROPE-WIDE, SAY EXPERTS
DAIRY robots might seem like science fiction, but their use has increased dramatically in Europe over the last 20 years. Ireland’s Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre (Teagasc) predicts 20% of cows will be milked automatically by 2020, with other reports citing a 50% rate in northwest Europe by 2025.…
BREXIT WILL BE TOUGH FOR COSMETICS INDUSTRY, EXPERTS SAY AT COSMETICS EUROPE CONFERENCE
THE UK’s exit from the European Union (EU), scheduled April 1, 2019, will be a real challenge for the European cosmetics industry, John Chave, director-general for EU industry body Cosmetics Europe told Soap Perfumery & Cosmetics in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the key European Cosmetics Week 2017 event in Brussels.…
ASIA REGULATORY ROUND UP – SINGAPORE TO REVIEW DOUBLE TAXATION AGREEMENTS FOR TAX EVASION LOOPHOLES
Singapore will review its 80 bilateral agreements on avoiding double taxation to ensure they do not help companies avoid paying tax where relevant business activity took place. This follows its signing the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD)-sponsored Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting.…
SINGAPORE AIRLINES TEMPTS ECO-CONSCIOUS PASSENGERS WITH ‘GREEN PACKAGE’ FLIGHTS
SINGAPORE Airlines has launched ‘green package’ for its San Francisco-Singapore route, with planes burning a biofuel-kerosene blend, with the biofuel component including used cooking oils. The flights, which began on May 1, also use the airline’s most fuel-efficient aircraft, with special efforts to optimise flight paths and air traffic management to cut fuel consumption and carbon emissions.…
NEW ETHIOPIA MAJOR AIR CARGO CENTRE OPENS THIS SUMMER
Ethiopia airlines, the largest cargo carrier in Africa, is close to completing its cargo terminal expansion as part of a major infrastructure upgrade at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, serving the Ethiopian capital.
Ethiopian Airlines, with its fleet of two Boeing 757Fs and six Boeing 777Fs, requested the new facility to accommodate increased volume growth and transit traffic.…
DUTCH POULTRY HATCHING FIRM PLOTS MOVE INTO RUSSIA
THE NETHERLANDS-based Hendrix Genetics plans to build a complex producing hatching eggs for turkey chicks in Russia this year, according to the Russian ministry of agriculture.
Ina report, it has said the new complex will be able to produce 6.5 million hatching eggs per year, and the potential to increase volumes in future.…
EUROPE COAL SECTOR DECLINES AS POWER SOURCE - BUT PROCESS IS UNEVEN
EUROPEAN electricity industry federation Eurelectric hews closely to the views of its national associations, so when all but two of its members made a commitment in April (2017) not to fund investments in new-build coal-fired power plants after 2020, the energy sector can be sure this is a solid promise.…
SOUTH AFRICA’S ABUNDANT FLOWERING PLANT SPECIES PROVIDES EXTENSIVE OPPORTUNITIES FOR ORGANIC COSMETICS AND TOILETRIES
SOUTH Africa has more than 30,000 flowering plant species including 10% of the world’s higher species, providing fertile ground for an organic and natural cosmetic and toiletry industry and market.
Combine the natural ingredients with a burgeoning middle-income society with increasing numbers of consumers seeking healthier lifestyles and it is no surprise that sales of these products are increasing.…
INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS KEY TO GET CONNECTED CARS ON THE ROAD, EXPERTS SAY
TECHNOLOGY per se is not enough to roll out connected cars in Europe, experts from the auto sector and the European Union (EU)’s executive body the European Commission agreed at last week’s ‘Connected Cars Europe 2017’ conference in Brussels. The key, speakers told the May 11 event, is connecting automobiles to their commercial and social environment and getting all actors on board.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION ANNOUNCES FIVE INNOVATIVE GAS INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced it is spending EUR17.3 million on five projects promoting innovative gas-related infrastructure projects in Europe. The money will come from the European Union’s (EU) Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), a funding programme designed to create economic growth, jobs and competitiveness through targeted infrastructure investment.…
TIDE OF CHINESE MONEY LAUNDERING CHANGES – WITH FLOWS FROM EUROPE TO CHINA GROWING
A case detected last May (2015) at Lisbon international airport, Portugal, says much for the worrying scale of the laundering of illicit funds from Europe into mainland China. A nondescript Chinese couple travelling from Lisbon to Shanghai via the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Dubai was stopped carrying more than EUR1 million in large denomination notes found elaborately wrapped in ‘danger, chemicals’ packaging within packets marked ‘FRAGILE’.…
THE BIG BOOST IN EU PIG MEAT EXPORT MIGHT NOT LAST FOR LONG
EUROPEAN Union (EU) pig meat producers were big winners in boosting export sales over between last March (2016) and February (2017), according to the European Commission, with receipts rising by more than 33% compared to the same period last year. The EU pigmeat sector earned EUR5.4 billion in export earnings from March 2016 to February 2017, EUR1.35 billion more than the same period in the previous year, leading the United States and Canada as the second and third most important pigmeat exporters, reported EU statistical agency Eurostat.…
POLICE AND COMPANIES FLOCK WORLDWIDE TO JOIN EUROPOL’S RANSOMWARE PROJECT
A SIGNIFICANT number of law enforcement and private partners have joined European police cooperation body Europol’s global ‘No more ransom’ project, designed to halt the growing threat of ransomware. There are now 76 participants in the project, which was launched last July (2016) by the Dutch National Police, Europol, IT firm Intel Security and cybercrime specialists Kaspersky Lab.…
CREDIT SUISSE IN MULTI COUNTRY TAX EVASION PROBE
Swiss bank Credit Suisse is facing parallel investigations in five countries – Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK for facilitating tax evasion and money laundering. The bank admitted in a March 31 statement that it was “cooperating” with local tax authorities which had contacted its London, Paris and Amsterdam offices the day before “concerning client tax matters.”…
COSMETICS COMPANIES AND REGULATORS COMBINE FORCES TO STOP MICROBEADS POURING INTO THE OCEANS
Shocking media images of dead animals and birds, killed by ingesting plastic in oceans have pricked the collective conscience of personal care product manufacturers and consumers as industry self-regulation over the use of harmful microplastics appears to have outpaced formal governmental regulation.…
EGYPT’S PAINT AND COATINGS SECTOR MAKES BUMPY PROGRESS, BUT THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT
THE PAINT and coatings sector in Egypt is growing, but its progress has been unsteady, reflecting its bumpy political progress since its 2011 revolution that brought down long-standing President Hosni Mubarak. While a construction boom dominated by huge public private partnerships (PPPs) is driving up sales of decorative paint, according to industry analysts, a weak automotive sector is holding back overall growth with slow sales of refinishing paint.…
EUROPEAN WIPES MARKET COMPLEX – WITH GROWTH AND DECLINE AS ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS GROW
THE EUROPEAN wipes market is a complex affair. This is a varied segment, in itself, but wipe use varies between countries with contrasting consumer cultures – meaning that in some states, wipes sales are increasing; in others decreasing; and in others, the kinds of wipes being sold is changing.…
FRENCH MEAT INDUSTRY PREPARES RESPONSE TO CHINA’S LIFTING OF IMPORT BAN
EUROPEAN and French meat industry organisations are preparing to respond to China’s decision to lift its embargo on French exports of de-boned beef for animals. China is the second largest importer of beef worldwide: “We welcome the move in principle,” European Union (EU) farm body Copa-Cogeca’s secretary general Pekka Pesonen told GlobalMeatNews.…
KINGPINS SHOW AMSTERDAM: MILLS AND CONSUMERS DRIVING INNOVATION AND DESIGN
This year’s Kingpins Show Amsterdam denim showcase heard that mills and consumers are driving technological innovation and design, rather than fashion houses. Recognition of the impact of social media on consumption; fabric wicking; as well as new blends and solutions devised to appeal to untapped consumer demands, were all highlighted.…
EU CONSUMER HEALTH WARNING DATABASE REPORT INDICATES RISE IN REPORTS ON AUTOS AND PARTS DURING 2016
AUTOMOTIVE parts and vehicles have become the second most dangerous category of goods in the European Union (EU) in 2016, according to the most recent annual report of the EU’s ‘Rapid Alert System for non-food dangerous products’, or RAPEX.
The system routes safety alerts about consumer products within the 28 member states of the EU.…
SWISS AML TZAR DENIES CREDIT SUISSE CASE SHOWS CRACKS
The official leading Switzerland’s efforts to combat money laundering in the country’s banking system has denied that a scandal unveiled last week involving Credit Suisse shows weaknesses in efforts to stop ill gotten gains being hidden in Swiss banks. Credit Suisse has acknowledged that tax authorities in France, the Netherlands and the UK are investigating the bank for tax evasion and money laundering.…
NONWOVENS FINISHERS COMBINING COLOURING AESTHETICS WITH SUSTAINABILITY
AN APPRECIATION of interior design along with environmental concerns appear to be driving innovation when it comes to the colouring of nonwovens.
Often used in functional or ‘behind the scenes’ capacities in industrial applications, colour is not always top of the list when consideration is given to nonwovens finishing processes.…
ENERGY UNION PROPOSALS NOT DOING ENOUGH TO HELP OIL AND GAS SECTOR, EXPERTS SAY
THE EUROPEAN Commission’s (EU) comprehensive and ambitious ‘Energy Union’ package of reforms, launched last November (2016) could do more to boost the oil and gas industries, experts have told the Petroleum Review.
These ‘Clean Energy for All Europeans’ legislative proposals cover energy efficiency, renewable energy, the design of the electricity market, security of electricity supply and regulatory rules.…
WIN-WIN INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS ACROSS AIRPORT PARTNERS IN INTERACTION TRIALS
TURNING around planes quickly so that they leave airports and get back into the air and start making (rather than costing) money, is a key challenge for the air industry. One reason is that many moving parts must go right for planes to leave on time and promptly, and that requires attention to detail and holistic management processes.…
SCHIPHOL SECURES EIB FINANCING FOR EXPANSION
THE OPERATOR of Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport is borrowing EUR350 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to help finance an expansion of the Netherlands’ largest aviation hub. NV Schiphol Airport has signed a loan agreement to secure a first EUR175 million installment.…
EU MEMBER STATES CLEAR WAY FORWARD TO CREATE EUROPEAN PUBLIC PROSECUTOR – BUT MAYBE JUST FOR 17 MEMBER STATES
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has taken a significant step towards the creation of a European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), but its chosen procedure may mean the powers of EU anti-fraud office OLAF will be undiminished, at least for some countries.
The latest European Council – the EU summit of heads of government – on March 9 agreed that the creation of the EPPO should be mandated through the EU’s ‘enhanced cooperation’ procedure.…
COSMOPROF WOWS THE CROWDS WITH CELEBRATORY 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
Italy’s premier beauty trade fair celebrated half a century this year in Bologna with a host of special events that ranged from an opening cocktail party on the fair grounds to a special dance performance held in the Bologna city centre.…
CHINA ACCELERATING COATINGS R&D TO REDUCE RELIANCE ON FOREIGN PLAYERS
THE CHINESE coatings market has been dominated by foreign suppliers, especially in higher end and high-tech market segments, but this might well be changing gradually, as the country steps up its coatings research and development (R&D) efforts.
This new push reflects the national government’s shift in economic policy away from focusing on exports and wanting to generate an economy more based on domestic consumption.…
INDONESIA’S BURGEONING MIDDLE CLASS PROMISES GROWING DEMAND FOR COUNTRY’S PAINT SECTOR
THE PAINT and coatings sector in Indonesia looks set to grow significantly in coming years as rising salaries and job creation mean more disposable income for middle class purchases of residential product. The south-east Asian archipelago’s poverty rate has dropped from 17.2% in 2002 to 11.1% in 2015, according to the World Bank.…
AUTOMATED RECHARGING SYSTEMS FOR EV’S MOVE FROM LABORATORY TO PUBLIC ROADS
The technology is known as ‘dynamic inductive charging’ and has been trialled in a range of scenarios across different continents. And one system, in South Korea, is now in operation on a live transport route, on roads in the towns of Gumi, in the country’s southeast, and Sejong, in central South Korea.…
PAKISTAN COTTON PRODUCERS TO RECEIVE GLOBAL AND AUSTRALIAN EXPERTISE IN TRAINING INITIATIVE
A TRAINING project for Pakistan cotton farmers has been launched by the Australian government, industry association Cotton Australia and the global Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), with the goal of boosting production in this key south Asian supplier of the fibre.…
AUTOMATED RECHARGING SYSTEMS FOR EV’S MOVE FROM LABORATORY TO PUBLIC ROADS
As the drive to encourage electric vehicle (EV) ownership gathers momentum, so does the desire to install automated recharging systems, such as devices built into roads that top up batteries as autos motor on.
The technology is known as ‘dynamic inductive charging’ and has been trialled in a range of scenarios across different continents.…
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR RELEASE OF MORE AML POLICY DATA BY GOVERNMENTS
Anti-corruption campaign group Transparency International (TI) has called on major financial centres to be more open about their anti-money laundering (AML) efforts, claiming survey data indicates governments are being overly secretive. In a report based on studies of 12 developed jurisdictions called ‘Top Secret: Countries Keep Financial Crime Fighting Data to Themselves’, TI has said that only 36% of basic anti-money laundering indicators drawn from internationally accepted guidelines is available to the public and regularly updated.…
EUROPE’S TECHNICAL TEXTILE SECTOR GROW THROUGH INNOVATION
THE CONTINUED success of Europe’ major technical textile fair, Techtextil, Frankfurt, (the next event runs from May 9 to 12) illustrates how the continent’s technical textile sector is thriving on its innovation.
“We don’t know what the future brings. We only know where it will be exhibited.…
CETA WILL BOOST MARKET ACCESS FOR CHEESE, SAYS EUROPEAN DAIRY INDUSTRY
EUROPEAN Union (EU) exports of cheese to Canada will increase substantially, by some 128%, as a result of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the European Union (EU) and Canada, which the European Parliament approved provisionally on February 15, say EU dairy associations.…
LIQUEFIED AND COMPRESSED NATURAL GAS A LONG-TERM WINNER IN THE ENERGY MIX
Natural gas, including its liquefied form LNG, can be the long-term growth story among fossil fuels but needs to withstand stiff challenges
The naming ceremony in February 2017 for offshore facilities for the Ichthys liquefied natural gas project in Australia was another milestone in the huge wave of investment in LNG production capacity globally in recent years.…
GULF ECONOMIES DAMPENED BY LOW OIL PRICES, BUT CONSUMERS STILL PREPARED TO SPLURGE ON PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS
The Arabian peninsula oil-producing nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have long been considered a lucrative consumer market for international brands. Many businesses flourish in the region and the beauty and personal care product industries are no exception.
According to Euromonitor International, the retail value of the GCC region’s beauty and personal care market was USD9.3 billion in 2016 – member countries are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).…
BEAT TOBACCO COUNTERFEITERS AT SOURCE, SAYS EU FRAUD SUPREMO
THE DIRECTOR-general of the European Union’s anti-fraud office – OLAF – has argued that the only way to stop counterfeit cigarettes and other goods entering Europe is to tackle the trade at source. Giovanni Kessler spoke out at a joint OLAF press conference with the Belgian Customs and Excise Administration in December to showcase how their cooperation had smashed a cigarette smuggling ring.…
MEAT INDUSTRY WELCOMES THE US DECISION TO LIFT EMBARGO ON FRENCH BEEF
THE UNITED States authorities have lifted an embargo on French beef imports after 19 years, the French agriculture ministry has said, and European meat producers are delighted.
France is the fourth European Union (EU) country, after Lithuania, Ireland and the Netherlands, to have its beef re-admitted to the US market after a January 1998 ban imposed because of fears over bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease.…
TRIAL OF ATM SATELLITE SYSTEM A SUCCESS SAYS EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY
THE EUROPEAN Space Agency (ESA) has completed the first flight trials of air traffic control satellites under the Iris Precursor programme, a public–private partnership between ESA and UK satellite operator Inmarsat. The goal is delivering high-capacity secure digital data links via satellite for air–ground communications over European airspace.…
EU XP-DITE PROJECT LEADS TO FIRST DUAL PRE-CLEARANCE AIRPORT CHECKPOINT
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) XP-DITE accelerated checkpoint design integration test and evaluation project has enabled the creation and approval of the world’s first combined EU and United States pre-clearance checkpoint. Its goal is to create a regulatory system that gives the designers and operators of airport checkpoints more freedom to choose how they build and run these systems, making them more effective and maybe cheaper, but at the same time guaranteeing a high level of security.…
ASIA REGULATORY ROUND UP – HONG KONG REGULATORS CRACK DOWN ON MINORITY SHAREHOLDER ABUSERS
HONG Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange have put listed companies on notice that they will closely monitor rights issues and open offers that substantially dilute the interests of non-subscribing minority shareholders.
In a joint statement, the SFC and the exchange have said they fear in some cases deals have been conducted without complying with requirements to give fair and equal treatment to all shareholders. …
ASIA REGULATORY ROUND UP - CHINA TIGHTENS MONEY LAUNDERING REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
CHINA’S central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBC), has issued a new anti-money laundering and terror finance reporting requirements for all financial institutions inside the country. The rules come into force July 1. They cover banks, brokers, foreign exchange, online and mobile payment systems and insurance companies, who will have to file reports to the central bank, via their headquarters or via representative institutions, if a client requires daily cash transactions exceeding Chinese Yuan Renminbi CNY50,000 (USD7,261) or a larger amount of USD10,000’s worth in foreign currency.…
ASIA REGULATORY ROUND UP – HONG KONG SIGNS NEW DOUBLE TAXATION PREVENTION DEAL WITH PAKISTAN
THE HONG Kong and Pakistan government have signed a comprehensive agreement on avoiding double taxation. Pakistani tax paid by Hong Kong companies will be credited against Hong Kong taxes on the same profits, with the reverse applying for Pakistan companies. Pakistan’s withholding tax rates for Hong Kong residents on royalties and fees for technical services (both currently 15%) will be capped at 10% and 12.5% respectively.…
MALAYSIA AEROTROPOLIS MOVES FORWARD UNDERPINNED BY STRATEGIC AND DETAILED BLUEPRINT
A long-held ambition by Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) to create an aerotropolis, or airport city, anchored around Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is taking key steps forward with a newly finalised master plan and a number of strategic partnerships.
The project, called KLIA Aeropolis, was announced in May (2016).…
EUROPE CONTINUES TO EXPAND ENERGY PRICE PLAN CHOICES
WHILE Japan has freed up its electricity market, in 2015, end-user price regulation was still applied to household electricity markets in 12 European Union (EU) member states (46% of electricity and 54% of gas price offers from different service providers), Europe’s electricity industry association Eurelectric spokesperson Anamaria Olaru told Energy World.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – SUGAR PRODUCERS WANT EU PROTECTION MAINTAINED, DESPITE TRADE DEAL TALKS
THE INTERNATIONAL Confederation of European Beet Growers (CIBE) and the European Association of Sugar Producers (CEFS-Comité Européen des Fabricants de Sucre) have jointly called on the European Union (EU) to continue protecting producers with import tariffs, even as the EU negotiates 12 trade deals affecting the food industry.…
EU PUSHES FOR MORE CONTROLS ON TATTOO INKS
THE EUROPEAN Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is investigating if European Union (EU)-wide controls are needed to protect consumers against substances used in tattoo inks and permanent make-up (PMU) – with one solution expanding the scope of the EU cosmetics directive.
While the printing ink industry has suffered a recession, the tattoo and PMU ink sectors are booming in the wake of a huge increase in purchases of tattoos EU-wide.…
EUROPEAN CORPORATE GOVERNANCE BECOMES MORE COMPLEX AS AUDIT REQUIREMENTS GROW
The reform of European Union (EU) statutory audit rules, which came into force on June 17, represents a set of challenges to public interest entities (PIEs) and their audit committees. And with these changes applying to fiscal years beginning on or after this date, and given that there are about 37,000 PIEs (basically listed companies, credit institutions and insurance undertakings) across the EU, the reform is having a profound effect on European corporate governance.…
CHINA BANKS COMPLIANCE OVER AML IS INCOMPLETE AND OFTEN MUDDLED, WITH ANTI-REGULATION CULTURE A HANDICAP
As China’s banks get bigger, they are also drawing the attention of global money laundering investigators. Eyes were certainly focused on Bank of China (BoC) earlier this year: the bank stands accused Florence police and public prosecutor’s office of funnelling EUR4.9 billion from Italy to China between 2007 and 2010 with Italian authorities claiming much of that figure was from the proceeds of crime.…
GROWTH POTENTIAL IN NORTHERN GERMANY FOR DANISH ORGANIC MEAT
GERMANY is one of Denmark’s largest export markets for organic meat, but industry experts say there is still room for sales growth. A key target market is northern Germany, including the major city of Hamburg, given its close proximity to southern Denmark where the bulk of Danish organic farms are located. …
SPEED AND INNOVATION NEED TO MESH TO GET PARALLEL TIME-TO-MARKET AND COST SAVINGS
Fast fashion is all about getting product to market quickly without over-spending. And while new technologies such as digital printing machinery can speed up the process, they can also add cost.
Guido Schlossmann, president and chief executive officer of Thailand-based consultants Synergies Worldwide, stressed to just-style that the key issue is getting the balance right.…
BANGLADESH FACTORIES HAVE RAISED THEIR GAME – BUT BUYERS ARE NOT RESPONDING WITH HIGHER PRICES – CONFERENCE TOLD
BANGLADESH’S apparel makers have invested heavily in improving factory safety since the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster but global buyers are still failing to pay fair prices and following non-transparent purchasing practices, a conference in Dhaka has heard.
Speaking at the Sustainable Sourcing in the Garment Sector (SSGS) conference, held on September 29, in the Bangladesh capital, policymakers, producers, retailers and experts stressed that the race to the bottom should be stopped, as the industry needs to move from paying minimum wages to living wages.…
MYANMAR PAINT MARKET GROWS DESPITE CONSTRUCTION SLOWDOWN
A slowdown in liberalising Myanmar’s construction industry so far this year has not soured the positive outlook of paints and coatings companies on this emerging market’s potential, according to industry experts.
Few new construction projects have come online in 2016, as the market works to digest the surplus of units begun during a boom following the 2011 transition to civilian rule, which was finally completed in March (2016).…
CHINA WIND ENERGY EXPANSION BOOSTS ENERGY-SECTOR PROTECTIVE COATINGS SALES
As offshore wind takes off, China’s expanding wind turbine and clean energy manufacturing sectors are demanding more specialised coatings. China is the biggest market in the world for wind power installations: Chinese installations match the figure for the entire European Union (EU) according to the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.…
BARILLA PUSHES AHEAD WITH 3D PASTA PRINTING TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
Earlier this year Italian pasta giant Barilla presented its latest technological innovation: a next generation 3D printer that swaps ink for pasta dough and is able to make unique pasta shapes in just minutes.
Barilla is among the world’s first food producers to leverage the latest digital technologies and apply them to food production.…
BRANDED FOOD MAJORS PUSH FORWARD WITH 3D PRINTERS, BUT TECHNICAL PROGRESS IS UNEVEN
THE CONCEPT of 3D printing in the food retail sector has been under serious consideration since 2014. And while major brands and innovators are still investigating the technology, they are yet to become an integral part of their production systems and business models.…
BARILLA PUSHES AHEAD WITH 3D PASTA PRINTING TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
Earlier this year Italian pasta giant Barilla presented its latest technological innovation: a next generation 3D printer that swaps ink for pasta dough and is able to make unique pasta shapes in just minutes.
Barilla is among the world’s first food producers to leverage the latest digital technologies and apply them to food production.…
DUTCH PROSECUTORS ANNOUNCE MALAYSIAN AIRLINES JETLINER SHOT BY RUSSIA-MADE BUK MISSILE
There is “irrefutable evidence” the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 that crashed over war-torn Ukraine on 17 July 2014 was hit by a Russia-made BUK missile from the 9M38 series, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service’s Joint Investigation Team (JIT) told a Wednesday (September 28) press conference for relatives of the 298 victims.…
UK EXPORTS FACE RE-IMPOSITION OF EU IMPORT DUTIES FOR FIRST TIME IN 43 YEARS IN POST-BREXIT WORLD
AS the British government starts the complex process of considering the form of the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the European Union (EU), one issue will be foremost in the minds of exporters – tariffs.
These have not existed for UK exports to other members of the EU since 1973, when Britain joined what was then called the European Economic Community (EEC).…
TECHNICAL ROUND UP – BRUSSELS LAUNCHES TAX BLACKLIST ASSESSMENT
EUROPEAN COMMISSION LAUNCHES GLOBAL TAX AVOIDANCE BLACKLIST ASSESSMENT
THE EUROPEAN Commission has completed the first phase of an assessment designed to help the European Union (EU) frame its own blacklist of jurisdictions deemed un-cooperative over tax avoidance and evasion. Brussels has released a ‘scoreboard’ of non-EU jurisdictions judging whether they exchange information with foreign tax authorities, have preferential or low tax regimes, have close and important economic and financial links with the EU and are politically stable (and hence more attractive as a tax haven).…
EIB PLOTS LOAN FOR NEW SCHIPHOL PIER AND TERMINAL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) is planning to lend EUR350 million to help fund the construction of a new pier and passenger terminal at Schiphol Amsterdam Airport, the Netherlands. The new terminal, scheduled for completion 2023, will be to the south of Schiphol Plaza, next to the air traffic control tower and connected to the existing terminal.…
COMMISSION’S AID PACKAGE WILL NOT COMBAT DAIRY WOES, CHARGES INDUSTRY
THE EUROPEAN Commission’s latest EUR500 million support package for European farmers, finalised at an August 26 European Union (EU) committee in Brussels, will not ease the dairy crisis, European dairy groups have warned.
“Production cuts is the label used to describe the current package of measures,” said the EU farm lobby group European Milk Board (EMB)’s president Romuald Schaber following the initial announcement of the plans in July.…
IN VIETNAM, COATINGS DEMAND EASILY OUTPACING STRONG ECONOMIC GROWTH
Vigorous expansion of export-oriented manufacturing and construction in 2015 spurred the fastest GDP growth in Vietnam in seven years, at 6.7% year-on-year, according to the Asian Development Bank. And although coatings consumption correlates generally well with economic growth, in Vietnam the 2015 year-on-year coatings production increase outpaced general economic expansion – it rose 11.1% year-on -year in 2015, to Vietnamese dong VND13 trillion (USD587 million), according to market researcher Euromonitor International.…
ACCOUNTANTS MUST SIGNPOST SMALL FIRMS TO VENTURE CAPITAL, CONFERENCE TOLD
Accountants share responsibility with banks to direct their small-and-medium-sized enterprise (SME) clients towards sources of finance, a Brussels conference has been told. Rebecca McNeil, head of SME lending at Barclays, said at a July 13 Brussels conference on ‘Capital Markets Union: delivering new opportunities for SMEs through venture capital’, declared: “We all have the duty of care, banks, accountants … to signpost SMEs to sources of finance.” …
EUROPE’S AUTO AND TELECOMS INDUSTRY JOIN FORCES TO TEST CONNECTED AND AUTOMATED DRIVING SYSTEMS
The European Union’s automotive manufacturing and telecommunications industry trade bodies July 7 unveiled plans for a joint test project in connected and automated driving, due to launch 2017. The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA), the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO), the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) and the global association for the mobile telecoms industry (GSMA) will operate the research scheme.…
FATF MOVES TO CLARIFY DERISKING RULES ON CHARITIES
FACED with evidence that international charities continue to face restricted access to banks over de-risking concerns, the global AML body the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) voted at its plenary session in South Korea in June to revise its Recommendation 8 and the accompanying Interpretative Note addressing the problem.…
EU AND US PUSH FOR TTIP DEAL THIS YEAR, DESPITE ENDURING DIFFERENCES
DISAGREEMENTS over the meat sector are holding up a deal between the European Union (EU) and the United States for a comprehensive, ambitious Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) trade deal by end 2016. Entrenched attitudes concerning a risk- (EU) or science-based (US) approach to meat trade will make this difficult to achieve.…
CHINA’S DYEING UNITS SEE THINGS SHAKEN UP BY GOVERNMENT’S MUCH TOUGHER NEW ENVIRONMENTAL STANCE
It has been a little over a year since China in April 2015 launched its comprehensive Water Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (called the ‘Water Ten Plan’), which has triggered profound changes within the country’s textile dyeing sector. Under the most stringent water policy to date in China, factories were given a maximum of three years to clean up and upgrade equipment for water recycling to avoid a shutdown by regulators.…
EU OCEAN ENERGY MOVES FORWARD, AHEAD OF NEW ROADMAP TO SPUR GROWTH
Europe in 2016 has been witness to significant milestones passed in deployment of new, full-scale demonstration and commercial tidal stream and wave energy projects.
This is encouraging for the European Union (EU), which wants clean, renewable ‘ocean energy’ to provide a tenth of its power by mid-century.…
EUROPEAN DIRECTOR TRAINING VITAL TO SERVE ON A ‘FOREIGN’ BOARD
Significant European Union (EU) company law changes are set to add to the training challenge for non-executive directors who are working on boards outside their home country. The difficulties are compounded where flexibility for member states or companies to implement directives, regulations and recommendations adds local nuances to the know-how required to serve on a board in a jurisdiction with which a director is not previously familiar.…
ASEAN AUTOMOTIVE TRADE DEAL COULD CONCENTRATE AUTO TRADE PRODUCTION IN SOUTH EAST ASIA
Asian paint and coatings manufacturers are set to benefit from the expansion of an existing automotive tariff-free zone spanning Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.…
EUROPEAN DIRECTOR TRAINING VITAL TO SERVE ON A ‘FOREIGN’ BOARD
Significant European Union (EU) company law changes are set to add to the training challenge for non-executive directors who are working on boards outside their home country. The difficulties are compounded where flexibility for member states or companies to implement directives, regulations and recommendations adds local nuances to the know-how required to serve on a board in a jurisdiction with which a director is not previously familiar.…
ECJ SAYS AUTHORS SHOULD BE COMPENSATED FOR EBOOK PURCHASES BY LIBRARIES
A PRELIMINARY ruling at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said authors should be compensated for the lending of their electronic books by European Union (EU) public libraries similarly to traditional books – with one royalty per purchase, not every time an e-book is lent to a reader.…
EXPERTS DEBATE ADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL PRINTING AT MAJOR BRAZILIAN TEXTILE CONFERENCE
A DUTCH specialist in digital printing has told a major textile conference in Brazil that its textile finishing sector should embrace this technology, despite its higher costs. Rene Wolferink, application specialist at the Netherlands’ SPGPrints was speaking at the International Abit Congress, staged by the Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association (ABIT – Associação Brasileira da Indústria Têxtil e de Confecção), staged in São Paulo on June 1 and 2.…
SWIM GLOBAL CONNECTIVITY SHINES AT SESAR DEMONSTRATION
The goal of uniting Europe under a single sky of system-wide ATM interoperability, once an improbably futuristic idea, was given a tangible push forward at the SESAR Global Demonstration held in Rome on June 8 and 9. The two-day event, which took place at the Prototype Systems Centre of Italian civil aviation authority ENAV (Ente Nazionale per l’Assistenza al Volo), spotlighted the ways that System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) can simultaneously and seamlessly streamline ATM operations.…
BY LEE AUSTRALIA PLOTS TIGHTER RULES ON MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERROR FINANCE
A SWEEPING review of Australia’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006, published in April 2016, has made more than 80 recommendations to tighten and extend the scope of this key piece of legislation. Among these are proposals to streamline due diligence obligations on the part of reporting entities while reinforcing auditing procedures, increasing the scope of the legislation to cover more professional categories and types of transactions and increasing surveillance particularly in the remittance sector.…
PHARMA SECTOR THINKS HARD OVER UPCOMING EU REFORM OF ORPHAN MEDICINE CONTROLS
Important changes in the way that the European Union (EU) deals with orphan medicines could be signalled later this year when the European Commission publishes a revised version of its 2003 Communication (policy paper) on the topic. The Commission has said wants to “streamline the regulatory framework” underpinning the assistance given to manufacturers of orphan drugs and to adapt the policy to “technical progress”, and asked for comments from the pharma industry and other interested parties on how it should proceed.…
EU SERVICES PASSPORT TO BE PROPOSED
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced that it will propose a ‘services passport’ system by December 31, designed to simplify administrative procedures for service providers, such as accountants, auditors and bookkeepers, who want to expand to foreign member states. EU internal market, industry, entrepreneurship and SMEs Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska said: “The cross-border provision of services in the EU is underdeveloped, in particular in the area of business services – such as accounting…” The passport system would give accountants more information, boosting legal certainty and clarity about relevant professional rules in another member state.…
EFFECTIVE ACCOUNTING IS ESSENTIAL TO FIGHT FRAUD, SAYS ACFE
Fraud is a fact of today’s ever more complex and increasingly online life – with financial fraud especially on the increase, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) has made clear at its March 21-22 European Fraud Conference, in Brussels. Speakers highlighted that a typical organisation loses 5% of its annual revenues to fraud – a global loss of nearly USD3.7 trillion.…
BRUSSELS GOLD PLATES OECD BEPS PLANS WITH COUNTRY-BY-COUNTRY PUBLIC DISCLOSURE PROPOSALS
THE EUROPEAN Commission has once again gold plated the BEPS (base erosion and profit shifting) proposals developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD), releasing country-by-country financial reporting proposals that go beyond the global think-tank’s ambitions.
Tabled for consideration by the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers and the European Parliament on April 12, in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal, the Commission’s proposals not only insist that all large multinationals publicly reveal aggregated earnings data for each EU country they operate in, and how much the earn outside the EU.…
OECD SAYS FDI UP TO PRE-RECESSION LEVELS
THE ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has released detailed data on global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows in 2015, noting these increased by 25% to USD1.7 trillion, their highest level since 2007. And while financial and corporate restructuring accounted for part of the increase rather than productive investments, FDI inflows within OECD member states almost doubled compared to 2014.…
PRECISION, PERSONALISATION, PORTABILITY AND HIGH-TECH INSPIRE COSMOPROF AND COSMOPACK LAUNCHES
ITALY’s parallel Cosmoprof and Cosmopack shows always push quality in key aspects of the personal care product industry and its 2016 edition was all about precision, personalisation, portable beauty and high-tech beauty solutions
An innovative new beauty product presented at this year’s 49th edition of the international beauty trade show, Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna [March 18-21, 2016] proves that, like smart-fashion, the cosmetics and personal care sector is ready for portable technology.…
INFONOVA OFFERS INTEGRATED DIGITAL BILLING SYSTEMS THAT CAN CREATE BUSINESS ‘ECO SYSTEM’ PAYMENTS
When analyst firm Stratecast (part of consultant group Frost & Sullivan) last year (Feb) identified Infonova as one of its ‘Top 10 to Watch’ in global telecoms operations and monetisation, they had strong reasons for doing so.
Infonova managing director Gerhard Greiner explained how his Austria-based telecoms firm has developed an innovative digital metering system that can be used by a wide-range of industries that measure services electronically.…
INNOVATION, AUTOMATION TO DRIVE NORTH AMERICA’S TECHNICAL TEXTILE INDUSTRY
NORTH America’s textile sector – of which technical textiles comprise nearly 70% production by value in the USA and just below 50% in Canada – has grown slowly when compared with global production. And growth within the industry in North America will further slow by 2020 due to competition from the Asia-Pacific region and Western Europe, according to industry analysts at Euromonitor. …
MEXICO CITY’S SECOND AIRPORT COULD END AIR TRAVEL CONGESTION IN MEXICAN CAPITAL
AIR travellers to Mexico City are looking forward to the opening – now scheduled for 2020 – of a new international airport, serving a conurbation of more than 21.5 million people. Construction began on November 13, the government has announced. The current Benito Juárez International Airport is operating at beyond its 32 million passenger annual capacity according to the Grupo Aeroportuario de la Ciudad de México (GACM).…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION COSTS POTENTIAL NUCLEAR ENERGY INVESTMENT; PROMISES TO PROTECT DIVERSITY IN FUEL SUPPLY
A COST of maintaining nuclear generation capacity of between 95 GWe and 105GWe in the European Union (EU) until 2050 and beyond will cost between EUR350 and EUR450 billion over the next 35 years, the European Commission has concluded. (That is between USD398 billion and USD511 billion at current exchange rates).…
CENTRAL/EASTERN EUROPE PAINT MARKET AND INDUSTRY POSTS UNEVEN PERFORMANCE AS ECONOMIC RECOVERY BEDS IN
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.…
TURKEY DENIM FIRMS SOLIDIFY GLOBAL POSITION WITH QUALITY AND INNOVATION
Turkish denim firms have roared onto the global market in recent years, impressing consumers, terrifying the competition.
These companies are aided by Turkey’s high quality cotton – particularly that produced in the country’s Aegean region on the west coast. Aegean premium cotton is renowned for its ability to retain paint and for its softness and absorbency, all without genetic modification.…
UNIVERSITIES MUST BETTER MEASURE REAL LEARNING PROGRESS, WUN FORUM TOLD
It is high time universities started to measure more what achieve in student learning, and less in enrolment, the Presidents’ Forum of the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) has been told. The president of the Netherlands’ Maastricht University’s, Professor Jo Ritzen, referenced an American study in 2011 which found that many USA university and college students did not learn much at all.…
DUTCH CONSUMERS TOLD TO EAT MORE VEGETABLES
CONSUMERS should eat more vegetables, but less meat and fish, according to new dietary advice issued on March 31 by the Netherlands Nutrition Centre Foundation (NNC – Stichting Voedingscentrum Nederland), the government’s food advisory body.
The key change is recommending a daily dose of 250 grammes (g) instead of 200g of vegetables.…
IN VITRO MEAT EYES MAINSTREAM SUCCESS IN JUST A FEW YEARS
Laboratory-grown meat has moved from a distant sci-fi concept to a realistic idea that could be commercialised and mainstream in just a few years, according to industry experts. “We aim to commercialise in four to five years, and it will become mainstream in the two to three years after that,” Prof Mark J Post, professor and chair of physiology at Maastricht University, in the Netherlands, told just-food.…
EU MINISTERS BACK TOUGHENING SCHENGEN BORDER CHECKS OVER TERROR FEARS
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has agreed to back reinforcing checks of all persons entering or leaving the EU, including of EU citizens, to reduce the risk of visitors promoting terrorism.
“We have to determine whether they form a threat to our safety or not,” said Klaas Dijkhoff, the Netherlands’ minister for migration following a February 25 meeting of the EU council for justice and home affairs.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – EU CONFECTIONERS WARN OF EUROPEAN SUMMER SUGAR SHORTAGES
THE COMMITTEE of European Sugar Users (CIUS) has called on the European Union (EU) to take urgent action to prevent EU confectionery and sweet bakery manufacturers facing a sugar supply crunch this summer. In a strongly worded message, the industry group has said that duties and levies should not be imposed on supplies of beet and cane sugar and the EU’s cane sugar ‘CXL’ duty should be scrapped immediately.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – EU SUGAR INDUSTRY WANTS GLOBAL AGREEMENT LIMITING SUBSIDIES
THE EUROPEAN Association of Sugar Producers (CEFS) and the European Federation of Trade Unions in the Food, Agriculture and Tourism sectors (EFFAT) have called for the European Union (EU) to push for a global agreement ending all subsidies and other trade-distorting policies affecting the sugar sector.…
NON-FINANCIAL REPORTING KEY TO FINANCIAL SUCCESS – ACCA CONFERENCE TOLD
Non-financial reporting requirements that come into force throughout the European Union (EU) at the end of the year are as crucial as the annual financial report. This was the message to emerge from a Brussels conference on ‘Non-Financial Reporting: The impact on the relationship between Boards and Auditors’ that the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) co-hosted with the European Confederation of Directors’ Associations (ecoDa) and the European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing (ECIIA) on March 15.…
POSITIVE OUTLOOK FOR US PAINTS AND COATINGS MARKET IN 2016
The 2016 outlook for the US paints and coatings industry remains positive, with experts predicting growth thanks to a resilient US economy, a strong performance by the manufacturing industry, and notable new trade agreements.
According to IBISWorld, a global market research company, the US paints and coatings industry bounced back quickly from the financial economic crisis beginning in 2008.…
MEAT INDUSTRY HAILS REOPENING OF US BEEF AND VEAL MARKET TO DUTCH EXPORTERS
The Netherlands meat sector is delighted that its beef and veal industry has won US government approval to export to America, after being blocked since 1998, when Washington imposed a ban on all European Union (EU) beef and veal exports because of BSE.…
INTERNATIONAL AML/CFT CONTROLS TIGHTEN AGAINST HIZBULLAH
AT a time when the world is regularly sickened by the web-cast beheadings and civilian bombings by Islamic State (IS), it is perhaps hard to recall when Lebanon Shia militant Hizbullah group was regarded as maybe the world’s most notorious international terror group.…
ULTRATHIN DIAPERS PUSHING OUT THEIR THICKER BRETHREN FROM THE GLOBAL NAPPY MARKET
Ultra-thin diaper technology has continued to evolve, and with new mass-market innovations challenging the market position of traditionally-manufactured disposable nappies, these newer products could become dominant in the future, experts believe.
Pricie Hanna, founding partner of US-based Price Hanna Consultants, a management consulting firm which specialises in nonwoven and hygiene absorbent products, is one expert predicting ultra-thin will eventually replace traditional diapers.…
REFUNDS MAYBE PAID ON EU’S VIETNAM AND CHINA ANTI-DUMPING DUTIES AFTER ECJ FINDS FAULT WITH TARIFFS
The European Commission has indicated that to just-style that it may accept a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling against “anti-dumping” duties imposed on leather footwear made in China and Vietnam imported into the European Union (EU).
The duties were imposed in 2006 over concerns that these were being sold in the EU at below cost-price and have been the subject of some controversy ever since, with several retailers claiming they were illegal and demanding refunds.…
MALWARE-AS-A-SERVICE SO COMMON, BUSINESSES MUST TREAT IT AS A PERMANENT THREAT, SAY EXPERTS
WITH advances in technology making it increasingly possible for malware kits to be bought and used by people with relatively little IT knowledge,
‘cybercrime-as-a-service’ systems are causing anti-fraud professionals sharper and sharper headaches. This is regardless of whether they work for banks, police forces or in company IT departments.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – VIETNAM AND EU TARIFF REDUCTIONS PUBLISHED
DETAILS have been released about tariffs to be scrapped regarding food and drink products exported and imported between Vietnam and the European Union (EU) under a trade deal struck last August (2015). The full text has now been released and shows how Vietnam’s emerging market of 89 million people will be opened to the EU’s food manufacturers.…
NEW EU RESEARCH PROJECT DEVELOPS NEW NON-ANIMAL TESTS FOR COSMETIC AND OTHER CONSUMER PRODUCTS
A EUROPEAN Union (EU)-backed project is developing a new testing strategy to assess chemical safety in consumer products, including for cosmetics and personal care lines, without using animals in experiments.
The EU-ToxRisk project, which has a budget of around EUR30 million, is being coordinated in the Netherlands by Leiden University.…
SPAIN FAKE SHAMPOO CRACKDOWN SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON EXTENT OF ILLICIT INDUSTRY
A recent crackdown on a counterfeit shampoo factory in Spain has shone a spotlight on a burgeoning and problematic underground illicit industry, operating across Europe with links to criminal gangs, money-laundering and terrorism.
A 2013 study by European Union’s (EU) trademarks and designs agency the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) says counterfeit cosmetics and perfumes in the EU netted EUR4.7 billion (USD 5.2 billion) in sales on average between 2008 and 2011.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – END OF EXPORT SUBSIDIES WILL CHALLENGE CONFECTIONERY SECTOR
EUROPEAN confectionery manufacturers have urged caution over the impending end of food export subsidies, which will be scrapped after a World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. Developed country members have promised to remove export subsidies immediately for basic food products, with a slower phase-out for many processed foods.…
MYANMAR PLOTS ITS OWN BORDER TEXTILE HUB TO RIVAL THAILAND INDUSTRIAL ZONE MAE SOT
THE MYANMAR government is pushing ahead with developing a textile and clothing industry hub at Myawaddy, just over the border from key Thailand manufacturing zone Mae Sot, which has prospered from access to cheap Burmese labour and Thai tax breaks.
This has long annoyed Myanmar government officials, who decided they wanted to build an industrial zone on their side of the border.…
ASIA REGULATORY ROUND UP - CHINA TIGHTENS MONEY LAUNDERING REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
CHINA’S central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBC), has issued a new anti-money laundering and terror finance reporting requirements for all financial institutions inside the country. The rules come into force July 1. They cover banks, brokers, foreign exchange, online and mobile payment systems and insurance companies, who will have to file reports to the central bank, via their headquarters or via representative institutions, if a client requires daily cash transactions exceeding Chinese Yuan Renminbi CNY50,000 (USD7,261) or a larger amount of USD10,000’s worth in foreign currency.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP - WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION BANS EXPORT SUBSIDIES
FOOD and drink export subsidies are to be scrapped after a World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, agreed to phase out these trade sweeteners. Developed country members have promised to remove export subsidies immediately for basic food products, with a slower phase-out for many processed foods and drinks, pigmeat and dairy products.…
EUROPE NEEDS CARBON CAPTURE TO REDUCE ITS CO2 EMISSIONS – BUT IS SLOW TO ROLL-OUT THE TECHNOLOGY
The European Union’s (EU) Energy Roadmap 2050 project is certainly ambitious – looking to decarbonise Europe’s energy sector – and it anticipates that carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology will play an important role. Yet, it is clear that this technology is far from ubiquitous and significant efforts will be required to enable CCS to play a key part in Europe’s CCS future.…
BANGLADESH HOME TEXTILE GIANT PONDERS DIGITAL PUSH
Bangladesh’s top textiles makers are racing against time to alter the way they print fabric. The reason is simple: go digital or risk losing a competitive edge.
Vertically integrated textile manufacturing major Noman Group told Digital Textile that it is carefully considering digital textile investments.…
BELGIAN ‘EXCESS PROFITS’ TAX BREAK BLOCKED IN IMPORTANT TAX RULING CASE
THE EUROPEAN Commission has effectively declared illegal under European Union (EU) a tax break for multi-nationals operating in Belgium enabled them to discount profits on their Belgian tax returns. This ‘excess profit’ tax ruling system assumed that Belgian wings of multinationals made extra profits in Belgium by benefiting from economies of scale generated by activities in other countries.…
RUSSIA TEXTILE SECTOR ABANDONS EXPENSIVE FUR TRIM
RUSSIAN textile producers abandoning the use of fur trim on their fabrics, especially more expensive fur, according to Andrey Razbrodin, president of the Association is known as the Russian Union of Entrepreneurs of Textile and Light Industry, which includes Russia’s leading textile producers.…
FLUSHABLE WIPES: WHAT ARE MANUFACTURERS DOING TO BYPASS ISSUES
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.…
ARGENTINA TO INCREASE BEEF EXPORTS TO EU ONCE FMD-LINKED BAN IS LIFTED
Argentina is poised this year to increase beef exports to the European Union (EU) after its government predicted the EU would soon lift foot and mouth disease-related import restrictions for meat from its northern provinces.
New agriculture minister Ricardo Buryaile said January 20 that the European Commission would lift restrictions “in the first half of the year.”…
MCDONALD'S LOSES BRANCHES IN FINLAND AS RIVALS PUSH FOR MARKET SHARE
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).…
MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY HELPS PROTECTIVE COATINGS COMPANIES MARKET THEIR WARES
Innovative protective coatings have always been marked on their ability to deliver a function with excellence. However, there is real marketing gold where companies can demonstrate that coatings deliver a range of protective functions at the same time, such as waterproofing, insulating, and protecting aesthetics.…
EUROPOL OPERATION BUSTS MAJOR INTERNATIONAL COUNTERFEITING-MONEY LAUNDERING NETWORK
A two-year joint-operation between Europol and the Spanish Civil Guard (Guardia Civil) has shut down a EUR300 million money laundering and counterfeit goods network focused on Spain. ‘Operation Snake’ closed in on the gang on May 11, with more than 200 officers searching 65 residences and making 35 arrests.…
DUTCH SOLAR PANEL-EMBEDDED BIKE PATH GIVES HOPE FOR FUTURE SUSTAINABLE ROADWAYS
While solar power-generating roads may sound like a futuristic idea, the technology could soon become reality. SolaRoad, a 70-metre-long concrete bicycle path embedded with solar panels located in Krommenie, the Netherlands, has delivered promising results as a prototype. And the project’s developers are hopeful a commercially-viable product with widespread application is just around the corner.…
EU BEEF FARMERS CALL FOR EUROPEAN COMMISSION HELP, ESPECIALLY ON LOOSENING SPS RESTRICTIONS
European Union (EU) beef farmers have called for help finding new markets to make up for the loss of exports to Russia in the wake of the crisis over Ukraine.
Jean Pierre Fleury, chairman of EU farm and livestock producer association Copa-Cogeca’s beef working party, has issued a plea to the European Commission, calling on it “to take urgent action to improve the EU beef market situation.”…
EU GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION STATUS CAN ADD VALUE TO DAIRY PRODUCTS, ALTHOUGH SOME INDUSTRY PLAYERS OPPOSE THEIR USE
EUROPEAN dairy producers are keen participants in the European Union (EU) protective systems that prevent competitors from claiming to sell products made using traditional production methods and ingredients. The systems: PDO (protected designation of origin); PGI (protected geographical indication); and TSG (traditional speciality guaranteed) promote and protect names of quality agricultural products and foodstuffs.…
EUROPOL FOCUSES ON GOODS COUNTERFEITING – CLOSING DOWN FAKE BRANDS WEBSITES
The latest report from European Union (EU) police agency Europol report has revealed the true extent of “the complex reality” of counterfeit goods networks across Europe. But what are the latest scams and how successful has Europol been in tackling them?…
TECHNICAL ROUND UP – BRUSSELS DETAILS UPCOMING EU VAT REFORMS
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.…
UK STILL TOP FOR OFFSHORE WIND BUT CHINA SHOWS POTENTIAL FOR ONSHORE
The UK may still be a world-beating performer for developing offshore wind energy, but more still can be done onshore, as demonstrated by China’s wind-power growth, the Global Wind Energy Council’s (GWEC’s) secretary general Steve Sawyer has argued. Indeed, unveiling GWEC’s, Global Wind Report: Annual Market Update 2014, in a webinar April 1 from Istanbul, Sawyer noted that the UK at 813 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity produces more offshore wind energy than the rest of the world combined, with Denmark “a distant second”.…
MATURE EUROPEAN NONWOVENS SECTOR GROWS THROUGH INNOVATION
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.…
BRUSSELS EXTRA SPENDS TO PROMOTE EU MEAT SALES IN FACE OF RUSSIAN BAN
THE POLISH, Scottish, Austrian and Belgian meat sectors are significant winners in the latest announcement of European Union (EU) marketing financing designed to help food companies seize more sales within and outside the EU.
They will benefit from multi-million Euro sales and marketing programmes, 50% funded by the EU, announced yesterday (Tues April 21).…
CHINESE LIQUID MILK BRANDS LEAVING BEHIND FOOD SAFETY SCANDALS
In 2008, the then-emerging Chinese dairy market was delivered a devastating blow by the ‘melamine scandal’. It was triggered by New Zealand dairy cooperative Fonterra’s local partner Sanlu fraudulently adding melamine, a raw material used in the production of plastics, into its dairy products in order to pretend higher protein content.…
EU MEMBER STATES RESPOND TO BRUSSELS’ DEMAND FOR ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORT SERVICE NETWORKS
EUROPEAN Union (EU) member states are now developing national policies that the EU has required to ensure that they have an adequate number of alternative transport re-charging and re-fuelling stations by 2020. This is deemed necessary to boost demand for vehicles running on alternative fuels in Europe.…
NORTH AMERICAN TECHNICAL TEXTILES INDUSTRY GROWING THROUGH INNOVATION
THE NORTH American technical textiles industry has always been at the cutting edge of the global sector and today, companies are creating innovative products that offer high performance for less cost, integrating electronic capabilities, and offering greater durability.
For instance, New York-based V Technical Textiles Inc is delivering to its customers a new line of technical textiles called VTT Etchtex, announced last year.…
BIG TURNOUT AT COSMOPROF/PACK COULD SIGNAL GOOD TIMES AHEAD FOR PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT SECTOR
IF the record turnout at this year’s edition of the cosmetics and personal care industry’s premier international trade fair, Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna (March 20-23), in Italy, is a sign of resilience amidst the still weak global economy, than the future is starting to look bright for the beauty business.…
INDONESIA BECOMING A GLOBAL VACCINE PLAYER BUT SO IS CHINA
Indonesia is pushing to expand its domestic vaccine manufacturing, so that the domestic market is covered with vaccines in Indonesia’s regular immunisation schedule. The country’s state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma is at the centre of these efforts, and has been expanding exports so that 60% of its production (NOW?…
EU RESEARCHERS DISCOVER VIRUS INHIBITORS
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) research project will end this month (March), having discovered inhibitors for viruses, which could hasten the development of effective drugs. The EU-funded EUR21.8 million SILVER project (the EU contributed EUR 12 million) was launched in October 2010.…
CHINA MEAT ASSOCIATION PRESSING GOVERNMENT TO BOOST LAMB AND BEEF CONSUMPTION
The China Meat Association (CMA) is calling on the Chinese government actively support the beef and lamb sector, Gao Guan, the association’s deputy secretary-general, has told globalmeatnews.com. Speaking in his Beijing office, he said: “Our association has been advising the government to encourage consumers to eat more beef and lamb,” he said, rather than the more commonly consumed pork and chicken.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION REVAMPS ITS CIRCULAR ECONOMY PLANS
A CONFERENCE has been staged in Brussels that has heard how the European Commission plans to reintroduce its ‘circular economy’ proposals on increasing recycling and targeting zero waste systems, including the recovery of high value industrial minerals. This broad policy was dropped from the work programme of the new Commission that took office from November 1, but proposals are now being redrafted for release by December.…
GLOBAL ENERGY MARKET VOLATILITY CHALLENGES EU BIOFUEL SECTOR
THE VOLATILITY of the global energy market is presenting several challenges to the European Union’s (EU) biofuel sector. Low oil prices, recession, slumps in demand and political uncertainty in key oil producing areas are all raising questions of an industry that was meant to mitigate or provide solutions to many of these issues.…
EU ROUND UP - MEPS CALL FOR MAINTENANCE OF TITANIUM DIOXIDE DUTIES UNDER TTIP DEAL
The European Parliament’s industry, research and energy committee has called for the maintenance of tariffs protecting energy intensive industries in the European Union (EU), such as the manufacture of key paint ingredient titanium dioxide, following trade deal talks with the USA.…
LATIN AMERICAN PAINT INDUSTRY STRUGGLES AMIDST ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN
THE LATIN American paint and coatings sector has been facing tough times in the past year, with sluggish overall economic performance depressing demand for the industry. Even, last summer’s World Cup football fiesta in Brazil, did not give the region’s largest market any motive to celebrate.…
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AGAINST SMUGGLERS WORKS – SAY OFFICIALS AND INDUSTRY
EUROPEAN cigarette smuggling has evolved and diversified over the past ten years, and international cooperation is often the best way to counter them, argue European Union (EU) anti-fraud officials. Meanwhile, the tobacco industry has accepted that liaising with these initiatives does bring benefits.…
UK FAILING ON ENERGY EFFICIENCY, FIDDLING THE COMPLIANCE FIGURES, NGO CLAIMS
The UK is lagging behind many other European Union (EU) member states when it comes to energy efficiency and is fiddling the figures to show it is making better progress than in reality, according to the latest report from the Brussels-based Coalition for Energy Savings.…
GERMAN-MADE CARS TOP THE EU CONSUMER DANGER LIST IN 2014
GERMAN-made automobiles were the largest source of reports regarding potentially dangerous motor vehicles made to the European Union’s (EU) RAPEX consumer alert network in 2014, analysis of its data shows.
There were 194 notifications to the system relating to automobiles and parts last year, the fourth largest category following toys (650), clothing and textiles (530) and electrical appliances (217).…
UNIVERSITIES CALL FOR CHANGE IN PAYMENT METHOD FOR ACADEMIC RESEARCH
EUROPE’S research universities has called on the academic publishing sector to stop double-dipping when charging researchers and their institutions for subscriptions and fees for processing contributed articles. The League of European Research Universities (LERU), which represents senior institutions such as the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, is unhappy such double fees are charged under ‘hybrid open access’ systems.…
DAIRY PRODUCERS FEELING EFFECTS OF RUSSIA’S CHEESE BANS
In the latest in a string of bans on cheese products entering Russia, the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights and Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) has banned cheese products made by Poland’s Ostrowia.
But this latest dairy ban is not all it seems, and Milkiland, the Netherlands-based dairy products producer owning Ostrowia, has called for “dialogue” with Russian authorities because its banned ‘Wesola Krowka’ (‘Jolly Cow’) is made from vegetable fats.…
EU ROUND UP - EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT CALLS FOR BETTER EU FRAUD CHECKS
THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s budgetary control committee has called for more thorough checks on European Union (EU) institution and budget spending. In a detailed resolution, it noted that while the value of EU frauds has been falling, the number of scams has been increasing.…
POLISH NON-DAIRY CHEESE MAKER BEFUDDLED BY RUSSIAN BAN
Milkiland, a Netherlands-based dairy products producer with operations in Poland, has called for “dialogue” with Russian authorities after Moscow’s consumer rights agency put an embargo on all non-dairy cheese imports from Poland, after examining one of its products.
The Russian agency, Rospotrebnadzor, released a statement in late February declaring that it had found that the ‘Wesola Krowka’ (‘Jolly Cow’) imitation cheese product did not meet Russian requirements for dairy products.…
SMART COATING INNOVATION INTENSIFIES WORLDWIDE
For more than a decade, smart coatings have been on the cusp of revolutionising much of the way in which paint industry goes about its business. The number of products that have made it from the lab to the open market remains relatively few, but growing.…
VIETNAM PAINT SECTOR GROWS, BUT NEED BACKWARD LINKAGES
With 685 million wet pounds of coatings sold for USD730 million in 2013, the Vietnam market consumed only a tiny fraction of Asia-Pacific region’s total of 36 billion wet pounds sold for USD50 billion that year, according to Kusumgar, Nerlfi & Growney, Inc, a New Jersey, USA-based consulting firm for the polymer and chemical industries.…
MEN’S GROOMING PRODUCTS SEGMENT IN SOUTH KOREA CONTINUES STRONG GROWTH
THE SOUTH Korean men’s toiletries market in 2014 grew to a value of USD221.81 million and a volume of 28.25 million units. New data from market research provider Canadean Ltd shows 2014 year-on-year increases in value of 6.9% and volume of 5.6%.…
TECHNICAL ROUND UP – NEW EU SMALLER BUSINESS ACCOUNTING STANDARDS BEING CONSIDERED
A GREEN paper on creating a European Union (EU) Capital Markets Union (CMU) has sparked consultation on whether the EU should create and maybe mandate a simplified, common and high-quality accounting standard for smaller companies listed on certain trading systems. The EU does not insist that small private companies use international financial reporting standards (IFRS), and the green paper accepted that such a move would be a “source of additional cost.”…
BRUSSELS RELEASES DETAILS OF ENERGY PROJECTS WITHIN MAJOR COMMISSION INVESTMENT PLAN
NATURAL gas 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.…
BRUSSELS SAYS EU UNITED IN FOOD BAN TALKS WITH RUSSIA
THE EUROPEAN Commission stood by its position on Friday (January 30) that the European Union (EU) member states were united regarding talks with Russia about the possible lifting of the latter’s ban on EU food products such as pork meat.
A Russian official said last week that his country was ready to resume inspections with the goal of lifting the ban on pork meat from France, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.…
INDIA’S GODREJ STRENGTHENS POSITION IN AFRICA’S HAIRCARE MARKET
INDIA’S Godrej Consumer Products Ltd has acquired another hair care business in Africa, buying a 100% equity stake in South African hair extensions specialist Frika Hair (Pty) Ltd.
According to a Godrej communiqué, Frika has a strong wholesale distribution capacity for it hair extension products that include braids, synthetic weaves, human hair weaves, wigs and hair-pieces.…
BIRD FLU HINDERS ATTEMPTS TO OPEN CHINESE MARKET TO EUROPEAN POULTRY
THE OUTBREAKS of bird flu in Germany, Britain and the Netherlands is hampering efforts to create export markets in mainland China for these countries’ poultry and poultry products.
China’s Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) on November 27 banned any poultry products and birds from entering China if they were produced and reared in North-Rhine Westphalia.…
BIRD FLU HINDERS ATTEMPTS TO OPEN CHINESE MARKET TO EUROPEAN POULTRY
THE OUTBREAKS of bird flu in Germany, Britain and the Netherlands is hampering efforts to create export markets in mainland China for these countries’ poultry and poultry products.
China’s Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) on November 27 banned any poultry products and birds from entering China if they were produced and reared in North-Rhine Westphalia.…
NELIPAK LAUNCHES NEW TABLE TOP HEAT SEALER
Dutch technology firm Nelipak Healthcare Packaging has launched a new table top tray heat sealer, used for packaging items in cleanroom environments, notably International Organization for Standardization (ISO) cleanrooms classified ‘seven’ (which ranges from 2,930 to 352,000 dust or other particles allowed per cubic metre of air) and ‘eight’ (29,300 to 3,520,000 particles).…
RUSSIA ENERGY MINISTER LAUNCHES AMBITIOUS CO-GEN EXPANSION INITIATIVE
RUSSIA’S combined heat and power sector is poised to undergo a radical transformation that will use the open market to rejuvenate and update the industry, according to the country’s energy minister.
Speaking to the upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, energy minister Alexander Novak announced last November that creating a competitive market for combined heat and power (CHP) was a key priority.…
NELIPAK LAUNCHES NEW TABLE TOP HEAT SEALER
Dutch technology firm Nelipak Healthcare Packaging has launched a new table top tray heat sealer, used for packaging items in cleanroom environments, notably International Organization for Standardization (ISO) cleanrooms classified ‘seven’ (which ranges from 2,930 to 352,000 dust or other particles allowed per cubic metre of air) and ‘eight’ (29,300 to 3,520,000 particles).…
MILK IS TOPS, BUT WHEY AHEAD EVEN BETTER, SAYS EU CRYSTAL BALL
MILK will remain “white gold” for Europe’s food sector during the next 10 years, despite the current market difficulties, according to the European Commission’s annual assessment of the industry’s prospects. The report was launched at a one-day conference in Brussels on Friday, December 5.…
EU RESEARCH PROJECT AIMS TO PERSONALISE EPILEPSY MEDICINE
A EURO EUR7.8 million, largely European Union (EU)-funded research project is analysing anonymised clinical data from nearly 2,000 epilepsy sufferers to work towards the personalisation of medicine for the condition. The goal is to create genome-based biomarkers to indicate potential success for epilepsy medicines, and the development of diagnostic tests.…
OPEN UNIVERSITY OF TANZANIA OPENS NEW FRONTIERS ABROAD
The Open University of Tanzania (OUT) is reaching out to higher education institutions in other neighbouring countries to establish collaborations that will encourage more foreign students to enroll for distance learning.
University vice chancellor Professor Tolly Mbwette said the institution’s board hoped to spread its influence regionally: “We are now the largest distance learning university in the region and our plan is to take distance learning to most countries in East Africa and those under the Southern African Development Community [SADC] by 2016.”…
SMALLER-SCALE SOLUTIONS TO ROUTINE FLARING NEEDED
AROUND 140 billion cubic metres of associated natural gas from oil production is still burned off annually, according to World Bank analysis of satellite images from the United States’ (US) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Flares light up the night sky in regions such as the Arabian Desert and America’s Bakken formation in North Dakota, where shale oil production is booming.…
EUROPEAN CYBERCRIME CENTRE DELIVERS, BUT STILL FACES CHALLENGES
ALMOST two years since its establishment in January 2013, the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) created as part of Europol, has delivered on its objectives, but still faces numerous resource challenges. Set up by the European Commission to support the 28 European Union (EU) countries in cybercrime investigations targeting online intrusion, fraud and child sexual abuse and to disrupt the operations of organised crime networks that commit a large share of cybercrimes, the EC3 is now receiving more requests for support that it can handle, its head, Troels Oerting, told Fraud Intelligence.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – RUSSIA TRADE RESTRICTIONS BLOCK CONFECTIONERY AND INGREDIENT TRADES
DOCUMENTS obtained by Confectionery Production from the European Union (EU) indicate that Ukraine has lost up to USD126 million’s worth of confectionery export sales to Russia this year, because of Russian trade restrictions.
EU briefing papers note that Ukraine has been complaining to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) since October 2013 about alleged “unjustified barriers to trade caused by the measures of the Russian Federation, in particular, on Ukrainian confectionery products.”…
IRISH HARDEST HIT BY RUSSIAN BAN ON BOVINE OFFAL AND FATS
IRELAND has been especially hard hit by the latest expansion of Russia’s ban on European Union (EU) meat exports, figures released today by the European Commission reveal.
Moscow has expanded its existing import restrictions to cover beef offal and beef fats.…
RUSSIAN VET AGENCY ACCUSES EU COUNTERPARTS OF COLLIDING WITH EUROPEAN MEAT SMUGGLERS
RUSSIA’S federal veterinary and phytosanitary surveillance service Rosselkhoznadzor has accused European Union (EU) regulators of collaborating with smugglers sneaking meat into Russia, breaching its EU import ban. An official spokesperson for the agency was speaking after 575 tonnes of meat and fat back pork in 26 refrigerated containers from the EU were confiscated by the Russian Federal Customs Service at the Kingisepp customs point, east of Estonia, near St Petersburg.…
CANADA-EU TRADE AGREEMENT LAYS GROUNDWORK FOR MUTUAL RECOGNITION OF QUALIFICATIONS IN NURSING
THE COMPREHENSIVE Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union (EU) will make it easier for both jurisdictions to recognise each other’s nursing certifications. Political leaders celebrated the end of negotiations in September in Ottawa, Canada (Sept 26).…
NEW EU ENERGY COMMISSIONERS STRESS THE IMPORTANCE OF ELECTRICITY INTERCONNECTIONS
THE INCOMING European Union (EU) energy and climate change Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete and his boss, the future European Commission vice-president for the energy union Maroš Šefčovič have highlighted the need for smart grids and electricity interconnections as way to make Europe more self-reliant for energy.…
EU COMMISSION APPROVES TAKEOVER OF ALUMINIUM COMPANY CORIALIS
The European Commission today cleared the acquisition of the Corialis Group, a European supplier of aluminium extrusion services and aluminium doors and windows, by Advent International Corporation, a US investment firm. A Commission communiqué said the deal “would not raise competition concerns as Advent is not active in any market in which Corialis is active” at present, notably the aluminium sector.…
EU/WTO ROUND UP – AMERICAN CONCERN OVER CLAIMED EU BIOTECH FOOT-DRAGGING
THE AMERICAN government has complained of delays by the outgoing European Commission that leaves office on November 1 regarding the authorisation of new bio-tech food products and ingredients for use in the European Union (EU). In a strongly worded message to the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) disputes settlement body, the US said that the EU had failed to leave decisions to regulatory committees acting on European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) advice.…
EU COUNTRIES STILL FAR FROM AGREEMENT ON TELECOMS REFORM
NATIONAL telecommunications experts and ministers from the 28 European Union (EU) countries are still far from agreeing the proposed ‘Connected Continent’ package of telecoms regulations, with intensive technical talks still taking place in the EU Council of Ministers. This is one of two EU legislators who must approve the legislation for it to take effect – it was proposed by the European Commission in September 2013.…
EU ENDS SUPPORT FOR CHEESE, CONTINUES SUPPORT FOR BUTTER, SKIMMED MILK POWDER
THE EUROPEAN Commission has ended the special measure giving private storage aid to manufacturers of cheese of bearing European Union (EU) geographical indications suffering from Russia’s import ban, but it continues it for butter and skimmed milk powder.
Brussels decided on September 23 to end the cheese storage aid scheme “following a disproportionate surge in interest from cheese producers in certain regions not traditionally exporting significant quantities to Russia”, a statement released on the day reads.…
NEW AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER PREPARES FOR DAIRY LIBERALISATION
THE NEW European Union (EU) agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan has promised to start preparing to abolish milk production constraints as a matter of urgency when he takes up his post on November 1. At a confirmation hearing in Brussels on October 2, he promised European Parliament agriculture committee members that small farmers with limited incomes would be particular beneficiaries of the planned end of the dairy quota regime from March 2015.…
EU RUSSIA DAIRY BAN INTERVENTION IMAGES
THE EUROPEAN Commission has ended the special measure giving private storage aid to manufacturers of cheese of bearing European Union (EU) geographical indications suffering from Russia’s import ban, but it continues it for butter and skimmed milk powder.
Brussels decided on September 23 to end the cheese storage aid scheme “following a disproportionate surge in interest from cheese producers in certain regions not traditionally exporting significant quantities to Russia”, a statement released on the day reads.…
JUNCKER’S NEW EUROPEAN COMMISSION TEAM WILL TRY TO FORGE COHESIVE PRO-GROWTH APPROACH
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.…
EU BACKERS OF FINANCIAL TRANSACTION TAX MOVE TOWARDS DECEMBER AGREEMENT OF DETAILS
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) finance ministers agreed at an EU economic and finance ministers (ECOFIN) meeting on the scope of the long-threatened ‘financial transaction tax’, and 11 governments pledged to reach an agreement on its details by the end of the year.…
KIKKOMAN CORPORATION REMAINS A TOP JAPANESE FOOD PRODUCER AMIDST CHANGING GLOBAL MARKETS
CHANGING demographic patterns in the domestic market are driving innovation at Japan’s largest producer of soy sauce and seasonings, while growing overseas demand means that the Kikkoman Corporation is actively looking to raise its international profile, according to Noriaki Horikiri, president and chief executive officer of the company.…
SPAIN WOOS GREECE OVER MEAT EXPORTS
Spanish meat producers seeking new export sales to compensate for repeated bans on deliveries to Russia have stepped up efforts to woo importers and agents in Greece.
Business meetings last week in Athens were arranged after an introductory series of presentations delivered there in May.…
BRUSSELS APPROVES SAS AVIAPARTNER TAKEOVER
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the full acquisition of the Belgian ground handling company Aviapartner by the French management fund HIG European Capital Partners SAS. Aviapartner is currently present at 35 airports in five European countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, where it specialises in ramp and passenger services, cargo handling and freight related services.…
INTERNATIONAL CYBERCRIME TASKFORCE LAUNCHED IN EUROPE
An international Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT) was launched September 1 to step up the fight against online fraudsters in the European Union (EU) and beyond.
Housed in the Netherlands-based European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), J-CAT is a six-month pilot scheme to coordinate international investigations.…
EUROPE MUST DIVERSITY ENERGY SOURCES TO AVOID SHIVERING IN A NEW ‘COLD WAR’, SAY EXPERTS
BRITAIN might not be reliant on Russian gas to keep warm, but British utilities are only too well aware that if Moscow turns off the taps this winter, there will be significantly increased demand for alternative gas supplies.
As a result, utility executives will have been keeping a close eye on talks in Berlin this weekend, where the European Union’s (EU) energy commissioner Günther Oettinger has been trying to broker a deal with Russia and Ukraine to head off a supply freeze.…
AUTO SECTOR MOVES TOWARDS POWDER FROM LIQUID SPRAY COATINGS
Until recently, the automotive sector relied more heavily on liquid spray coatings and resins than other industries, but this trend is changing, with powder coatings becoming more popular. One stumbling block regarding efficiency improvements centred on the type of conveyor belts used to move the parts, which are dictated by load weight.…
EU-FUNDED PROJECT AIMS TO BRING MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY PROCESSES TO THE MARKET
A RESEARCH project that has received EUR7 million in funding from the European Commission is working to bring more environmentally-friendly processes in the mainstream of the cosmetics industry in Europe. The OPTIBIOCAT (Optimised esterase biocatalysts for cost-effective industrial production) project, which began in 2013, wants to replace resource and energy-intensive chemical processes currently used in the cosmetics industry with less intensive ones, based on enzymes.…
NEW EU DIGITAL ECONOMY COMMISSIONER NOMINATED
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.…
EU BANS HIGH TECH KNITTING TECHNOLOGY EXPORTS TO RUSSIA
THE SALE to Russia of multi-directional, multi-dimensional knitting and interlacing machines, including adapters and modification kits, specially designed or modified for weaving, interlacing or braiding fibres, for composite structures has been banned by the European Union (EU).
This is because the EU considers such machines of potential use to the Russian military, which has been involved in the Ukraine crisis.…
ECHA PLANS EXPANDED AUTHORISATION LIST, PROPOSING PLASTICS CHEMICALS FOR TOUGH CONTROLS
A RANGE of plastics-related chemicals have been included in a draft list of new substances subject to special authorisation by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) for their manufacture or use in the European Union (EU). ECHA is now consulting on these planned additions to its ‘authorisation list’, because of concerns about their potential impact on human health and the environment.…
SEA WATER HEATING AND COOLING INCREASING IN POPULARITY
IN the search for ways to extract energy from a reliable and efficient source to power heat pumps, the water lapping the shores of our continents is increasingly being viewed as a key resource. “Sea water, like any water, has the ability to retain heat for a long period of time.…
FATCA INCREASES PRESSURE ON CARIBBEAN TO BOOST FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
Caribbean jurisdictions may be increasingly signing up to the requirements of America’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) but there is no great enthusiasm about it. Indeed, some bankers fear it could lead to a sharp fall in the region’s charms for investors.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – ECUADOR TRADE DEAL OFFERS NEW COCOA SOURCE
ECUADOR, an important confectionery exporter to the European Union (EU), has struck a new bilateral free trade agreement with the EU, which will eliminate tariffs on imports to Europe. The new trade deal is supposed to take effect in late 2016, and until then a system of preferential tariffs will be in place.…
BRUSSELS SAYS MEMBER STATES ANTI-FRAUD ACTION MAYBE TOO WEAK
THE LATEST European Commission annual report on European Union (EU) anti-fraud measures has highlighted concerns that member states may be doing far too little to detect EU-related financial crime. Keith Nuthall reports.
A 2013 Report on the Protection of the EU’s Financial Interests noted that some member states reported “very low numbers of fraudulent irregularities” – but the Commission does not believe this is because they are clean.…
EU MEAT PRODUCTION STARTS TO GROW – BUT EXPORTS MAY TUMBLE, SAYS BRUSSELS REPORT
European Union (EU) meat production is projected to start growing in 2014, according to the European Commission, as Europe’s economic recovery solidifies. This could be up 0.7% year-on-year for beef, veal, pigmeat, poultry, sheep and goat meat. However, exports might fall for pigmeat and poultry, with Russian import bans especially causing problems for pigmeat.…
INDIAN KNITWEAR MANUFACTURERS HAVE HIGH HOPES FOR NEW GOVERNMENT
INDIAN knitwear manufacturers are hoping for a major growth impetus because of industry-friendly policies being rolled out by the new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government. “We are very optimistic about the new government,” Naval Saraf, proprietor of Super Knit Industries, a sock manufacturing company in Mumbai told Knitting International.…
EAST AFRICAN AIRPORTS EXPANDING APACE
Rapidly increasing continental air traffic has fuelled intense competition among east African countries in constructing and upgrading airport infrastructure. Indeed, investments could exceed USD1.7 billion in the next three years, according to Andrew Luzze, the executive director of the East African Business Council.…
EU ROUND UP – BRUSSELS SAYS MEMBER STATES ANTI-FRAUD ACTION MAYBE TOO WEAK
THE LATEST European Commission annual report on European Union (EU) anti-fraud measures has highlighted concerns that member states may be doing far too little to detect EU-related financial crime.
Brussels’ 2013 Report on the Protection of the EU’s Financial Interests noted that some member states reported “very low numbers of fraudulent irregularities”.…
COSMETICS FIRMS INCREASINGLY INNOVATIVE WITH SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING SOLUTIONS
COSMETICS and personal care product companies are increasingly looking to eco-friendly packaging to deliver green marketing as well as practical cost-saving advantages. Producers are seeking to raise consumers’ awareness of environmentally-sensitive products by using packaging materials such as wood and decoration such as reusable ribbons and scarves; encouraging thrift by offering refillable fragrance bottles; and saving costs by using lighter packaging materials, that can also be flagged as sustainable on labelling.…
EU COUNTRIES CONTINUE TO GO ON THEIR DIFFERENT PATHS ON TAXATION
THE EUROPEAN Commission has used the momentum created by Europe’s financial crisis to push through legislation on taxation issues that have been politically unpalatable during times of prosperity and growth. But it has not brought European Union (EU) countries’ tax systems closer together through overall harmonisation, to the chagrin of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which still struggle with different systems across EU member states.…
CHINA’S PAINT INDUSTRY SUFFERING AS ECONOMIC GROWTH SLOWS
China’s paint and coatings industry is feeling the squeeze as economic growth slows, infrastructure investment is scaled back, and competition between local and overseas players intensifies.
Consulting firm Frost & Sullivan estimates the annual compound growth rate of the sector’s market value in China will slow to less than 10% this year, having regularly notched up double-digit growth rates prior to 2013. …
EUROPEAN COMMISSION FINES COMPANIES INVOLVED IN CANNED MUSHROOMS CARTEL
The European Commission has fined two of three companies Euro EUR32.23 million involved in a cartel for private label canned and jarred mushrooms from 2010 to 2012.
Brussels has also given Lutèce, of the Netherlands, immunity from what would have been a EUR20.7 million fine, given it blew the whistle on the cartel’s existence.…
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES CALL ON RANA PLAZA COMPANIES TO PAY MORE COMPENSATION TO DISASTER VICTIMS
Governments from European countries called on garment companies who sourced from Rana Plaza, Bangladesh, to fund compensation to victims of the building’s collapse one year ago. The message came in a joint statement from the governments of France, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, Denmark, Italy, and Spain, made by Lilianne Ploumen, Dutch minister for foreign trade and development cooperation at an international Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) meeting yesterday (June 26) in Paris.…
EUROPOL HAILS SUCCESS OF EU SCRAP METAL CRIME OPERATION
European Union (EU) police agency Europol has hailed as a success a two-day operation against illicit scrap dealers, which yielded 271 arrests and identified 146 cases of theft across Europe. Law enforcement teams, backed by the EU unit, checked 8,300 scrap metal dealers in 20 European countries.…
EU ROUND UP – BRUSSELS PLOTS NEW EU ENERGY SECURITY STRATEGY AFTER UKRAINE CRISIS
THE EUROPEAN Commission has released a new European Energy Security Strategy, aimed at further reducing Europe’s reliance on energy imports, notably on politically unreliable trading partners such as Russia.
Its new policy plan was to be debated at the next European Union (EU) summit (European Council) on June 26-27, in Brussels.…
EUROPEAN CONSUMER CENTRES NETWORK FLYER
HELPING AND ADVISING EUROPEAN CONSUMERS SHOPPING AND TRAVELLING ABROAD
WHEN CAN ECC-NET OFFICES HELP YOU?
- Air travel
So much can go wrong: flights can be delayed or cancelled; luggage can be lost or damaged; and hidden fees can be charged.…
MOVES AGAINST FIAT SIGNAL BROADER TAX CLAMPDOWN
A European Commission investigation into Fiat’s tax arrangements in Luxembourg has put the spotlight on alleged backdoor subsidies received by Europe’s automobile manufacturers and comes at a difficult time for the sector.
At the heart of the probe is the suggestion that Luxembourg authorities gave Fiat finance and trade an unfair advantage over other companies in a 2012 “tax ruling” that calculated the company’s taxable profits.…
EU ROUND UP – PLASTICSEUROPE PUSHES BRUSSELS TO MAINTAIN CURRENT BPA CAP
EUROPE’S plastics manufacturers association PlasticsEurope has called on the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to maintain its current total daily intake (TDI) maximum for bisphenol A (BPA), saying it will be justified by upcoming studies.
The call was made by PlasticsEurope Dieter Beyer, representing its polycarbonate/bisphenol A Group, at an EFSA meeting on the topic, in Brussels.…
UK-WIDE CYBERCRIME RAIDS MAKES 17 ARRESTS, PART OF GLOBAL CRACKDOWN
Suspected users of BlackShades malware that can hijack, control and steal information from personal computers were arrested earlier this month in the first ever UK-wide multi-agency operation against cybercrime. A wave of 17 arrests across Britain followed searches and seizures co-ordinated by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) involved almost all regional organised crime units (ROCUs), as well as London’s Metropolitan Police and Police Scotland.…
SINGAPORE AIMS TO BOOST ITS INTERNATIONAL AML REPUTATION
SINGAPORE has been working hard to lose its past reputation for lax anti-money laundering (AML) controls.
Its ‘steering committee for combating money laundering and terrorist financing,’ jointly headed by the ministry of home affairs, ministry of finance, and the monetary authority of Singapore (MAS) published the country’s first ‘national risk assessment report’ on money laundering and terrorist financing in January 2014.…
EU CARS MEET CO2 REDUCTION TARGETS TWO YEARS BEFORE THE DEADLINE
Final statistics to be published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in the fall are expected to confirm that the average CO2 emissions of new cars sold in the European Union (EU) in 2013 were already below the European Union’s (EU) 2015 required target.…
PIGLET EPIDEMIC INCREASES PRESSURE ON TAIWAN TO IMPORT MORE PORK
PORCINE epidemic diarrhoea (PED) killed around 150,000 young pigs in Taiwan from October last year to this February, causing pork prices to reach a 10-year high in the country. With local elections due in November, the government has been speaking out about alleged price gouging, while at the same time loosening import controls for European pork; after approval in March, a first shipment of 400 tonnes of frozen pork from France is expected to arrive in late May.…
COMPLEX US-DUTCH ATC COOPERATION DEAL COULD DELIVER REAL SAFETY BENEFITS TO CARIBBEAN AIRSPACE
A NEW agreement between the United States and the Netherlands that came into force in February will facilitate cooperation in civil aviation safety between US- and Dutch-controlled air space in the Caribbean. With this umbrella agreement in place, the USA’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Netherlands aviation authorities, Dutch and American air navigation service providers are now looking at how they can coordinate air traffic controls within American and Dutch jurisdictions.…
OCEAN ENERGY INNOVATION MOVES AHEAD, POTENTIALLY OPENING NEW GREEN ENERGY FRONT
LONG-TERM support for the wave and tidal energy industries has been announced by the European Commission, which this spring said it intended to support “the rapid development of key ocean energy technologies at the European level”.
European Union (EU) energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said: “Ocean energy has a significant potential to enhance the security of supply”, adding that “a wide portfolio of renewable energy sources -including ocean energy” was necessary if non fossil fuels were to become “mainstream and integrated into the European energy system.”…
UKRAINE CRISIS HEIGHTENS FOCUS ON POTENTIAL RUSSIA DIRTY MONEY FLOWS IN CYPRUS
THE INSTABILITY prompted by the crisis in Ukraine is increasing the risk of crime-tainted Russian assets being moved into new safe havens to avoid the effects of possible sanctions. With EU member state Cyprus long favoured by Russian investors, and likely to be covered by any sanctions, could the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) offer an attractive alternative?…
INNOVATIVE AND LOCAL AFRICA FINANCE CORPORATION RECEIVES HIGH CREDIT RATING
AFTER six years of financing some of the largest infrastructure projects across Africa, a groundbreaking multilateral development institution – the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) – has attained its investment grade international credit rating. Moody’s Investors Service assigned the corporation an A3 (long term) /P2 (short term) foreign currency debt rating, making the AFC, headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria the second highest investment grade rated financial institution based on the African continent, following the long-established Africa Development Bank (ADB).…
ECC-NET’S 2013 ANNUAL REPORT - NATIONAL UNIT ROUND UP
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.…
FEWER EU COMPANIES THAN INITIALLY PROPOSED WILL HAVE TO DISCLOSE NON-FINANCIAL INFORMATION
A COMPROMISE between the European Parliament and the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers in February over new non-financial reporting rules will insist that many of the largest EU companies disclose their impact and policies on the environment, social and employee-related matters, human rights, anti-corruption and bribery.…
UKRAINE MEAT AND LIVESTOCK SECTOR OPTIMISTIC, DESPITE ONGOING CRISIS
Ukraine’s revolution and subsequent Russian intervention might have disrupted much of its economy and politics, but the country’s meat and livestock sector has so far emerged unscathed. Indeed, the industry is optimistic about its prospects, should its new pro-west government survive and sign an association agreement with the European Union (EU).…
ANOTHER OUTBREAK OF AVIAN FLU IN THE NETHERLANDS
VETERINARY services in the Netherlands are investigating a fresh outbreak of the H5N2 strain of the avian flu, affecting poultry this month.
More than 10,000 susceptible birds have been killed as a result, according to the Office International des Épizooties (OIE), the world animal health organisation.…
MOST EU COUNTRIES NOT CONVINCED OF ORIGIN LABELLING FOR MEAT AS INGREDIENT
MANY European Union (EU) countries are unsure whether imposing mandatory labelling requirements for the country of origin of meat used as ingredient in processed food products would bring benefits that justify the costs, a meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Brussels yesterday (24 March) revealed.…
NORDIC NONWOVENS REPORT FEATURE
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.…
EU ROUND UP – EU HEADS OF GOVERNMENT PUSH FOR ENERGY DIVERSIFICATION PLAN
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.…
AMBITIOUS RWE CFO IN CROATIA FORGES FINANCE CAREER AFTER FALL OF COMMUNISM
“WHAT I’m doing now really is a dream job for me.” CFO Juraj Drahovský, 36, from Košice, in eastern Slovakia, is relishing the challenge of helping the RWE Group, one of Europe’s largest energy companies, become a leading player in the Croatian market.…
COMMISSION APPROVES JLL PARTNERS AND KONINKIJKE DSM JOINT VENTURE
THE CREATION of a pharmaceutical joint venture by JLL Partners, of the USA, and Koninkijke DSM, of the Netherlands, has been approved by the European Commission, without imposing conditions. Private equity firm JLL and health and food company DSM will each transfer some of their pharmaceutical businesses to the joint venture.…
DIPLOMATIC STANDOFF BETWEEN MALAWI AND TANZANIA COULD SLOW OIL EXPLORATION
PLANS to exploit Malawi’s oil and gas potential are continuing apace despite a border dispute with neighbouring Tanzania that affects some of the exploration sites.
Geological investigations have indicated that conditions are favourable for oil and gas to exist beneath Lake Malawi and the Lower Shire Valley in southern Malawi, both part of the East African Rift System.…
NEW CONNECTED CARS STANDARDS DEVELOPED IN EUROPE
A FIRST set of technical standards saying how European manufacturers should build technologies that enable vehicles to communicate with each other and with roadside communications infrastructure has been released. The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) have issued an initial set of standards for cooperative intelligence transport systems (C-ITS) – called Release 1 – following a request from the European Commission in 2009.…
EUROPEAN REPORT TELLS CREDIT CARD CONSUMERS HOW TO OBTAIN REFUNDS FOR FRAUD, THEFT AND MIS-SELLING
A COMPREHENSIVE European report has informed consumers across the European Union (EU), Norway and Iceland about their legal rights to credit card refunds.
Written by a publicly-funded network of European Consumer Centres (ECC-Net), the report explains what rights are enjoyed by all EU citizens, and those in Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein – members of the EU-associated European Economic Area (EEA).…
BRUSSELS BEGINS EU IFRS IMPLEMENTATION REVIEW
EU VAT FORUM PILOT EXTENDED ONE MORE YEAR THE EUROPEAN Commission is to carry out an evaluation of the European Union (EU) regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 that says EU listed companies must use international financial reporting standards (IFRS) to produce their consolidated accounts.…
NEW JAPAN FUND WILL PROMOTE TROPICAL MEDICINE DEVELOPMENT
THE JAPANESE pharma sector may have previously lagged behind its counterparts in Europe and north America helping the very poorest people in the developing world, but the enthusiasm with which five of Japan’s biggest pharmaceutical companies have embraced the Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund indicates a sea change in policy.…
MEAT CONSUMPTION WILL NEVER REACH PREVIOUS LEVELS, SAYS BRUSSELS
MEAT consumption will never reach previous levels, Tassos Haniotis, director of economic analysis at the European Commission’s directorate general for agriculture said yesterday (Tuesday).
He was speaking during the launch of the European Commission report on prospects for agricultural markets and income in the European Union (EU) between 2013 and 2023.…
SAUDI ARABIA AIRPORT EXPANSION LONG OVERDUE, TAILORING SERVICES TO MUSLIM PILGRIMS
THE EXPANSION of the Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport (PMIA) in Medina, Saudi Arabia, has long been overdue, with the facility having struggled to handle the spike in pilgrims visiting the two holy sites of Mecca and Medina. In a first for the Gulf region, the expansion is a public-private partnership, with Turkey’s TAV Airports Holding Company operating a 25-year concession that is expected to be rolled out elsewhere in the kingdom.…
EUROPE’S COGENERATION MARKET NEEDS A BIG PUSH FROM GOVERNMENTS TO PROSPER IN THE LONG TERM
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.…
EUROPE’S COGENERATION MARKET NEEDS A BIG PUSH FROM GOVERNMENTS TO PROSPER IN THE LONG TERM
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.…
2013 PRICES CHEER SPANISH BEEF AND PORK PRODUCERS
SPANISH meat producers secured increasingly healthy prices in 2013 as the country crept out of recession in the second half, figures from its ministry of agriculture, food and the environment (MAGRAMA) show.
Category E pork (55% – 59% leanness) rose by 11.4% on 2012 to average EUR1.936 per kilo, 10.3% greater than the European Union (EU) average, peaking at EUR2.171/Kg.…
BIOFUELS INDUSTRY SLAMS EUROPEAN COMMISSION 2030 ENERGY TARGETS
REPRESENTATIVES of the biofuels industry have attacked European Commission energy targets for 2030 for not including anything mandatory targets for manufacturing second-generation biofuels and for planning to scrap transport fuels emissions plans.
“Europe should set a binding target for sustainable transport, and a dedicated sub-target for advanced biofuels, combined with the GHG (greenhouse gas) emission reduction goal, to ensure that future growth in the EU (European Union) biofuels market comes from the best performing biofuels,” said CEOs of energy and transport companies such as Dong Energy (Denmark), BTG Biomass Technology Group (Netherlands) and British Airways in a joint statement issued under the umbrella of the Leaders of Sustainable Biofuels (LSB) advocacy group.…
STEEL SECTOR NEEDS A TAILORED EU EMISSIONS TRADING SYSTEM, TATA STEEL NETHERLANDS BOSS SAYS
The European Union (EU) needs to tailor its energy policy and carbon Emissions Trading System (ETS) approach to the realities of the steel sector, Theo Henrar, chairman of the management board of Tata Steel Nederland told Steel First.
“The ETS is one-size-fits-all and is putting energy intensive industries in competitive disadvantage,” he said, calling for realistic benchmarks to be used when calculating the CO2 emissions allowances for the industry.…
DEEP KNOWLEDGE OF THE NETWORK KEY IN EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT, CONFERENCE HEARS
HIGHWAY and transport officials in charge of network management need to deepen the knowledge of their local highways and rail systems to develop an efficient strategy to manage it, according to Daniel Van Motman, senior traffic management advisor at the City of Amsterdam.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION FINES JOHNSON & JOHNSON, NOVARTIS, FOR DELAYING GENERIC PAIN KILLER
THE EUROPEAN Commission has today (Dec 10) fined Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and Novartis International EUR16 million for delaying the market entry of a generic version of the pain-killer fentanyl.
“J&J paid Novartis to delay the entry of a generic pain killer.…
EU FARM GROUP SAYS NEW AMMONIA EMISSION CONTROLS WILL HARM LIVESTOCK PRODUCERS
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) agricultural industry organisation has warned that newly proposed reforms to EU air quality rules could harm Europe’s livestock sector. The concern of Brussels-based Copa-Cogeca is the European Commission’s suggestion that ammonia emissions be cut by 27% via reforms to the national emissions ceilings (NEC) directive.…
NEW LABELLING RULES FOR PIG, SHEEP, GOATS AND POULTRY LEADING TO A RENATIONALISATION OF THE EU, INDUSTRY SAYS
NEW national origin labelling rules for pork, sheep, goat and poultry meat made in the European Union (EU) could reduce the trade in meat products between the 28 EU countries, EU senior meat industry figures have warned. In a joint statement, Jean-Luc Mériaux, secretary general of the European Livestock and Meat Trading Union (UECBV) and Detlef Stachetzki, manager at the German meat industry federation (VDF – Verband der Fleischwirtschaft) said: “The rule gives rise to the belief of EU citizens that products produced in their own country are better/safer/healthier/ than the products from other countries.”…
REVIEW OF 2013 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE SECTOR
WINNERS AND LOSERS
RETAIL
WINNERS
ASOS
Fashion retailer ASOS showed online convenience and price are still a winning combination with shoppers. The UK-based online retailer continued its impressive trajectory this year, announcing pre-tax profit had reached GBP54.7m (US$88.3m) for the year ending 31 August, compared to GBP40m in the same period of last year, with retail sales jumping 40% to GBP753.8m, up from GBP537.9m last year. …
SINGLE TELECOM MARKET SHOULD NOT AFFECT COMPETITION BETWEEN TELCOS AND CABLE OPERATORS, CABLE EUROPE CHAIRMAN SAYS
THE CREATION of a single telecommunication market in the European Union (EU) should build on the foundation of existing liberalising legislation, promoting healthy competition between telecommunication companies and cable operators, says Matthias Kurth, executive chairman at Cable Europe.
Speaking to European Communications, in an interview at his Brussels office, he explained: “The new legislation should complement and not overturn the existing regulatory framework,” said Mr Kurth, noting that it should allow network providers to grow, compete and invest.…
EUROPE: MISSED TARGETS AND WEAK BUDGETS HIT HE SAYS NEW REPORT
Is European higher education generally delivering the right kind of qualifications for EU citizens gearing up to tackle the challenges and opportunities of today’s world or is it missing the target somewhere along the line ? The question isn’t a new one but it has been given a fresh twist by the 2013 Education and Training Monitor released last week by the European Commission.…
CANADIAN URANIUM PRODUCER WELCOMES EU-CANADA TRADE DEAL
Cameco – Canada’s leading uranium producer – has given a cautious welcome to the prospect of eased restrictions on European investment in Canada’s uranium industry as part of the recently agreed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union (EU).…
EUROPEAN RESEARCH COUNCIL TO GET TOP BRAINS FROM SOUTH KOREA
THE EUROPEAN Research Council (ERC) will be able to recruit top young scientists from South Korea following an agreement signed by the European Commission and the South Korean government last Friday (Nov 8) in Brussels.
The agreement will make it easier for South Koreans to join research teams led by ERC grantees and be funded by the ERC for six to twelve months.…
EMA ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE WORKSHOP DISCUSSES REDUCING ANTIBIOTIC USE, MAKING SMARTER DRUGS
ACCORDING to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the largest single health threat to the population of the world today is antimicrobial resistance (AMR). How can it be countered and what options are open to government regulators, the medical profession and, especially, the pharmaceutical companies for the development of new antibiotics?…
ECJ DISMISSES PLASTIC BAG CARTEL APPEALS, BUT SAYS COMPANIES CAN CLAIM DAMAGES OVER SLOW DELIBERATIONS
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has dismissed appeals brought by three European Union (EU) plastic bag companies against Euro EUR290 million’s fines imposed because of their participation in a cartel. But in an unusual twist, the ECJ ruled that because the proceedings leading to the 2011 imposition of fines was so long (five years and nine months), they can sue the EU for damages for harm caused by this wait for justice.…
BANK CUSTOMERS START TO BE ENLISTED IN FIGHT AGAINST FRAUD
CORPORATE and personal banking customers may well feel more than a tad uneasy if their bank suddenly asks them to scan accounts for evidence of fraud but it is happening more and more in America and appears to be paying off.…
EU PUBLIC PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE TO GO FORWARD WITH A LIMITED NUMBER OF COUNTRIES
THE ESTABLISHMENT of a European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) will proceed with a limited number of countries, after 11 of them lodged disagreements about its establishment by an October 28 deadline. The countries which will not sign onto the EPPO are Britain, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Ireland, Malta, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden.…
OLAF SAYS EU AIRPORT RUNWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS RIDDLED WITH CORRUPTION
EUROPEAN Union (EU) anti-fraud agency OLAF has concluded EU airport runway construction projects maybe riddled with corruption. The conclusion comes in a report it commissioned from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) into EU public procurement. It concluded between 37%–53% of airport runway construction works contracts were probably dirty in some way – the highest proportion in the six sectors it examined.…
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT COULD BE NEW EU FORENSIC AUDITING TARGET
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) anti-fraud office OLAF could have opened the way to a new focus of EU forensic accounting, unveiled a study that claimed in 2010 alone, between Euro EUR1.4 and 2.7 billion was lost to corruption in public procurement tenders within just five sectors in eight EU member states.…
EUROPE: OECD REPORT EXPOSES SERIOUS EDUCATION GAPS IN EU
A major international survey of education standards has found serious weaknesses in the EU countries when compared to levels in other parts of the world. In spite of the heavy investment in higher education in recent years in the EU, the study suggests that a fifth of the working age population has worrying low literacy and numeracy skills and a quarter of adults lack the digital skills needed to effectively use ICT.…
UK MEAT BOSS SAYS CONTINUED CONTAMINATION SHOWS WHY EU MEAT INSPECTION NEEDS REFORM
THE DIRECTOR of the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) has said continued pathogen contamination involving meat traded across Europe underlines the need to fight opposition to European Commission proposals to modernise meat inspection systems.
Stephen Rossides called on meat inspectors not to block future progress: “The current meat inspection system is focused on old risks,” Rossides said.…
INNOVATION WIDENS SOURCES OF MATERIALS FOR FIBRE MANUFACTURING
Any market and industry benefits from supply diversification, so major textile and clothing companies can take heart from continued innovation amongst fibre and fabric producers over sourcing. This extends, for instance, to sourcing material from unusual places such as milk and fishing nets, while creating more opportunities for traditional sources such as flax.…
DUTCH DAIRY ASSOCIATION UPSET OVER RUSSIAN QUALITY SLURS
The Dutch Dairy Association (NZO) spokesman yesterday attacked Russian officials for publicly criticising Dutch dairy food standards, without making formal complaints. Spokesperson René van Buitenen told just-food the NZO “expected [the Russians] to inform Dutch authorities soon if they really have serious concerns”, instead of commenting to media.…
EU FOOD SAFETY NETWORK WARNS OF CONTINUED SALMONELLA MEAT CONTAMINATION
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) food and feed safety rapid alert network (RASFF) has warned of continued detections of salmonella contamination of imported meat and meat products across Europe. In most instances, consignments were exported from other EU member states. It reported six salmonella meat contamination cases between October 21 and 24 for instance.…
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT REPORTS CALLS FOR MORE POLICING IN EU FOOD CONTROLS
THE EUROPEAN Parliament wants to see official controls in the food chain focusing more on fraud prevention and see inspectors act more like policemen in the wake of the horsemeat scandal and other food fraud cases, according to a draft report released today.…
OLAF REPORT REVEALS HUGE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT LOSSES TO CORRUPTION
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) anti-fraud office OLAF has unveiled a study that signals huge losses directly caused by corruption in public procurement. It identified how in 2010, between Euro EUR1.4 and 2.2 billion was lost in tenders within just five sectors in eight EU member states.…
BRUSSELS CALLS FOR MORE WIFI SPECTRUM
A EUROPEAN Commission study has called for an increase in spectrum allocated to wifi, to help communications service providers deal with growing demand. It noted that 71% of all European Union (EU) wireless data traffic in 2012 was delivered to smartphones and tablets using wifi, possibly rising to 78% by 2016.…
OLAF REPORT REVEALS HUGE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT LOSSES TO CORRUPTION
IT has been regarded as a hidden commercial crime – the losses to governments caused by corruption in public procurement. An OLAF report suggests its scale in Europe could be huge. Keith Nuthall reports.
THERE is no sugar coating these numbers: the European Union’s (EU) anti-fraud office OLAF has unveiled a study that claimed in 2010 alone, between Euro EUR1.4 and 2.7 billion was lost to corruption in public procurement tenders within just five sectors in eight EU member states.…
DARK CLOUDS OVER PAINT AND COATING INDUSTRIES IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
Had you wanted Mike Khaffaf, owner and director of High Quality Painting on Sydney’s affluent North Shore, to come and paint your house four years ago, you would have had to wait at least six weeks for his services. Now, he can “start next Monday.”…
ICAO CONFERENCE DEBATES NEED FOR CAREFUL ROLL-OUT OF AUTOMATED BORDER CONTROL SYSTEMS
TECHNICAL and security experts have gathered at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to consider how to roll-out developing automated border control (ABC) systems, which offer hard-pressed airports the ability to better process surging passenger numbers.
Staged at ICAO’s headquarters, in Montréal, Canada, from October 22 to 24, the agency’s ninth symposium and exhibition on MRTDs [machine readable travel documents] biometrics and border security debated ABC developments such as newly-emerging technologies; trust issues; reliability; non-intrusiveness; biometrics; effective inspections tools; trusted traveller programmes; challenges to border integrity and ways to address them.…
NHA BE GARMENT CORPORATION FOCUS: A VIETNAM OUTSOURCER WITH COMPLEX SUPPLY LINES
IF further evidence was needed that Asian outsourcing is becoming increasingly mature, with a reliance on international supply chains, then the FOB division of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s Nha Be Garment Corporation Joint Stock Company (NBC) is a case in point.…
GERMANS, DUTCH AND FRENCH COMMENDED BULK OF NOW SCRAPPED EU BOVINE LIVESTOCK EXPORT REFUNDS
EXPORT refunds paid by the European Union (EU) to bovine livestock exporters, ahead of a suspension of these subsidies last September (2012), were dwindling and dominated by four countries, the latest data from the European Commission has revealed.
Brussels paid out Euro EUR5.7 million on such sales in 2012, said the Commission, down from EUR9.6 million in 2011, and around EUR10 million in 2008 and 2009 (EUR8.6 million was paid out in 2010).…
SHORTCOMINGS IN GAS INTERCONNECTORS
A EUROPEAN Commission-ordered report has highlighted significant
shortcomings in gas interconnectors crossing national European Union (EU)
borders that are restricting the development of an EU gas market.
This ‘Study on Entry-Exit Regimes in Gas’ by the Netherlands’ DNV KEMA and
COWI Belgium said the absence of virtual trading points or short-term capacity
products are “highly critical barriers for the development of a well-functioning
entry-exit system”.…
BRUSSELS APPROVES BRAZIL-BASED INTERNATIONAL MEAT COMPANY EXPANSION
A SIGNIFICANT set of acquisitions by Brazilian meat major JBS has been given European Union (EU) regulatory approval by the European Commission. Acting as Europe’s international competition regulator, the Commission approved JBS’ purchase from Brazilian food processor Marfrig Alimentos of Netherlands-based Columbus Netherlands BV also known as Zenda) and six Brazilian-based companies that together form the Seara group.…
TOP TIPS ON FREEZING AND ARBITRATION
IS IT possible to divine ‘golden rules’ that increase the likelihood of freezing order relief being granted and lessen the risk of scoring an own-goal when potential costs are compared with what may be recovered?
Fraud Intelligence asked Thomas K Sprange, a partner and Solicitor Advocate in the London office of international law firm King & Spalding and a member of the firm’s International Arbitration Group.…
LAWYERS ADVISE ON RESPONSE TO KENYA METAL MINING LICENSES SETBACK
Foreign mining companies may have a range of options to claim compensation against Kenya for revoking mining licenses granted between January 14 and May 15 and introducing new drilling charges and/or royalty schemes, leading arbitration law experts advise.
Lawyers at US-based international law firm King & Spalding say companies with investments whose licenses were cancelled earlier this month and/or whose revenues are hit by new charges and/or royalties may be able to claim through international investment arbitration tribunals.…
BRUSSELS PONDERS SOFT DRINKS MANUFACTURING MERGER
THE NETHERLANDS-based soft drinks manufacturer and bottler Refresco is set to acquire Pride Foods, which also manufactures and bottles soft drinks for retailers and brand owners in Europe. Refresco also owns soft-drinks brands, such as Rodeo Juicy energy drink and Krings juices.…
DEMAND GROWS FOR TECHNICAL TEXTILES IN BRAZIL
BRAZIL is an innovative technical textile producer, declares a report from a senior São Paulo’s business school the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV), despite the sector experiencing teething problems as it expands. Looking at the Brazilian textile sector as a whole, the study estimates that 77% of investment into the sector during 2012 was used to buy innovative machinery – and the technical textile sector especially has a lot of demand to meet.…
RASFF NETWORK WARNS OF SALMONELLA CONTAMINATION IN EU MEAT TRADES
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) food and feed safety rapid alert network (RASFF) has warned of a spate of problems involving salmonella contamination of imported meat and meat products. In some instances, consignments were exported from outside the EU, and others, within it.…
DUTCH GOVERNMENT PRESS FOR RELIGIOUS SLAUGHTER NON-STUNNING LABELS ON MEAT PRODUCTS
Dutch government has been using diplomatic pressure to push for a European Union (EU) law ordering that meat is specially labelled when from livestock religiously slaughtered without stunning. The Netherlands said at yesterday’s (Monday) European Union (EU) Council of Ministers meeting that: “We consider it essential to inform consumers correctly about the products they purchase.…
EU SCRAPS REMAINING MEAT EXPORT REFUND
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) will scrap the last remaining export refund available for meat exporters, following a 20 year liberalisation process.
Yesterday, (Thursday) the EU’s ‘management committee for the common organisation of agricultural markets: animal products’ agreed to scrap refunds payable for exports of frozen whole chickens (65-70%) to certain destinations, notably in the Middle East and the Commonwealth of Independent States (ex-USSR countries).…
US PRODUCERS BENEFIT FROM WESTERN HEMISPHERE SOURCING
IT is common sense that for really fast fashion, sourcing should be made as close to a home market as costs will allow. And for the world’s two largest fast fashion markets – the European Union (EU) and the United States – geography does provide some useful neighbours able to offer lower cost out-sourcing, albeit not as cheap as in east and south Asia.…
APPAREL AND TEXTILE-SPECIFIC SOFTWARE ENSURES QUICK AND ACCURATE SUPPLY CHAIN COMMUNICATION
APPAREL and textile manufacturers looking to streamline their supply chains can benefit from product lifecycle management software, which can make communications and risk management processes linking suppliers and retailers more efficient and accurate.
“There’s a lot of new technology that’s been introduced in the last few years that helps manage that supply chain – everything from the finances, the logistics, quality, design, right through into merchandising,” said Robert Cammilleri, senior account executive of business development at US-based safety consulting company, UL (Underwriters Laboratories Inc).…
DIVERSE MOBILE COMMS SERVICES POSE CHALLENGES TO AIRPORT MANAGERS
MOBILE communication services have become a significant focus for airports worldwide regarding improving passenger experience, especially as the use of interconnected smart devices has boomed. Airports have been building on previous services, such as improving and expanding their wireless internet coverage and working with airlines to allow for flight check-ins via mobile communication devices.…
USA INDICTS FIVE IN MASSIVE CARD FRAUD CASE
PROSECUTORS in the USA last week revealed the largest case of alleged credit card fraud in American history. New Jersey US Attorney Paul J Fishman said the alleged fraud has cost companies more than USD 300 million.
The indictment against four Russians and a Ukrainian lists corporate victims including, among others, Citigroup, Dexia Bank Belgium, Euronet, Nasdaq, PNC Financial Services, Visa Jordan, 7-Eleven Inc, Carrefour, JC Penney and JetBlue Airways.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – EU MINISTERS AGREE NEW ANTI-VAT FRAUD REFORMS
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have agreed reforms to the EU’s VAT directive 2006/112/EC enabling member states to swiftly impose reversed charge VAT mechanisms to fight tax fraud. They would act when faced with a sudden onset of large-scale VAT fraud, forcing suppliers to pay the tax, rather than final consumers.…
SPAIN FINDS SILVER LININGS AMID THE GLOOM
‘LA TORRE PUIG,’ the 22-storey Puig Tower now being fitted out in the Plaza de Europa, of the Catalan capital, Barcelona, for Puig SL, the family owned fragrances and fashion firm, will be yet another landmark building for one of Europe’s most beautiful cities.…
HVDC DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION RAMPS UP
RECENT technical advances and headline projects show how companies with market leadership in high voltage direct current (HVDC) and Ultra HVDC (UHVDC) are pushing the envelope of what these technologies can do.
Since Sweden’s ASEA (now part of Swiss multinational ABB) installed the world’s first commercial HVDC link, under the Baltic Sea to the Swedish island of Gotland in 1954, it has become the technology of choice for transmitting current over very long distances on land or subsea.…
CHINA PUSHES AHEAD WITH BIO-BASED AVIATION FUEL PRODUCTION, BUT COMMERCIALISATION SOME WAY OFF
China in April successfully conducted a maiden test flight of the first aviation biofuel entirely processed on its shores, joining the US, Finland and France as only the fourth country in the world to independently research and develop a bio-jet fuel production technology.…
EU REVISED NUCLEAR SAFETY RULES MAY UNDERMINE THE AUTHORITY OF NATIONAL SAFETY REGULATORS
REVISED European Union (EU) nuclear safety rules proposed by the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, may undermine the authority of national safety regulators and complicate the work of nuclear operators, according to Foratom, the organisation representing the interests of the European nuclear industry.…
REACH REGISTRATION LEAVES POLYMER CHEMICALS UNREGISTERED
PLASTICS companies have not responded comprehensively to requests from the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) that they register certain ingredients and polymers in the now completed second registration process under European Union (EU) chemical control system REACH. ECHA says that by the May 31 deadline for registering chemicals made, used or imported in quantities of 100 tonnes or more, there were 984 substances left unregistered that companies had earlier promised to register.…
GRI INITIATIVE LAUNCHED FOURTH VERSION OF ITS NON-FINANCIAL REPORTING GUIDELINES
“We use our earth as if we have a planet and a half; we have a deficit relation with our natural resources. The biggest challenge facing not just business, society and government, but humanity is the question of our sustainability. And business, as usual, will do nothing to solve it.”…
U-MULTIRANK FACING CHALLENGES REGARDING THE QUALITY OF THE INDICATORS
THE CONSORTIUM running the European Commission-backed U-Multirank is working to better ensure the quality and reliability of the indicators it will use to rank universities, University World News has been told. Speaking exclusively to University World News, Jordi Curell, director of higher education and international affairs at the Commission’s directorate general for education and culture, said assessments were weakened by universities failing to monitor the professional success of their graduates: “There is an issue because some of the indicators are difficult to obtain, especially when it comes to the tracking of students, because they don’t exist everywhere,” he said.…
MEPS WRESTLE OVER WHETHER TO DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN BIODIESEL AND BIOETHANOL IN EU BIOFUEL RULES
EUROPEAN biofuel industry knew it was in for a rough ride when the European Commission announced last October that it would stop subsiding food-based biofuels from 2020 and support the production of secondary biofuels based on waste matter and algae. But maybe it was not prepared for how the European Parliament would try to amend the proposals by introducing regulatory distinctions between types of biofuels that discriminate against biodiesel.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – PAINT INGREDIENTS ADDED TO ECHA AUTHORISATION LIST
CHEMICALS used as paint and coatings ingredients have been added to the European Union’s (EU) ‘authorisation’ list because of wide ranging environmental health concerns. A listing requires companies wanting to integrate these chemicals in their products or manufacturing processes to seek permission from the European Commission first – it will be advised in making this decision by the European Chemical Agency (ECHA).…
EU ACTION PLAN ON ENERGY TECHNOLOGY
THE EUROPEAN Commission has released a detailed action plan designed to boost energy innovation and new technology across the European Union (EU). Written as a ‘communication’ policy paper, it stresses: “EU energy technology and innovation strategy is an integral part of the EU energy policy.”…
EBRD BACKS CROATIA PHARMA COMPANY
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) is lending Euro EUR 3.6 million to Croatian pharmaceutical packaging producer Piramida, helping it expand production and restructure its balance sheet. The company mainly sells in former Yugoslav countries and is a regional leader in manufacturing pharmaceutical ampoules and vials.…
FACTORY COLLAPSE SET TO SPAWN CONSOLIDATION IN BANGLADESH KNITWEAR INDUSTRY
THE RECENT industrial accidents that have marred the reputation of Bangladesh’s knitwear outsourcing industry have increased the pressure on the small firms in the sector to merge so they can improve investment in equipment and premises.
Last year’s Tazreen Fashions fire and the factory collapse in April have prompted questions in the global knitwear sector about its “race to the bottom” low cost gambit, unleashing public outrage and calls for improved factory conditions and better safety regulations. …
AIRPORT SQUATTERS EVICTED AS KILIMANJARO INTERNATIONAL IS EXPANDED
THE TANZANIAN Government has awarded a USD30 million contract to the Netherlands’ BAM International to upgrade Kilimanjaro International Airport. Bakari Murusuri, managing director of BAM’s local affiliate Kilimanjaro Airports Development Company said the terminal building, aprons, taxiways and the runway would be expanded.…
EUROPEAN LEADERS SPEED UP LEGISLATIVE MEASURES TO FIGHT TAX EVASION
EUROPEAN Union (EU) heads of states and governments have urged their ministers to agree important pieces of draft EU legislation that could potentially curb tax evasion in the bloc.
Meeting during a European Council meeting in Brussels last week (May 22), leaders were under pressure to act from media reports revealing how much untaxed incomes politicians, companies and rich business owners have stashed in tax havens.…
USA’S POLITICAL MOSAIC MAKES TRANSPORT AGENCY DATA SHARING CRITICALLY IMPORTANT
THE UNITED States might be a relatively new country, but it has not been keen on changing the borders of its constituent states, counties and cities. The result is sometimes an administrative hotchpotch, with political and administrative boundaries set in the 1700s and 1800s bisecting urban communities in an almost arbitrary way.…
EU ENERGY NETWORK PROJECT PRIORITIES TAKE SHAPE
SUMMER 2013 marks an important milestone in the evolution of the European Union (EU) regulatory framework and financial support for Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E) that will contribute towards the European Commission’s goal of a single-energy market for gas and electricity. Oil and carbon dioxide (CO2) transport from carbon capture and storage systems also figure in the picture.…
BRUSSELS SPENDS EUR 9 MILLION PROMOTING EU MEAT SALES
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced a series of three-year spending programmes helping meat producers from around the European Union (EU) sell their products at home and abroad. The money funds “public relations, promotional or publicity campaigns” said Brussels, with spending being augmented by matching funding sourced from industry groups and national governments.…
INDONESIA CONFERENCE DISCUSSES STRUGGLE TO KEEP COCOA SUPPLY MATCHING GLOBAL DEMAND
WITH global cocoa prices continuing to rise and concerns growing that climate change will hinder efforts to boost production, the confectionery sector’s key Asia Choco Congress 2013 this year explored solutions to assure sustainable cocoa supplies.
Experts from industry giants such as Cargill, Mars and CAMOI joined with international cocoa specialists to assess ways of solving ongoing and potentially worsening market disfunction.…
DEFINING PARAMETERS OF ETHICAL SOURCING
ETHICAL sourcing in the garment and textile industry is a key consideration – not just because it is the right thing to do, but because consumers are keen to know how their clothes and accessories have been produced. But one key question is who sets the parameters of what is ethically sourced?…
OECD WORKING GROUP PUSHES AGAINST GRAFT – BUT MANY GOVERNMENTS TURN BLIND EYE TO FOREIGN BRIBERY
THE ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has made a lot of noise about its anti-bribery convention. But some countries are failing to comply, and where others do – otherwise honest companies can lose trade. David Hayhurst and Keith Nuthall report.…
BRUSSELS WANTS ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL INFORMATION DISCLOSED BY LARGE COMPANIES
JUST as the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) was launching its consultation on the draft International Integrated Reporting Framework in London, the European Commission was pushing in Brussels for large companies to disclose information on social and environmental matters.
The European Union’s internal market Commissioner Michel Barnier tabled on April 16 an amendment to the EU’s fourth (78/660/EEC) and seventh (83/349/EEC) directives on annual and consolidated accounts.…
NEW BIOMASS BIOCOAL COULD OFFER CARBON NEUTRAL SOLID FUEL OPTION FOR THE FUTURE
A SLOW revolution in the use of biomass for firing or co-firing power generation is picking up pace this year as a number of competing technologies for the production of ‘biocoal’ move more convincingly towards full commercialisation.
Biocoal produced through torrefaction – in which dry biomass such as wood, paper, food waste and even sewerage waste is slow-heated anoxically (to avoid combustion) at 200C to 300C to reduce moisture and drive off low-energy volatile chemicals – offers slightly degraded fuel with lower emissions and carbon footprints (it is carbon neutral) than traditional biomass and, certainly, than coal.…
DANONE LAUNCHES ANOTHER IMPORTED INFANT FORMULA IN CHINA, USING B2C SITE
French branded food giant Danone has introduced a second infant formula brand to China, targeting its soaring imported infant formula demand. Aside from maternity stores, Danone has made Nutrilon available at Tmall, a business-to-consumer site run by China’s largest online shopping platform Taobao. …
AS INTERNATIONALISATION GROWS – EUA FOCUSES ON NEED TO IMPROVE RANKINGS SYSTEMS
THE ANNUAL conference of the European University Association (EUA) has debated how rankings systems need to become more sophisticated benchmarks as the higher education system worldwide becomes more internationalised.
Speaking to University World News after last week’s event in Ghent, Belgium, Ms Lesley Wilson, the EUA’s Secretary General, said that while “everyone has a different view” about rankings, they need to deliver sophisticated benchmarking systems with which institutions will be able to compare themselves against other learning bodies.…
IRELAND IS MOST EDUCATED COUNTRY IN EU, SAYS EUROSTAT
IRELAND has the most higher education graduates per head of population in all 27 countries of the European Union (EU), a report from EU statistical agency Eurostat has revealed.
Looking at the proportion of people aged 30-34 who had completed tertiary education, Eurostat said in 2012, 51.1% of Ireland residents had degrees.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION PLANS ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORT REFUELLING AND CHARGING NETWORKS: WILL VEHICLE SALES FOLLOW?
THE QUESTION of whether publicly-supported refuelling and recharging stations are needed to jump-start demand for electric, hydrogen and other alternatively-powered vehicles seems almost as old as the conundrum about the chicken and the egg. Yet, a clear answer has yet to be supplied – and with green vehicle sales still generally weak – the European Commission has decided that for Europe, it might as well push ahead with proactively creating refuelling/charging networks anyway.…
BRUSSELS TO PROPOSE LEGISLATIVE MEASURES ON SHALE GAS EXPLORATION IN EUROPE
THE EUROPEAN Commission looks set to propose binding legislative standards for the 27 European Union (EU) member states to follow in exploring unconventional fossil fuel resources amid public concern over the environmental and social impact consequences of the main production method – hydraulic fracturing or fracking.…
BANGLADESH AND TURKEY: KNITTING EXPORT RIVALS WITH COMMON INTERESTS
BANGLADESH and Turkey are knitwear rivals, with differing levels of development. Bangladesh overtook Turkey in 2010 becoming the world’s second largest knitwear manufacturer (by output) in the year ending June 2010, pushing the Turks into third place.
In the year ending June 2010, Bangladesh exported 7.78 billion pieces of knitted items or USD 6.48 billion worth of knitwear, overtaking Turkey’s shipment of 7.74 billion pieces, according to BKMEA.…
EU ROUND UP – DRILLING DIRECTIVE DEAL STRUCK IN BRUSSELS
A DEAL has been struck on the shape of a European Union (EU) directive aimed at preventing major oil and gas offshore drilling accidents happening in EU waters. Under the text agreed by European Parliament and EU Council of Ministers representatives, oil and gas firms seeking a drilling licence must submit major hazard reports and emergency response plans proving they can deal with potential accidents.…
THAILAND ACCEPTS EU BEEF IMPORTS – BUT BRUSSELS STILL HAS CONCERNS
THE EUROPEAN Commission has welcomed Thailand lifting its longstanding ban on bovine product imports from European Union (EU) member states, but has complained that Bangkok is insisting on expensive inspections for approved exporters.
Live cattle, beef, veal and other bovine products from Austria, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, and Slovenia and Spain have been prevented from entering Thailand since 2001 over concerns about BSE.…
EFSA SET TO DELIVER INDICATORS FOR MONITORING OF NEW ANIMAL WELFARE RULES IN SLAUGHTERHOUSES
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is set to deliver animal welfare guidance by November to help European Union (EU) member states assess the compliance of their slaughterhouses with EU animal welfare rules in effect since the beginning of the year.…
EFSA READY TO DELIVER SCIENTIFIC GUIDANCE ON HORSEMEAT SCAM
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has declared it is ready to investigate the contamination of beef products with horsemeat, because it raises issues of false labelling, food quality and traceability in the European Union (EU) food chain. Although there is no evidence at the moment of any food safety issues, risk managers from EU countries are already conducting extensive tests of meat products to assess their components.…
EMA PRIVATE-PUBLIC PROJECT RELEASES PHARMACEUTICAL DATABASES
PHARMACEUTICAL companies seeking pharmacovigilance and pharmacoepidemiology information from across the European Union (EU) can now consult two new databases. Created by the public-private partnership PROTECT project, they are the Drug Consumption Database and the PROTECT ADR [adverse drug reaction] database.…
BRUSSELS WARNS NOVARTIS AND JOHNSON & JOHNSON ABOUT ANTI-TRUST FINES
PHARMACEUTICAL giants Novartis and Johnson & Johnson have been formally warned by the European Commission that they could be hit by massive anti-trust fines over an agreement struck by their Dutch subsidiaries on sales of pain-killer fentanyl.
Brussels has said the agreement might have delayed the market entry of a cheaper generic medicine in the Netherlands, breaking European Union (EU) antitrust rules.…
FRIESLANDCAMPINA AWAITING EC APPROVAL TO BROADEN CHEESE PORTFOLIO
Dutch dairy giant Royal FrieslandCampina has requested the European Commission’s approval to acquire MYWO Food Group-owned cheese specialist Zijerveld & Veldhuyzen and its packaging unit Den Hollander Food, also based in the Netherlands. “The acquisition will help FrieslandCampina to offer customers a more comprehensive cheese portfolio and package of services,” a company spokesperson told just-food.…
EUROPOL UNVEILS HUGE FOOTBALL MATCH-FIXING SCHEME
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) police agency Europol has released details of a major football scam at global level with Asian betting syndicates at its heart. It is now up to national prosecutors still investigating some of the cases to unveil the names of football clubs involved in match fixing.…
PROPOSED EU REFERENDUM RAISES COMMERCIAL PROPERTY UNCERTAINTY – BUT MARKET PLAYERS REMAIN CONFIDENT
WHAT impact could uncertainty in the run-up to a promised British referendum on continued membership of the European Union (EU) have on investment flows from the UK into commercial property and developments in the rest of the EU?
What might the impact be if a referendum did indeed take place and voters told their government loud and clear to quit the EU and free up the UK to make its own laws and regulations covering important aspects of finance, investment and tax?…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – MAJOR TRADE DEALS SOUGHT BY EU WITH USA AND JAPAN
EUROPEAN Union (EU) confectionery manufacturers and their suppliers stand to boost their export sales and reduce import costs with the launch of talks to forge the two largest bilateral trade deals ever sought by the EU – with the USA and Japan.…
MALAYSIA’S EDUCITY COMPLEX MOVES TOWARDS FULL OPERATIONS THIS AUGUST
The Malaysian government-owned investment company Iskandar Investment Berhad (IIB) is pushing ahead with the development of EduCity, the major new education complex being built in Nusajaya in the state of Johor, in the south of Peninsular Malaysia.
A growing number of international universities are setting up operations at the 600-acre site, which will be part of Iskandar Malaysia, a new planned eco-city and trading zone with districts for tourism, health care and education, designed to help re-generate Johor state.…
NORD STREAM TO UK: PIPELINE OR PIPEDREAM?
IT is a long way to the UK from the German terminus of the Russian-dominated Nord Stream gas pipeline – but major energy companies are seriously considering building a fixed link to Britain. BP has been in talks with Gazprom, the UK and the Russian government.…
NEW COMPANIES BILL MEANS STRICTER REGULATIONS FOR INDIA AUDITORS
INDIA’s auditors have had a difficult time in the court of public opinion since the revelations of the USD1 billion Satyam Computer Services scandal. A new Companies Bill might change that – although it will also inflict some pain on India’s auditors.…
SPAIN, NETHERLANDS AND AUSTRIA NEED TO DO A BETTER JOB IN FIGHTING BRIBERY, OECD FINDS
SPAIN, Austria and the Netherlands have been criticised for failing to prosecute cases involving bribery of foreign officials despite being longstanding signatories to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Convention on combating graft in international business. An OECD report published this month found that: in 13 years since adopting the convention, Spain has not prosecuted a single individual or company; Austrian authorities are investigating seven such cases but have failed to convict anyone since the convention came into force there in 1999; and a lack of resources was evident in Netherlands prosecuting 14 out of 22 foreign bribery allegations received by Dutch law enforcers.…
EUROPEAN MEAT PRODUCERS EYE HIGHER SHARE FOR PORK IN JAPAN
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) should be the second supplier of pork to the Japanese market, up from the fourth place now, once a planned EU-Japan free trade agreement (FTA) is in place, Jean-Luc Mériaux, secretary general of the European Livestock and Meat Trading Union (UECBV) told globalmeatnews.com…
SURVEY FINDS 97 PERCENT OF CHINESE FIRMS WILL INCREASE INVESTMENT IN THE EU
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) offers a more favourable investment environment compared to north America or south-east Asia in the eyes of Chinese investors, according to a recently released study of Chinese companies investing in Europe. Africa however is seen as the most welcoming destination for Chinese investment, by 85% to 15%, according to the survey of 74 Chinese firms carried out by the EU Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC), in cooperation with KPMG and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.…
UK PRIMES THE CCS PUMP BUT FUTURE REMAINS UNCERTAIN
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.…
EUROPEAN AND JAPANESE KNITWEAR INDUSTRY GEARING UP FOR THE EU-JAPAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
EUROPEAN Union (EU) Japanese knitwear manufacturers are assessing the opportunities offered by the planned EU-Japan free trade agreement (FTA), with negotiations about to begin, having been authorised by the European Union (EU) member states before Christmas.
“We will try to develop good contacts with the Japanese industry to try to come up with solutions during the negotiations that could be beneficial for both whenever possible”, said Luisa Santos, head of international trade at the European apparel and textile confederation (Euratex).…
INTERPOL AND EUROPOL RAIDS NET ILLEGAL MEAT PRODUCTS IN 29 COUNTRIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
Counterfeit, mislabelled and substandard meat products have been seized in an international police operation spanning 29 countries, coordinated by Interpol and European police agency Europol. Sausages, ham, lamb, chicken and beef were seized, a Europol spokesman told globalmeatnews.com.…
LOSERS
BY MJ DESCHAMPS
China
Between the worsening Eurozone crisis dampening demand in key export markets, sourcing rivals from neighbouring countries becoming increasingly competitive, the strengthening Chinese yuan and rising labour costs, analysts warned in August that Chinese textile and clothing manufacturers’ business would struggle for the rest of 2012.…
ECJ REJECTS HEINEKEN AND BAVARIA APPEALS AGAINST BEER CARTEL FINES
BY KEITH NUTHALL AND ROB STOKES
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has rejected final appeals by Dutch brewers Heineken, (including subsidiary Heineken Nederland) and Bavaria NV, against European Commission fines of Euro EUR198 million and EUR20.71 million respectively over a Netherlands beer cartel.…
MEGA-TRIAL COULD MAKE OR BREAK EURO FUEL CELL mCHP
BY ROBERT STOKES
ELCORE GmbH, a German maker of fuel cell micro-CHP (FC mCHP) units currently has only a few being put through their paces in homes in its domestic market. It has high hopes, though, of selling plenty on a fully commercial basis from late next year before spreading its wings into other European markets.…
TERROR FINANCE - CAN THE EU BE AN EFFECTIVE COP?
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.…
ECOADDITIVES A POPULAR INGRIDIENT - BUT NOT AT ANY COST
BY CARMEN PAUN, RAGHAVENDRA VERMA AND KITTY SO
THE DEMAND for eco-friendly additives is growing and will continue to, as long as the paints and coatings incorporating them have a similar price and functionality those with regular additives, according to Carine Lefèvre, general manager at the Belgium-based Coatings Research Institute (CoRI).…
ERASMUS DEAL STRUCK OVER FUNDING
BY ALAN OSBORN
It was a tight call but the money came through in the end and students signed up for the European Union’s (EU) Erasmus student exchange programme will get funding after all next year.
The Erasmus cash had been caught up in a budget deadlock lasting months and the issue was only resolved this week, when the European Parliament rubber-stamped a deal agreed a few days earlier by EU ministers.…
EU ENERGY REGULATORS CLAIM EUROPEAN GAS PRICES ARE STARTING TO CONVERGE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A REPORT released by the European Union’s (EU) umbrella groups for gas and electricity regulators has claimed wholesale energy prices within the EU are beginning to converge, as cross-border sales develop. Consumer prices still varied significantly between the EU’s 27 member states, however.…
AIRPOL SHOWS ITS WORTH IN CROSS-BORDER AIRPORT SMUGGLING ACTION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPE’S new airport policy network Airpol has started showing its operational worth, helping coordinate a two-day operation targeting 28 airports in 15 European counties, where 10 smugglers of cash, drugs and counterfeit goods were arrested. Airpol was launched late 2010 and has since developed operations as a coordinator of European network police.…
EU ROUND UP - BRUSSELS REVEALS U TURN ON BIOFUELS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission, once a keen promoter of biofuels, has now reined in its enthusiasm, admitting that biofuels can emit as much carbon as fossil fuels, proposing reforms encouraging the production of secondary biofuels based on waste matter and algae.…
EU CONFIRMS BEEF EXPORTERS AS LOSERS IN NEW GSP LOW DUTY REGIME
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has confirmed key beef exporters Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay will be excluded from the European Union’s future GSP low import duty regime for emerging markets, as they are now too rich to benefit. Brussels has released a list of countries that will qualify for this special status and the Brazilians, Argentines and Uruguayans are not included, along with middle-income countries such as Venezuela, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia and others.…
JAPAN EXPECTED TO LOOSEN BEEF IMPORT RULES IN 2013
BY JULIAN RYALL, IN TOKYO
THE JAPANESE government has signalled that it will relax its rules on beef imports in the early part of 2013.
After hearing the opinions of a 13-strong expert panel, ministers said they would raise the age limit on livestock used to source beef imports to 30 months from the present 20 months.…
CRISIS PROVIDED AN UNUSUAL DRIVE FOR ACADEMICS AND CENTRAL BANKS TO WORK TOGETHER
BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS
ACADEMICS attending an international conference on how their work can promote financial stability have stressed how universities can play an important role in helping the world recover from the recession. Indeed Dr Jean-Pierre Zigrand, Reader in Finance at the London School of Economics (LSE) told University World News at the Brussels event that there was a new, unusual drive for academics to work together with economists and central banks in the aftermath of the global financial and economic crisis: "That’s because they [central banks] don’t have the required tools and only universities have the manpower, the human skills and capital to come up with [these models], Dr Zigrand said.…
SOUND ACCOUNTS HELP SMEs IN THE SEARCH FOR FINANCE
BY ROBERT STOKES
SMALL and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the European Union (EU) complain they cannot get finance from banks, or not on reasonable terms. Banks counter that there is just not that much demand.
Politicians have responded with schemes to improve the flow of finance to SMEs.…
CATTLE CRUNCH SLOWS CHINA BEEF COMPANY EXPANSION
BY MARCAS GAO, IN TIANJIN
The chief of one of China’s most ambitious beef processing companies has told globalmeatnews.com how his plans are being frustrated by a shortage of cattle, even as demand for beef surges in the country’s urban centres.…
EU ENERGY REGULATORS CLAIM EUROPEAN POWER AND GAS PRICES ARE STARTING TO CONVERGE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A REPORT released by the European Union’s (EU) umbrella groups for gas and electricity regulators has claimed wholesale energy prices within the EU are beginning to converge, as cross-border sales develop. Consumer prices still varied significantly between the EU’s 27 member states, however.…
EFSA SAYS NO NEED TO TEST HEALTHY STOCK FOR BSE IN EIGHT EU MEMBER STATES
BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS
THERE is no more need to test healthy livestock in Britain, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands and Spain to be 95% sure they are not affected by Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), a scientific report from by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has recommended.…
UK CROWN DEPENDENCIES STILL AWAIT FULL BLESSING FROM AML WATCHDOGS
BY ALAN OSBORN
BRITAIN’S Crown Dependencies (CDs) – the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man – have always been tricky customers for the world’s anti money laundering authorities to get a fix on. This shows up in the approach taken by the European Commission to them in its so-called anti-money laundering (AML) ‘white list’."…
NEW EU RULES ON ANIMAL WELFARE COULD KNOCK POULTRY MEAT QUALITY, INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVE SAYS
BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS
NEW European Union (EU) rules on animal welfare applying from January 2013 might depress the quality of EU-made poultry meat, a spokesman for a major Dutch poultry producer told an international conference in Brussels on the protection of animals in slaughterhouses.…
EUROPE: TALKS UNDERWAY TO RESCUE ERASMUS
BY ALAN OSBORN
Last minute efforts are underway to rescue the European Union’s (EU) Erasmus student exchange programme which has been threatened, among other EU activities, by budget cuts ordered by the EU Council of Ministers. The key date is November 9th when representatives of the Council will conclude 21 days of negotiations
with delegates from the European Parliament in a "Conciliation Council" to see if funding can be restored.…
UKRAINE MOVE TO RAISE IMPORT TARIFF WOULD HIT EU PORK EXPORT, UEBCV BOSS SAYS
BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS
A proposal from the Ukraine government to raise its import tariffs on all kinds of meat and poultry (and another 349 categories of goods) would hit European Union (EU) pork meat exports to the country, claims Jean-Luc Mériaux, secretary general of the European Livestock and Meat Trading Union (UECBV).…
CHINESE DEMAND FOR ECO COATINGS IS STRONG - BUT LOCAL CAPACITY GLUT MAKES LONG-TERM DEMAND UNCERTAIN
BY MARK GODFREY, IN BEIJING
FOR sellers of eco-friendly automotive coatings in China, the future is looking bright: sales of 10 million cars a year are predicted to 2030, the Chinese government’s current 12th Five-Year Plan has not only given auto coatings special attention, it marks new materials and green cars as two of seven emerging industries that are garnering government favourtism.…
INDIA'S NEW AIRPORT CITY THE FIRST OF ITS KIND
BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, IN NEW DELHI
"A NEW and superior urban form of living," is how India’s first airport city, Durgapur Aertropolis, in West Bengal, is being defined by its promoter and main contractor, Changi Airports India Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Singapore-based Changi Airport International.…
CHINESE DEMAND FOR ECO COATINGS IS STRONG - BUT LOCAL CAPACITY GLUT MAKES LONG-TERM DEMAND UNCERTAIN
BY MARK GODFREY
FOR sellers of eco-friendly automotive coatings in China, the future is looking bright: sales of 10 million cars a year are predicted to 2030, the Chinese government’s current 12th Five-Year Plan has not only given auto coatings special attention, it marks new materials and green cars as two of seven emerging industries that are garnering government favourtism.…
A CONVERSATION ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM: IS THE MAGNA CHARTA UNIVERSITATUM STILL RELEVANT TO TODAY'S UNIVERSITIES?
BY LEE ADENDORFF, IN BOLOGNA
MORE than 110 academics and university administrators met in Bologna, Italy on September 21 for the twenty-fourth anniversary conference of the Magna Charta Universitatum – a declaration on fundamental university principles that has now been signed by over 750 universities worldwide.…
HALF OF WORLD EXPORTS SOLD BY COUNTRIES BACKING OECD ANTI-BRIBERY CONVENTION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD’S developed countries are enthusiastically or moderately implementing the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development’s (OECD) anti-bribery convention, so that 52.3% of world exports are sold by countries opposing graft. So says the latest Transparency International report that says the leading established economic players are now leading by example: with the USA, Germany, Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Norway and Denmark all praised for actively implementing the convention.…
EUROPEAN ELECTRICITY COMPANIES ASK FOR INTEGRATION OF ENERGY GOALS IN NEW EU WATER POLICY PAPER
BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS
JUST two months before the European Commission is expected to release its ‘Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Waters’ – a policy paper aimed at strengthening the European Union’s (EU) water policy – electricity companies are voicing their concerns that a largely environmental approach might harm energy goals, including security of supply.…
EUROPEAN COGENERATION TECHNOLOGY
COGENERATION, or rather trigeneration, units that cooled, heated and powered the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games won plaudits if no gold medals for the manufacturer – America’s GE – but neatly symbolised the spread of CHP into mainstream and niche applications.…
EUROPE’S COGENERATION MARKET NEEDS A BIG PUSH FROM GOVERNMENTS TO PROSPER IN THE LONG TERM
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.…
RUSSIA'S MEAT BAN MAKES EU NERVOUS IN THE FACE OF RUSSIA WTO ACCESSION
BY ALAN OSBORN
RUSSIA’S ban on certain live cattle and pig imports from the European Union (EU) is being used by the European Commission as a method to assess whether Russia will deliver on the commitments it made when joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO).…
MICRO COGENERATION
BY ROBERT STOKES
Micro cogeneration or CHP – defined by the European Commission as up to 50 kWe – is a market niche seeing lift-off as technology and financial drivers, such as financial incentives in Germany, align.
The global market grew 38% to EUR466 million (USD576 million) in 2011 and further growth to EUR1 billion (USD1.24 billion) is expected in 2012, according to Scotland based analysts Delta-ee.…
EU ROUND UP - BRUSSELS TO DELAY CARBON PERMIT AUCTIONS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission will postpone auctioning pollution permits sold under its emissions trading scheme (ETS) to potential further price falls, but has not decided how many allowances will be sold later. ETS permit prices are already depressed as Europe’s economic woes left oil and gas users with unused rights to emit carbon.…
CHINA'S HINTERLAND AIRPORTS ARE LOSING MONEY BUT A STRONGER NEW BREED MAY BE EMERGING
BY MARK GAO, IN BEIJING
More than two-thirds of Chinese airports, most in smaller regional centres rather than China’s mega-cities, last year lost a combined Chinese Yuan Renminbi CNY2 billion (USD313 million). Yet there will be no let up in the construction of new regional airports in China, given government has dubbed the civil aviation sector as a "strategic industry".…
EUROPE'S COGENERATION MARKET NEEDS A BIG PUSH FROM GOVERNMENTS TO PROSPER IN THE LONG TERM
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.…
BANGLADESH'S CLOTHING AND TEXTILE SECTOR MOVES TOWARDS A GREENER FUTURE
BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA
A PILOT project of the World Bank’s private sector agency the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has kindled hope that Bangladesh’s burgeoning knitwear and garments industry could overcome its notorious environmental pollution problems at an affordable price. However, replicating the pilot’s innovative strategies across the industry in the country will not be easy: struggling with the challenges of sourcing environment friendly finance; securing power availability amidst irregular supplies; operating effective effluent treatment plants; and dealing with a lack of awareness amongst entrepreneurs.…
BANGLADESH'S CLOTHING AND TEXTILE SECTOR MOVES TOWARDS A GREENER FUTURE
BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA
A PILOT project of the World Bank’s private sector agency the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has kindled hope that Bangladesh’s burgeoning knitwear and garments industry could overcome its notorious environmental pollution problems at an affordable price. However, replicating the pilot’s innovative strategies across the industry in the country will not be easy: struggling with the challenges of sourcing environment friendly finance; securing power availability amidst irregular supplies; operating effective effluent treatment plants; and dealing with a lack of awareness amongst entrepreneurs.…
EUROPE'S COGENERATION MARKET NEEDS A BIG PUSH FROM GOVERNMENTS TO PROSPER IN THE LONG TERM
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.…
EFSA PANEL DECLARES NIACIN SAFE FOR LIVESTOCK
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has declared using niacin and niacinamide as nutritional feed additives in livestock is safe for consumers. A report from EFSA’s panel on additives and products or substances used in animal feed (FEEDAP) focused especially on its use in pigs and poultry, although it is also used in cattle.…
EU ROUND UP - EFSA APPROVES AS SAFE FOR FOOD PLASTICS 10 PET RECYCLING SYSTEMS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has declared safe the use of recycled plastics in food contact technology where they are sourced from 10 recycling processes, the first time it has released such a formal opinion. These processes include four based on VACUREMA Prime technology – LuxPET, Jayplas, PolyQuest and CIER; five based on Starlinger IV+ technology – namely the Preformia, STF, MPTS, PET to PET and Eco Plastic systems; and the recycling process PETUK SSP.…
EU REGULATORY ROUND UP - BRUSSELS MAKES BROADBAND ROLL OUT PRIORITY TARGET
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has been flexing its regulatory muscles to push the roll-out of high-speed broadband networks – trying to fine-tune European Union (EU) competition rules to encourage this development. Brussels is using its current legal powers and consulting on creating new rules and policies, with action being driven by pro-free market Dutch digital agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes.…
SCHMALLENBERG VIRUS MAY SURVIVE THE WINTER AND HIT LIVESTOCK IN 2013 - EFSA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SCHMALLENBERG virus (SBV) may survive this coming winter and infect livestock to the south and east of its current core outbreak areas in Germany, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has warned. Its experts say it is possible the virus will die off – but if not, EFSA has predicted it is most likely to re-emerge between mid-April and the end of May and "that any outbreak of SBV is likely to be of a similar size to the one that occurred in 2011".…
BRUSSELS AIRPORT TO BENEFIT FROM HIGH SPEED RAIL LINK
BY ALAN OSBORN
BRUSSELS Airport is braced for development following this month’s (June) inauguration of Diabolo, a new high-speed railway link financed by the European Commission. The airport has lacked access to the European high speed rail network, to which rivals Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt are all connected.…
EUROPOL LEADS FIGHT AGAINST 'POLICE RANSOMWARE'
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) police agency Europol has allied with 14 EU national police forces, EU judicial network Eurojust, Interpol and the Internet industry to fight a new cyber-crime – ‘police ransomware’. This malicious software defrauds Internet users by demanding payment of fake police fines, which go to organised criminals.…
ENGLISH SPREADS AS TEACHING LANGUAGE IN UNIVERSITIES WORLDWIDE
BY ANDREW GREEN, WANG FANGQING, PAUL COCHRANE, JONATHAN DYSON AND CARMEN PAUN
THE POLITECNO di Milano, one of Italy’s most prestigious universities, will teach and assess most of its degree courses and all its postgraduate ones entirely in English from 2014, UWN reported recently.…
EU STUDY FINDS EMPLOYEE PROFILING CAN BOOST AIRPORT SECURITY
BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS
UNDERSTANDING how individual employees make decisions can increase the efficiency of airport security staff and save millions of Euros, according to a European Union (EU)-funded project whose findings have been presented to a workshop in Brussels, Belgium.…
UNIVERSITIES LINK WITH INDUSTRY REGIONALLY TO BENEFIT THE COMMUNITY
BY HANA KAMARUDDIN, IN SELANGOR, MALAYSIA
UNIVERSITY partnerships with industry can be scaled up across national boundaries in a wider region to benefit communities, a conference on academic links with business and populations through Asia heard today (May 7) in Selangor, Malaysia.…
EU ASKS FOR JUSTIFICATION IN SBV-RELATED BAN
BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS
THE EUROPEAN Commission has demanded that Mexico and Brazil provide a scientific explanation for a new ban on reproductive livestock material imports from the EU. The two countries have banned imports of genetic material from the EU over concerns related to the Schmallenberg Virus, which has been detected in livestock in Britain, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain.…
BRUSSELS CONSIDERS MANDATORY RECYCLING LAWS, BUT INDUSTRY WARNS ABOUT IMPACT OF INCREASED TAXATION
BY MJ DESCHAMPS
WHILE laws that would require European Union (EU) member states, consumers and producers to increase the amount of raw materials recycled and re-used from waste streams are being considered by the European Commission, one industry expert warns that increasing taxes on waste could have a negative impact.…
BRUSSELS PONDER FORCING MEMBERS STATES, CONSUMERS AND MANUFACTURERS TO RECEYCLE MORE METAL
BY MJ DESCHAMPS
THE EUROPEAN Commission is considering the introduction of laws that would force European Union (EU) member states, consumers and producers to increase the amount of metal that is recycled and re-used from waste streams. These would include EU mandated taxation on waste; compulsory ‘pay-as-you-throw’ schemes charging consumers who fail to recycle metal waste; and enforced producer responsibility schemes, obliging manufacturers to support the costs of organising the collection and recycling of specific waste streams.…
ALGAL R&D DEMONSTRATES MOMENTUM
BY ROBERT STOKES
ALGAE have been heralded as the universal raw material of the future for biofuels, agricultural feed, nutritional supplements, biochemicals and cosmetics. They gobble up CO2, can clean up waste water, and many will thrive in seawater when the fresh variety is usually limited to the sunnier climes where algae can be grown more cheaply.…
EUROPEAN MEDICINE REGULATORS OPPOSE FREE ACCESS TO CLINICAL TRIAL DATA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PAPER written by key European Union (EU) regulators has argued against releasing full datasets of clinical trials, arguing egotistical researchers might scan them for potential problems, generating health scares. The potentially controversial claims are made by the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) senior medical officer Hans-Georg Eichler, executive director Guido Rasi, and officials from the national pharmaceutical regulators in Britain, France and the Netherlands.…
BRUSSELS NEGOTIATES RESTRICTIVE OPEN SKIES DEAL WITH SRI LANKA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A RESTRICTIVE open skies agreement has been negotiated between the European Commission and Sri Lanka that incorporates existing bilateral civil aviation agreements struck with individual European Union (EU) member states. The agreement includes deals previously struck by Sri Lanka with Austria, Belgium, Britain, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden.…
INTERNATIONAL DYER AND FUTURE MATERIALS - CONFERENCE HEARS HOW EU RESEARCH PROMOTES SMART TEXTILES AND HIGHLY CUSTOMISED CLOTHING IN EUROPE
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.…
ECO-FRIENDLY COSMETIC PACKAGING DOES NOT ALWAYS SPELL SUSTAINABILITY
BY MJ DESCHAMPS
INDUSTRIES with disposable products such as the personal care product sector have had to re-assess their packaging to meet national recycling quotas and help reduce unnecessary waste, especially in the European Union (EU) with its packaging and packaging waste directive.…
EU STAGES SAFETY CHECK ON IBUPROFEN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MAJOR European Union (EU) research project is assessing the safety of common anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and diclofenac. The ‘Standard Care versus Celecoxib Outcome Trial’ (SCOT), is being carried out by researchers in the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands, with 6,000 patients and 685 general medical practices participating.…
ALGAL R&D DEMONSTRATES MOMENTUM
BY ROBERT STOKES
ALGAE have been heralded as the universal raw material of the future for biofuels, agricultural feed, nutritional supplements, biochemicals and cosmetics. They gobble up CO2, can clean up waste water, and many will thrive in seawater when the fresh variety is usually limited to the sunnier climes where algae can be grown more cheaply.…
CHINA 'GUTTER OIL' SCANDALS A BOON TO BIOFUELS; BUT COLLECTION REMAINS DIFFICULT
BY MARK GODFREY, IN BEIJING
DINERS in Beijing were appalled recently to discover that restaurants on the city’s most famed dining street have been using recycled – or so called ‘gutter’ – cooking oil processed by an underground industry of oil collectors.…
CHINA STARTS DEVELOPING ORGANIC MEAT SECTOR
BY MARK GODFREY, IN BEIJING
CHINA’S growing numbers of wealthier consumers are now being targeted by local brands producing meat to organic standards but at prices to match and according to a flurry of standards that can be confusing to understand.…
EU SIGNALS POTENTIAL WTO ACTION IF IMPORTERS BAN EUROPEAN MEAT OVER SCHMALLENBERG VIRUS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has signalled it is prepared to launch World Trade Organisation (WTO) disputes actions should non-EU governments impose import bans on European meat and livestock over Schmallenberg Virus outbreaks. A meeting of the EU’s Standing Committee of the Food Chain and Animal Health late last week (Thursday and Friday) concluded such restrictions would be "disproportionate and scientifically unjustified".…
OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY MOVES FAST FROM THE FRINGE TO THE MAINSTREAM
BY ALAN OSBORN
OFFSHORE wind energy has moved with astonishing speed from being little more than an environmentalist’s dream a few years ago to a vast industry set to provide 4% of Europe’s electricity by 2020 with commensurate growth in jobs, associated industries and port development.…
EU ROUND UP - BRUSSELS THREATENS COURT ACTION OVER GAS DIRECTIVE FAILURES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is coming down hard on European Union (EU) member states which have yet to sufficiently liberalise their natural gas industries, breaching the EU gas directive, agreed as long ago as 2009.
It has sent legal final warnings to Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Spain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania and Slovakia saying they have two months to show how they will comply, or face possible cases at the European Court of Justice (ECJ).…
RESEARCH INTO SAFER CHROME PLATING COULD BOOST DEMAND FOR CHROMIUM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DEMAND for chromium could receive a boost from European Union (EU)-funded research that has used nanotechnology to help fix chrome finishes onto plastic materials to make auto parts look classy, while reducing vehicle weight, has been hailed as a success.…
BRITAIN GEARS UP TO LEAD THE WAY IN EUROPE'S ELECTRIC VEHICLE ROLL-OUT
BY DAVID HAYHURST
WITH a wide range of electric vehicles (EVs) slated to roll out across Europe throughout 2012, utilities have to seriously consider how this new transport sector will impact on their business. Because power producers will be the fuel companies of the future, once electric cars take hold of the consumer imagination, utilities will need to consider how they best serve this new consumer business.…
DENMARK CONFERENCE TOLD EUROPE MUST RAISE ITS STANDARDS ON MEAT INSPECTIONS
BY LEAH GERMAIN
VETERINARY and meat industry experts have called on meat producers across Europe to improve the quality of their meat inspections to meet current and planned tougher European Union (EU) standards. They met at an EU meat inspection conference in Copenhagen to discuss how to respond to new proposed guidelines for improved meat inspections being developed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).…
EU RESEARCHERS FIX CHROME TO PLASTICS WITH NANOPARTICLES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU)-funded research project that has used nanotechnology to help fix chrome finishes onto plastic materials to make auto parts look classy, while reducing vehicle weight, has been hailed as a success. The EU executive the European Commission has released a report on the benefits of the Ecsam project, which is being followed up with studies into other ways of attaching metallic finishes to plastics.…
RUSSIA PONDERS BAN ON EU MEAT IMPORTS DUE TO SCHMALLENBERG VIRUS
BY EUGENE VOROTNIKOV, IN ST PETERSBURG
RUSSIAN authorities have defended their decision to temporarily restrict imports of cattle from Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France from February 1 over the Schmallenberg virus and warn a meat ban may follow.
Alexei Alexeyenko spokesman for the Russian federal service for veterinary and phytosanitary surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) told the Meat Trades Journal: "The risk of human infection has not yet been identified.…
DUTCH MINISTRY URGES EU EFFORTS TO TACKLE NEW LIVESTOCK VIRUS
BY MJ DESCHAMPS
THE DUTCH government is pressing for a coordinated European Union (EU) response to fighting the Schmallenberg virus, a damaging disease spreading rapidly amongst livestock across Europe. Probably transmitted by insects, the virus is affecting goats, sheep and cattle, causing abortions, deformities, severe diarrhoea, fever and drops in milk production.…
AVIATION SECTOR THINKS OUT OF THE BOX TO REDUCE FUEL EMISSIONS
BY MARK ROWE
IN the global push to make transport greener, the aviation industry is just beginning to take a serious look at how to ease the sector into using less fossil fuel. Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), like many other airlines, is currently looking into projects that scrutinise kerosene biofuel blends in the quest to make transportation more environmentally friendly.…
CRITICAL DECISIONS DUE FOR UK GAS STORAGE
BY ROBERT STOKES, IN EDINBURGH
INVESTORS want to make the United Kingdom the hot spot for new gas storage projects in the European Union (EU). The UK tops the EU’s league table of projects either applied for or with official consent: 11.1 billion cubic metres (bcm) of space compared with 4.6bcm of current operational capacity.…
INTERNATIONAL CADMIUM IN CHOCOLATE ROW SET TO RUN AND RUN
BY JAMES FULLER
IF evidence were needed to show how globalised the confectionery sector has become – then look at the row between Ecuador and the European Union (EU) over possible EU controls limiting levels of toxic metal cadmium in cocoa powder and chocolate.…
BRUSSELS PLOTS LEGAL ACTION OVER LAYING HEN WELFARE ABUSES
BY LEAH GERMAIN
THE EUROPEAN Commission is taking legal action against 14 European Union (EU) member states, it thinks are failing to protect egg laying hens against animal welfare abuses. According to the Commission, the countries have failed to comply with EU legislation that prohibits farmers from keeping egg-laying hens in confined, tiny cages smaller than 750 square centimetres.…
SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS AIM TO FACILITATE TEXTILE RECYCLING IN THE APPAREL INDUSTRY
BY MJ DESCHAMPS
REUSING and reprocessing clothing, fibres and scraps is an effective way to create sustainability in the apparel industry – however, textile recycling is currently facing barriers associated with cost, time, and technology. But, with sustainability gaining increasing importance in every industry, many services are being offered by both apparel manufacturers and other clothing and sector organisations to help improve recycling outputs.…
INDONESIA'S PAINT SECTOR AND INDUSTRY MOVES TOWARDS MORE GREEN PRODUCTS
BY WANG FANGQING
THE INDONESIAN government has yet to impose comprehensive and specific environmental controls on its domestic coatings industry, but manufacturers, especially multinationals, are ready to move one step ahead and reduce their pollution footprint.
The issue was a key focus of the 12th Asia Coatings Markets conference held on November 2 in Jakarta, with debates on cutting carbon emissions associated with production and making eco-friendly paints and coatings.…
2011 REVIEW OF THE YEAR - CLOTHING AND TEXTILE SECTOR
BY KEITH NUTHALL
RETAIL – WINNERS AND LOSERS
WINNERS
MARKS & SPENCER
Times may still be tough in its home British market, but M&S showed forward-thinking foresight in 2011- on sourcing transparency and the environment: potential key issues for future consumers.…
BRUSSELS HAS MAJOR CONCERNS OVER LACK OF SINGLE SKY PROGRESS
BY GEOFF MEADE
THE EUROPEAN Commission has threatened to take "radical" measures against most European Union (EU) countries unless more is done to deliver a ‘Single European Sky’ for air traffic control services. It has warned this could include proposing new EU legislation to force member states to do more in forging a unified and efficient EU ATC system.…
BRUSSELS LAUNCHES ANTI-TRUST PROBE ON JOHNSON & JOHNSON AND NOVARTIS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a detailed anti-trust investigation into concerns that US-based Johnson & Johnson may have paid the generic branches of Switzerland’s Novartis to hinder the sale of generic versions of pain killer Fentanyl in the Netherlands.…
URBAN MINING AN UNTAPPED RESOURCE - BUT CAN IT FILL EUROPE'S RAW MATERIALS VOID?
BY MJ DESCHAMPS
EUROPEAN manufacturers are increasingly turning to developing countries for the precious metals and minerals needed to make mobile phones, computers, electric cars and more. However, a European Parliament vote backing a raw materials strategy that highlights the potentials of ‘urban mining’ might help create a more self-sufficient European mining industry.…
BIOFUELS FACE TOUGH CHALLENGES TO BE A VIABLE EUGREEN ENERGY ALTERNATIVE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DOUBTS are growing about the wisdom of encouraging biofuel use in the European Union (EU) as a cornerstone of environmental policy aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The EU has painted itself into a corner with its renewable energy directive.…
EASTERN EUROPE IS GROWING ITS BIOFUEL FEEDSTOCK CAPACITY
BY ZLATKO CONKAS, BLAKE BERRY, MONIKA HANLEY, MARK ROWE and KEITH NUTHALL
EASTERN Europe is often regarded as developing in the slipstream of richer western Europe – and so far the model seems to be fitting with biofuels. That said, significant biodiesel manufacturing capacity is in place in the region, according to the European Biodiesel Board.…
INNOVATIONS IN DIGITAL PRINTING AND WASTE REDUCTION PROMOTE COMPETITIVE LABEL CONVERTING INDUSTRY
BY MJ DESCHAMPS
BETWEEN rising costs for raw materials and a global push towards more environmentally-friendly production, label converters and equipment manufacturers are becoming increasingly focused on getting things done right the first time; and getting them done quickly, at that.…
GREXIT: IS IT A NIGHTMARE SCENARIO
BY MICHAEL KOSMIDES, IN ATHENS
A spectre is haunting Europe: the spectre of a possible Greek Euro exit and default. GrExit, as it has been termed, could have catastrophic repercussions for European and possibly the global economy or it could provide some kind of solution for the troubled Eurozone and the heavily indebted country.…
'SMART' FABRICS GET LESS FLASHY, AND MORE FUNCTIONAL
BY MARK ROWE
BETWEEN t-shirts that incorporate technology allowing people to chat up someone from across the dance floor to vests that can monitor the wearer’s health, the past decade has seen some extraordinary developments in high-tech smart fabrics. Scientists have been keen to explore their potential and while more eye-catching garments may have been at the forefront of these technologies in the past, according to experts, the industry for intelligent fabrics is now moving in the direction of less flash, and more functionality.…
ROTTERDAM - EUROPE'S PORT GIANT FOR WASTE MATERIALS HANDLING
BY MINDY RAN
ROTTERDAM is already Europe’s largest port and hence of importance for the import and export of waste materials from and to the European Union (EU) and this role is to strengthen.
For Rotterdam, the world’s fourth largest industrial port, behind China’s Shanghai and Ningbo, then Singapore, already utilises 26,000 acres, of which 12,500 acres are commercial sites and 13,500 acres water docks, rail lines, roads and pipeline zones.…
COATINGS PLAYERS IN CHINA TRY AND TAP LOCAL CURIOSITY AROUND NANOTECH
BY MARK GODFREY
AS CHINA continues to consolidate its position as the world’s top exporter and leading market for electronics and cars, demand is also growing for cutting-edge technology to coat to these products: one significant example being nanotechnology-based coatings, which offer evolutionary functionalities such as increased scratch-resistance and thermal insulation.…
TEST TUBE HAMBURGERS JUST ONE YEAR AWAY
BY MJ DESCHAMPS
THE WORLD’s first lab-grown hamburger, is only a year away, according to Dutch scientist Mark Post, who is leading a research team towards developing beef grown from cattle stem cells.
"It is important right now to work on replacement of meat as we know it, because of the environmental and animal welfare issues that come with intense livestock keeping," said Post, a professor of vascular physiology at Maastricht University, in the Netherlands.…
POLITICIAL INSTABILITY HAS NOT PREVENTED THAI COATINGS MARKET EXPANDING AND GREENING
BY KARRYN MILLER
DESPITE the political unrest that has plagued Thailand this year and in 2009, and 2010; the country’s economy has stayed reasonably strong. Key players in the paint and coatings market have responded, expanding their product range.
According to Chroong Kanjchanapoomi, managing director of Netherlands-based paint and coatings giant AkzoNobel Thailand, the growth of the Thai paint industry has closely tracked that of the country’s GDP, increasing as the economy grows – indicating the importance of the domestic market in this middle-income south east Asian country.…
EU NETWORK REPORTS SEIZURES OF SKIN WHITENERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) consumer protection information network RAPEX has reported a string of market withdrawals of potentially harmful skin whitening products in the Netherlands and Austria. The actions were taken largely because of excess hydroquinone content, breaching the EU’s cosmetics directive.…
NEW MICRO-CHP COMBI-BOILER BRINGS ENERGY SAVINGS HOME
BY LEE ADENDORFF, MARK ROWE, ALAN OSBORN, KATHERINE DUNN, MARTINA MARECKOVA, GERARD O’DWYER and MINDY RAN
In November 2010, Dutch company Remeha released the world’s first, commercially available, micro-CHP combination-boiler for single-family households; the Remeha eVita. This energy-efficient micro-CHP unit, which works with a simple room thermostat, is the result of intensive research and development over the last five years.…
INTERPOL OFFERS ACCESS TO GLOBAL DATABASES AT CURAÇAO AIRPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DUTCH Caribbean island of Curaçao will install access to Interpol’s global databases at Curaçao International Airport, after talks between its government and Interpol’s secretary general. Just north of Venezuela, Curaçao has been a transit point for international crime, especially the drugs trade, and Interpol said airport officials using its databases could henceforth instantly identify a fraudulent passport recorded on its stolen and lost travel documents database.…
THE COGENERATION MARKET
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.…
COULD HEAVY METAL THORIUM FUEL CARS IN THE FUTURE?
BY KEITH NUTHALL
LITTLE more excites the international auto industry more than the search for an alternative to fossil fuels, and an American company is now looking seriously into the idea of using a heavy element thorium to generate locomotive power.…
AVIATION SECTOR THINKS OUT OF THE BOX TO REDUCE FUEL EMISSIONS
BY MARK ROWE
IN the global push to make transport greener, the aviation industry is just beginning to take a serious look at how to ease the sector into using less fossil fuel. Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), like many other airlines, is currently looking into projects that scrutinise kerosene biofuel blends in the quest to make transportation more environmentally friendly.…
BRUSSELS LAUNCHES PROBE OF COST OF EU ANIMAL WELFARE RULES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a Euro EUR1.5 million study into concerns that European Union (EU) animal welfare and food safety rules could harm the global competitiveness of EU meat and other livestock sectors.
Brussels has asked research teams to bid for a major study comparing compliance costs for EU and non-EU country meat producers.…
EUROPEAN COGEN POLICY - WAITING FOR THE BIG PUSH
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.…
EU APPROVES FINAL E-COLI COMPENSATION BUDGET FOR FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PRODUCERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
European Union (EU) member states have agreed a final package of aid to EU fruit and vegetable producers compensating them for lost sales following the German e-coli outbreak, with total subsidies Euro EUR226 million.
This is up from the EUR210 previously discussed and will see the EU pay for cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, courgettes, and sweet peppers withdrawn from sale between May 26 and June 30 over E-coli contamination concerns.…
INTERNATIONAL FINANCING FOR CAMEROON OIL-FIRED POWER PLANT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE AFRICAN Development Bank, the Netherlands Development Finance Company, and the International Finance Corporation, of the World Bank, are investing Euro EUR66 million in a Cameroon electricity company to help it build a heavy fuel-oil fired power plant.…
EU ROUND UP - BIOETHANOL GROWTH COULD DAMAGE EU FOSSIL FUEL SECURITY OF SUPPLY, SAYS EU REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A CONSULTANTS report for the European Commission on the impact of biofuel expansion has warned that a reliance on bioethanol could damage the European Union’s (EU) fossil fuels security of supply.
Written by experts from Wood Mackenzie, Ricardo and Celeres, the paper – just released by Brussels – says that with bioethanol sources focused on Brazil and a few other countries, "there is a risk of a high degree of reliance on few sources of ethanol supply."…
NETHERLANDS PRESSES FOR NANOTECHNOLOGY REFORM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DUTCH government has released a paper at the European Union Council of Ministers that presses the European Commission to make good on its plans this summer to propose specific legislation controlling nanotechnology. At a council debate, minutes said the Dutch delegation "argued that the current legislation is not geared to evaluating the specific hazards related to nano-engineered particles."…
INTERNATIONAL SIZING STANDARDS EXPAND: BUT THERE IS STILL ROOM TO GROW
BY KARRYN MILLER
WHILE the goal for many clothing manufacturers and brands is to gain an international presence, there is a key risk associated with selling the same designs in different global markets – the more far and wide that clothing designs go, the more shapes and sizes they must come in.…
GLOBAL AGREEMENT ON RUNWAY SAFETY STRUCK
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GLOBAL agreement on improving runway safety has been secured at an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) meeting. A multi-strand programme was backed at the world’s first global runway safety symposium, staged at ICAO’s Montreal headquarters. It included bodies such as Airports Council International (ACI), the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO), the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Eurocontrol, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Associations (IFATCA), and others.…
CONVERTERS LOOK FOR PRECISION AND HIGHER OUTPUT WHEN IT COMES TO COATING AND LAMINATION MACHINERY
BY MJ DESCHAMPS
AS one of the final stages in the converting process, it is important that the coating and laminating of raw materials goes off without a hitch to produce the best possible end product for paper, plastic and textile packagers.…
US BIOMETRICS POLICIES TO ENHANCE SECURITY, SPEED UP TRAVEL
BY KARRYN MILLER
WITH the heightened threat of terrorism post-9/11, America has undertaken a number of measures to tighten its current airport security operations. However, these increasingly strict measures have often come at the expense of passengers’ time and patience, with lengthy queues and – what some believe to be – invasion of privacy turning people off air travel.…
DUTCH ENVIRONMENTALISTS FAIL TO LINK NATIONAL EMISSIONS LIMITS TO EU POLLUTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL DIRECTIVE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DUTCH environmental campaigners have failed in court to link two European Union (EU) directives in a way that would force pollution permits for coal-fired power stations to respect national emissions limits imposed by EU law. The two directives in question are the 2008 integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) directive and the 2001 directive on national emission ceilings for certain atmospheric pollutants (NEC).…
DUTCH ENVIRONMENTALISTS FAIL TO LINK NATIONAL EMISSIONS LIMITS TO EU POLLUTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL DIRECTIVE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DUTCH environmental campaigners have failed in court to link two European Union (EU) directives in a way that would force pollution permits for power stations to respect national emissions limits imposed by EU law. The two directives in question are the 2008 integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) directive and the 2001 directive on national emission ceilings for certain atmospheric pollutants (NEC).…
TERRORIST FINANCE INFORMATION EXCHANGE SYSTEM REMAINS POLITICALLY CONTROVERSIAL
BY ALAN OSBORN
FEW transatlantic agreements have given rise to more friction and animosity than the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP) set up by the US Treasury in 2001 shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and in direct response to them.…
ILLICIT TOBACCO PROBLEM IS REBORN IN HIGH TAX SPAIN
BY ALYSSA MCMURTRY
Illicit tobacco problem is reborn in high tax Spain
In the 1990’s Spain was a by-word for smuggled tobacco, but then the country successfully stifled the black market. Now, with higher taxes, contraband tobacco is back in Spain, and legitimate traders are worried.…
FLEXITANKS OFFER OILS AND FATS COMPANIES TRANSPORT CHOICES - ESPECIALLY FOR HIGH VALUE PRODUCTS
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE BIGGEST change in liquid cargo shipping practices in recent years has been the growth in the use of flexitanks where commodities are carried in plastic sacks inserted into standard 20ft International Organization for Standardization (ISO) metal containers.…
NANO-TEXTILES THAT CAN KILL SUPERBUGS, WITHOUT HEALTH PROBLEMS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
POP science reports have been raving about how towels, clothes and sheets impregnated with tiny nanoparticles can kill germs and wipe out body odour. A good example is nano-socks, containing nano-silver, which apparently stop feet smelling, no matter how sweaty.…
BRUSSELS PLOTS MAJOR WATER SCARCITY INITIATIVE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is undertaking a series of detailed studies on water scarcity, which will feed into a major policy initiative planned for 2012, almost certainly including legislative reform. The work follows growing concern that Europe is doing too little to conserve its drinking water resources, and that a firm hand from Brussels may be needed to secure future supplies.…
SCIENTISTS DEVELOP NANO-MEDICINE TO FIGHT ALZHEIMERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SCIENTISTS from a Euro EUR14.6 million research project are to unveil progress at a June 1-3 nanotechnology conference in Budapest on their goal of using nano-medicine to fight Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers in the NAD Project have tried to make a virtue out of the environmental concern that nano-particles can breach the blood-brain-barrier.…
MAJOR RETAILERS DELIGHTED WITH SPANISH HYPERMARKET PLANNING RULING
BY ALAN OSBORN
Big European food retailers have been delighted with a new ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) slapping down regulations imposed by the Spanish government to restrict the location and operations of hypermarkets in Catalonia. The court, whose decisions are legal precedents throughout every country and region in the European Union (EU), said Spain had failed to fulfill obligations imposed by the "freedom of establishment" provision of the EU treaties.…
EU RESEARCH PROJECT PREPARES INTERACTIVE CONSUMER DRIVEN E-CLOTHING BUSINESS MODEL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) research project is developing an innovative business model which can allow consumers to design and choose their own clothing online, with manufacturers shipping remotely-controlled bespoke work. The Euro 5.17 million Open Garments project aims to create a secure and practical electronic communications system delivering customer requirements to manufacturers, who can act on them swiftly.…
ECO-TEXTILE RETAILERS WALK A FINE LINE WITH CUSTOMERS
BY EMMA JACKSON
CLOTHING and accessory consumers are fickle at the best of times, and trying to nail down their desires in the growing eco-fashion niche market is proving especially difficult as the industry moves toward environmental responsibility.
On the one hand consumers, (especially young people in mature western markets), are increasingly aware of the environmental and social footprints of fashion and textile production.…
EU ADMITS FAILINGS IN ORGANISED CRIME FIGHT
BY DAVID HAWORTH
HUNGARY, which currently holds the European Union’s (EU’s) rotating presidency, made a little noticed promise in January to put organised crime well and truly on the EU agenda. Commercial Crime International attended a Brussels conference where senior figures admitted the EU’s response has been far too weak.…
SARAJEVO AIRPORT FACES MAJOR UPGRADE AS TRAFFIC GROWS STEADILY
BY ZLATKO ?ONKA?
IF one European country exists that demonstrates the need for the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD), it is surely Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH), whose political and economic recovery from war has been halting. The EBRD has worked with the Bosnian government and its Serb and Bosniak/Croat sub-national entities for 15 years and its latest project could be the jewel in the crown of this cooperation – the revamping of Sarajevo International Airport.…
MAJOR MARKET MATURES FOR MARITIME COATINGS IN CHINA
BY MARK GODFREY
CHINA’S shipbuilders are clearly on a roll, the nation having surpassed South Korea and Japan to become the world’s top builder of vessels – and specialist maritime coating manufacturers are taking notice. Data from maritime consultancy UK-based Clarkson Research Services Ltd shows spending on new vessels in 2010 saw a year-on-year increase of 106%.…
BRUSSELS PLOTS SECURING VULNERABLE EU EMISSIONS TRADING SYSTEM AGAINST FRAUD
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission may this year release proposals to reduce the vulnerability of the European Union’s (EU) emissions trading system (ETS) to fraud. Cyber-criminals launched a lucrative attack on its systems in January. How open is this ground-breaking system to fraud?…
BRUSSELS CLEARS INEOS TAKEOVER OF POLYSTYRENE JOINT VENTURE WITH NOVA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has fast-tracked regulatory approval of UK-based Ineos’ planned takeover of a polystyrene and expanded polystyrene joint venture operated with Canada’s Nova since 2005. The business has 11 manufacturing plants in six countries: the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Germany, Canada and the USA.…
PURE BRED DOGS AID DISCOVERY OF GENETIC DISEASE CAUSES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THERAPY dogs can be a great nursing aid, but new European Union (EU)-funded research has shown how pure bred dogs can be powerful resource for investigating the sources of disease in human patients. The fact is that dogs suffer from many of the same diseases as their two-legged owners, and it is a lot easier to investigate the genetic causes of such illnesses in pure bred dogs.…
GLOBAL: Foreign universities in South Korea
BY Karryn Miller
An innovative foreign higher education park scheme in South Korea is set to proceed, even though the worldwide recession has caused some overseas universities to postpone plans to locate branches at the Songdo Global University Campus.
Full report on University World News site.…
EU FINANCIAL WATCHDOG NEEDS TO BARE ITS TEETH, SAYS EX-MEMBER AUDITOR
BY KEITH NUTHALL
Discord has hit the usually placid calm of European Union (EU) financial watchdog, the Court of Auditors: a dissident ex-member says EU fraud and mismanagement is even worse than we think. Keith Nuthall explains.
It was something of a surprise when Dutch auditor Maarten Engwirda marked his retirement from the Luxembourg-based court with what amounted to an accounting kiss-and-tell exclusive in the Netherlands’ De Volkskrant newspaper.…
ANDREASEN PUSHES EU TO ACCEPT EXTERNAL AUDIT - AFTER INSIDE WATCHDOG MEMBER ADMITS FAILINGS
BY ALAN OSBORN and KEITH NUTHALL
UKIP MEP and former European Commission chief accountant Marta Andreasen wants the European Union (EU) to use external audits following claims from a former EU Court of Auditors member that irregularities are swept under the carpet.…
INTERSECTING RUNWAYS REMAIN A CHALLENGE FOR MUMBAI'S INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA
May 31, 2009, a quiet Sunday morning at Mumbai’s ChhatrapatiShivaji International Airport: Air India flight 348 to New Delhi and Jet Airways 651 to Calcutta had accelerated on their runways to 180 km per hour when just seconds before take-off they made emergency stops.…
EU ROUND UP - BRUSSELS EXAMINES INDIRECT POLLUTION CAUSED BY BIOFUELS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SYSTEMIC advantages given to biofuels in the European Union (EU) through tax breaks and subsidies could take a knock this year, with the European Commission examining their indirect contribution to greenhouse gas production.
Brussels already takes account of their direct effect, through production and use emissions, and land use changes on fields used to grow feedstocks: only biofuels with a proven 35% emissions advantage over fossil fuels qualify for environment-linked tax breaks and handouts, under the EU’s renewable energy directive.…
HIGH PRICE PROMPTS RISE IN FAKE AND FRAUDULENT OFFERS OF GOLD
BY ANDY HOLDER
THE INTERNATIONAL gold market may be relatively small, but the metal’s rapid rise in price in the past 18 months to over US dollars USD1,400/oz(up from USD900) has given fraudsters the opportunity they need to tempt investors with some pretty audacious offers to join the ‘gold bug’ club.…
ECONOMIC CRUNCH INSPIRES MORE EFFICIENT PACKAGING MACHINERY
BY DEIRDRE MASON
WHEN manufacturers generally are feeling the squeeze, maximising the efficiency of packaging systems and their related costs can be an essential part of securing profits. That means increasing demands will be made of conveying, with companies on the look-out for new high-tech solutions.…
CIOLO? PREPARED TO FIGHT TO PRESERVE EU FOOD SPENDING
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?…
LEGAL ACTION OVER SPECIAL NATIONAL EU AIR DEALS WITH RUSSIA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BILATERAL civil aviation deals struck with Russia by Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden are being challenged legally by the European Commission. It fears the agreements enable Russia to charge punitive Siberia over-flight fees to these countries’ airlines at a variety of rates.…
VIETNAM PAINT INDUSTRY SURGES FORWARD, IGNORING THE RECESSION
BY KARRYN MILLER
DESPITEthe global economic downturn of the last few years Vietnam’s paint industryhas continued to experience growth.According to Vietnam’s General Statistics Office234,000 tonnes of paint was produced in Vietnam between January 2010 and November 2010.In the same period last year production was at 181,200 tonnes.Sales…
SECOND GENERATION BIOFUEL PROJECTS ARE IN ABUNDANCE, BUT COMMERCIAL DEPLOYMENT IS LACKING
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.…
VIETNAM PAINT INDUSTRY SURGES FORWARD, IGNORING THE RECESSION
BY KARRYN MILLER
DESPITE the global economic downturn of the last few years Vietnam’s paint industry has continued to experience growth. According to Vietnam’s General Statistics Office 234,000 tonnes of paint was produced in Vietnam between January 2010 and November 2010.…
ASBESTOS EXPERT ACCUSES JAPAN OF PUSHING FAULTY ASBESTOS TEST
BY JULIAN RYALL
JAPAN is being accused of trying to write its own official asbestos testing system into an international standard, because it knows it does not work and so will get its government off the hook for asbestos exposure cases.…
TERMINATOR'S REGIONAL EMISSIONS PROGRMME GATHERS EUROPEAN SUPPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN ‘R20’ initiative launched by outgoing California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to encourage regional governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been backed by six European sub-national administrations. These are the Paris-area Île-de-France Regional Council, Flevoland (the Netherlands), Azores (Portugal), Istria (Croatia), Alba (Romania) and Donetsk (Ukraine).…
SECOND GENERATION BIOFUEL PROJECTS ARE IN ABUNDANCE, BUT COMMERCIAL DEPLOYMENT IS LACKING
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.…
FINNISH BIOFUELS ARE FUELS FOR THOUGHT
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.…
NURSING VIOLENCE: A CALL FOR INFRASTRUCTURE CHANGE?
BY MJ DESCHAMPS
WHILE cuts and bruises from angry patients are nothing new to nurses, there are growing concerns that there is a link between physical assaults and long-term musculoskeletal symptoms.
The mental and emotional consequences of nursing violence have been on the radar of health institutions for a long time, but a recent study published in the UK-based international academic journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine is the first to make the connection between physical violence and chronic health problems.…
BRUSSELS CLEARS UNILEVER PURCHASE OF SARA LEE HOUSEHOLD AND BODY CARE BUSINESSES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
18
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the takeover by Unilever of Sara Lee’s body and laundry care businesses, on condition it sells off the US company’s Sanex brand and related business in Europe. Following an inquiry as the European Union’s (EU) lead competition authority, Brussels concluded there were particular concerns regarding Unilever’s future dominance of some EU deodorant markets.…
LONDON HAS EUROPE'S SECOND WORST TRAFFIC, SAYS GPS SOFTWARE FIRM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN AMERICAN company offering high-tech navigation services providing real-time advice on avoiding congestion, has branded London as Europe’s second largest traffic jams. Only Paris has more congestion, says USA-based Inrix Inc. It has collated data from drivers using its systems to create, it says, more comprehensive traffic information than available from traditional road sensors and sample surveys.…
BRUSSELS CLEARS UNILEVER PURCHASE OF SARA LEE HOUSEHOLD AND BODY CARE BUSINESSES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the takeover by Unilever of Sara Lee’s body and laundry care businesses, on condition it sells off the US company’s Sanex brand and related business in Europe. Following an inquiry as the European Union’s (EU) lead competition authority, Brussels concluded there were particular concerns regarding Unilever’s future dominance of some EU deodorant markets.…
WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION MEETING IN URUGUAY QUOTES
BY DANIEL PRUZIN
Quotes:
Q: How would you rate the results of the COP-4 meeting? Did the WHO achieve the goals it set out for the meeting? And who came out "better" from the results – the WHO or the tobacco industry?…
EU ROUND UP - NEW PLAYERS EMERGE TO DELIVER CAUCASUS GAS TO EUROPE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
NEW competitors for shipping gas to the European Union (EU) from the Caucasus are emerging, while Turkmenistan has announced a major new gas find. The Turkmen government is claiming guaranteed gas supplies to Europe, by quadrupling exports over the next 20 years, after unveiling a major new gas field.…
GLOBAL - NICHE SPIRITS HIT BY THE RECESSION, BUT THE LONG-TERM OUTLOOK IS ROSY
BY ALAN OSBORN
DEFINING a niche drink is an arbitrary matter and what may pass as niche today may well be considered mainstream tomorrow. Flavoured vodka, for instance, had a relatively specialised following in Europe until a few years ago – now it is classified as an official spirit drink under European Union (EU) regulations.…
INDIA'S EXPORT UNDERPERFORMANCE ALL PART OF THE GRAND PLAN, CLAIMS INDUSTRY
BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA
A NEW study from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has highlighted the fact that while India has become the seventh largest producer of vehicles in the world, it still holds only 1% of the global export market.…
IFC HELPS MAKE BANGLADESH TEXTILE INDUSTRY CLEANER AND GREENER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BANGLADESH textile industry and its chemical suppliers will improve its environmental standards helped by a wing of the World Bank and five major clothing brands. The bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), working with H&M, Kappahl, Lindex, Levis and Mothercare, will use regional and international consultants to transfer knowledge to Bangladeshi consulting firms and auditors to work with textile companies to assess existing environmental practices, then improve waste-management and energy efficiency.…
LOCAL SPIRITS CAN OFFER IMPORTERS A COLOURFUL ARRAY OF NICHE OPTIONS
BY PACIFICA GODDARD, KARRYN MILLER, GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE, KEITH NUTHALL
FOR niche spirits, obscure can be good – and so products made in countries not renowned for their spirits production can gather export market cache. Latin America and the Caribbean are regions where effort by buyers can pay dividends.…
MANUFACTURING - WINNERS AND LOSERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WINNERS
PHILIPS-VAN HEUSEN
This was a Champagne year for Philips-Van Heusen, owner of Calvin Klein, Arrow, Bass and, since May, Tommy Hilfiger. Its acquisition of Netherlands-based Tommy Hilfiger helped it more than double sales for the third quarter – to $1.5bn, (although profits slipped year-on-year to $80.7m from $86.6m the previous year).…
ASSET RECOVERY IN EUROPE
BY ALAN OSBORN
ASSET recovery is increasingly being regarded as an important law enforcement tool in Europe, with techniques becoming more sophisticated and integrated with prosecutions and investigations. The fundamental approach here is not new. ‘Go after the money’ has been a commonplace of law enforcement in the financial sector since at least the time of Al Capone.…
INDONESIA STRIKES OUT ON ITS OWN REGARDING PALM OIL SUSTAINABILITY STANDARDS
BY MARK ROWE
WHEN it comes to palm oil production, there are – despite growing production in South America and west Africa – only two major players on the global stage – Malaysia and Indonesia. Cultivation in south-east Asia accounts for around 80% of the world’s global supply – which in turn reached a record high of 45.9 million tonnes in 2009-2010.…
NATURAL GAS FLEETS A RARE SIGHT IN UK, BUT GROWING SLOWLY
BY EMMA JACKSON, MAGGIE DESCHAMPS
THERE are many good reasons for fleets to use natural gas powered vans running on compressed or liquefied natural gas (CNG/LNG). However, so far, British fleets have yet to be convinced and the market is tiny.…
IFC HELPS MAKE BANGLADESH TEXTILE INDUSTRY CLEANER AND GREENER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
27
THE BANGLADESH textile industry and its chemical suppliers will improve its environmental standards helped by a wing of the World Bank and five major clothing brands. The bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), working with H&M, Kappahl, Lindex, Levis and Mothercare, will use regional and international consultants to transfer knowledge to Bangladeshi consulting firms and auditors to work with textile companies to assess existing environmental practices, then improve waste-management and energy efficiency.…
BRUSSELS PLOTS GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION PROTECTION FOR EDAM AND GOUDA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to unveil new geographical indication protection for popular Netherlands cheeses, Gouda and Edam, although the rule gives flexibility for non-Dutch cheese makers. The regulation will actually protect the names ‘Gouda Holland’ and ‘Edam Holland’, and European Union (EU) manufacturers cannot henceforth market cheeses with these terms if made outside their traditional home region and without prescribed standard processing.…
TRADE DEAL WILL HELP MOROCCO EXPORT MORE OILS AND FATS TO EUROPE
BY KEITH NUTHALL, MJ DESCHAMPS, PAUL COCHRANE
MOROCCO is perfectly placed to be a major bio-based oils and fats exporter to Europe. It is of course very close – being separated from Spain by only nine miles of sea. And with its agriculture fed by plentiful sunshine and its rich fishing grounds, Morocco has huge potential to become a major oil and fat feedstock producer as well as an oils and fats manufacturer in its own right though its developed industrial sector.…
Liberal and wealthy Denmark has xenophobic streak
Katherine Dunn, International News Services
This summer in a characteristic feat of headline grabbing, the Danish People’s Party, or the Dansk Folkparti, announced their proposal to stem the flow of non-Western immigrants into the country. But such a pronouncement was nothing new. The party has made its name on an anti-immigration platform in this small, still culturally homogenous Scandinavian country.
And it spends much of its time trying to ban minarets and attempting to uphold its particular brand of nostalgic ‘Danishness’. As a result, alongside the Netherlands Freedom Party and the British National Party, the DF has become a poster child for a wave of xenophobic sentiment on the rise across Europe.…
CLASH LOOMS OVER EU DAIRY REFORM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission and allied European Union (EU) member states are pressing ahead with drafting reforms to the EU dairy market, which would strengthen producers negotiating with wholesalers and retailers. The Belgian government (holding the EU presidency) and the Commission have promised to proceed, after 22 out of 27 member states backed changing EU dairy market rules at an EU Council of Ministers meeting.…
DRINKS PACKAGING RECYCLING MACHINE COMPANY FAILS TO OVERTURN 24 MILLION EURO FINE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NORWEGIAN company dominating European markets for high-end automatic can and bottle recovery machines for recycling programmes has failed to persuade European judges to reduce or annul a Euro 24 million fine. The Tomra group was penalised by the European Commission in 2006 for illegally pushing competitors out of the market for its equipment in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Norway from 1998 to 2002.…
EU: Digital expansion released this week
By David Haworth
Opportunities for research funding into the next generation of digital technologies have been unveiled this week with the European Union’s (EU) executive, the European Commission publishing a long awaited report on Next Generation Networks (NGN). This should reveal the EU’s plans for implementing the next generation of high-speed Internet connections.…
CLASH LOOMS OVER EU DAIRY REFORM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission and allied European Union (EU) member states are pressing ahead with drafting reforms to the EU dairy market, which would strengthen producers negotiating with wholesalers and retailers. The Belgian government (holding the EU presidency) and the Commission have promised to proceed, after 22 out of 27 member states backed changing EU dairy market rules at an EU Council of Ministers meeting.…
UKRAINE STEEL DEAL GETS EUROPEAN COMMISSION COMPETITION APPROVAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has granted the planned merger between Ilyich Iron & Steel (IISW) and Netherlands-based holding company Metinvest European Union (EU) competition approval, without imposing conditions. Brussels’ decision means Metinvest, which already controls integrated metals production and mining assets in Ukraine, can assume sole control of IISW’s two companies PJSC Ilyich-Steel and PSC Ilyich Iron and Steel Works.…
IFC SAYS INVESTMENT IN RUSSIAN STEEL-MAKING WOULD PAY DIVIDENDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
INVESTMENT and introducing good practice in the Russian steelmaking sector so it matches European Union (EU) standards in natural resources consumption could save the industry up to US dollar USD3.3 billion annually, a World Bank group report has claimed.…
ISO STEPS IN TO PROMOTE NATURAL GAS FILLING STATIONS
BY KEITH NUTHALL, EMMA JACKSON, MJ DESCHAMPS
IT is the classic chicken and egg scenario. To what extent do widespread networks of fuel filling stations need to be established offering compressed and liquefied natural gas (CNG/LNG) for a mass market of autos using these fuels to develop?…
GLOBAL PROJECT OFFERS REMOTE METAL MINES CHANCE TO MONITOR PLANT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
NEW Zealand-based metals mining company Stracon has teamed up with the European Space Agency (ESA) and a Dutch technology firm to establish a satellite-linked remote monitoring centre for plant at a Peru open cast mine. The Netherlands’ EstrellaSat has adapted space technology to create a digital network linking managers at a control centre in its home country to lorries working at the El Brocal mine, 4,500 metres up the Peruvian Andes.…
GUYANA AND SURINAME STRUGGLE TO CONTAIN MONEY LAUNDERERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
GUYANA and Suriname are neighbours with a lot in common – culturally Caribbean, but on South America, they are important shipment routes for illegal drug traffickers and so exposed to money laundering offences. They are, however, not offshore financial centres and so complex financial instruments are not available for hiding the dirty cash generated by organised crime in these countries.…
UNBUNDLING ENERGY IN THE EU HAS A LONG WAY TO GO
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE PROCESS of ‘unbundling’ in the European Union (EU) gas industry as called for under the EU’s third energy package, notably the gas directive 2009/73/EC, adopted in 2009, has come to a bit of a standstill. This will not last.…
SUSTAINABLE COCOA PRODUCTION MOVES INTO THE MAINSTREAM
BY ALYSHAH HASHAM
AS with many oils and fats industries, the cocoa sector has distinct elements: producers, processors, distributers, wholesalers and retailers. Their collective environmental impact can be reduced if they work together in the most efficient way possible. And it is partly for that reason that there is a growing trend towards pressing and grinding the cocoa near the source, particularly in Ghana and Ivory Coast (which together account for 60% of the world’s cocoa supply), as well as Indonesia.…
SUSTAINABLE COCOA PRODUCTION MOVES INTO THE MAINSTREAM
BY ALYSHAH HASHAM
AS with many oils and fats industries, the cocoa sector has distinct elements: producers, processors, distributers, wholesalers and retailers. Their collective environmental impact can be reduced if they work together in the most efficient way possible. And it is partly for that reason that there is a growing trend towards pressing and grinding the cocoa near the source, particularly in Ghana and Ivory Coast (which together account for 60% of the world’s cocoa supply), as well as Indonesia.…
COCOA PRODUCTION
BY ALYSHAH HASHAM
Africa produces 70% of the world’ s cocoa; Asia and Oceania (Pacific islands) provide 19%; and the remaining 11% is from the Americas, according to the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO). There are 5-6 million farmers worldwide – most with farms that cover 2 to 5 hectares.…
EU RESEARCH PROJECT BOOSTS HYBRID PERFORMANCE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is funding a Euro EUR9.88 million research project to boost the performance of hybrid cars made in Europe and lower the cost of their manufacture. This ‘Hi-CEPS’ study involves Fiat, Ford Europe and Peugeot-Citroën. One of its tasks is preventing the common hybrid bug of air conditioning shutdowns once the engine stops.…
EU FOOD SALES PROMOTION GOES GREEN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LATEST major food product promotion programme financed by the European Union (EU) is focusing heavily on healthy foodstuffs – with organic, fruit and vegetable products getting the lion’s share. The European Commission has approved 19 one-to-three year publicity programmes in 14 member states (Austria, Belgium, Britain, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain) which will promote sales in the EU.…
EU ROUND UP - EU HELPS USA IN GULF OF MEXICO OIL SPILL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is helping the USA deal with the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Coordinated by the EU emergency response group, the Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC), the EU will send oil skimmers and oil spill experts.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION LEVIES HUGE FINES OVER STEEL CARTEL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has fined 17 producers of prestressing steel Euro 518 million for operating a cartel that lasted 18 years until 2002 and covered all but three of the then 15 European Union (EU) member states – Britain, Ireland and Greece.…
EUROSTAT REPORTS WIDE DIVERGENCE OF FOOD PRICES ACROSS THE EU
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) may be legally a single market, food prices range widely across its 27 member states. The most recent survey of 500 comparable products by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency, shows last year (2009) the price of a comparable basket of food and non-alcoholic beverages was more than twice as high in the most expensive EU country than the cheapest.…
NEW EU BODY TO COORDINATE NATIONAL FOOD RESEARCH PROGRAMMES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NEW European Union (EU) body coordinating around Euro EUR1 billion in food-related research from 20 European countries has started work. The ‘scientific advisory board for the EU joint programming initiative (JPI) on agriculture, food security and climate change’ will plan and manage national food industry research securing future supplies and reducing climate emissions.…
AMERICA LEADS THE WORLD IN CONVENIENCE STORE GOOD PRACTICE
BY KARRYN MILLER,EMMA JACKSON and ALAN OSBORN
BY KARRYN MILLER, in Washington DC, EMMA JACKSON, in Ottawa, and ALAN OSBORN, in London
CONVENIENCE stores are a dynamic part of the food retail sector worldwide. In short, as consumers gain wealth, they lose time – making convenience retail increasingly attractive.…
PALM OIL HAS GREAT POTENTIAL AS BIOFUEL FEEDSTOCK - BUT ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES ARE SIGNIFICANT
BY MARK ROWE
THE OIL palm is a prolific shrub that can be converted into palm oil, one of the most versatile fats known to man – rich in solid saturated fatty acids and able to withstand refining at high temperatures.…
MEXICO DRINKS INDUSTRY GROWS GLOBAL REPUTATION FOR EXPORT SALES
BY PACIFICA GODDARD
According to the US department of agriculture (USDA), about 70% of the 2.5 billion litres of fruit and vegetable juices sold in Mexico in 2009 were produced domestically. Mexico exported USdollar USD266.99 million worth of juices in 2009, compared to USD308.23 million in 2008 and USD247.29 million in 2007, according the UN Comtrade database.…
BRAZIL FRUIT JUICE PRODUCTION FUELS DRINKS EXPORTS
BY PACIFICA GODDARD
While most of the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages produced in Brazil are consumed domestically, the exception is the juice sector. Brazil is one of the world’s top three producers of tropical fruit, according to Brazilian Fruits Institute (IBRAF), and an important global provider of fruit juice.…
EUROPE'S IN-CAR EMERGENCY SYSTEM SUPPORT APPROACHES CRITICAL MASS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ROLL-OUT of the European eCall in-car emergency system is approaching critical mass with 20 countries now committed to operating its supporting infrastructure. The European Commission today announced another five countries were implementing eCall services – Belgium, Denmark, Luxemburg, Malta and Romania.…
ANGLO-GERMAN RAIDS TARGET EMISSIONS TRADING CAROUSEL SCAM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITISH and German customs and police officers have arrested 47 suspects in an alleged carousel fraud network exploiting the European Union’s (EU) emissions trading regime. UK authorities arrested 22; there were 25 arrests in Germany. Police in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Portugal, plus non-EU Norway have assisted inquiries.…
E-CALL SYSTEMS APPROACH EUROPE-WIDE CRITICAL MASS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ROLL-OUT of the European eCall in-car emergency system is approaching critical mass with 20 countries committed to its infrastructure. Belgium, Denmark, Luxemburg, Malta and Romania have now joined Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland and other supporters: Britain and France remain outsiders.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT FAVOURS BODY SCANNERS IN ALL EU MEMBER SATES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PRESIDENT of the European Commission has indicated he favours a harmonised standard for European Union (EU) airport security that includes the installation of body scanners. José Manuel Barroso was speaking at the European Parliament on March 9, as Commission officials draft a proposed EU security response to the averted Christmas bombing threat over Detroit.…
LATIN AMERICA TOBACCO SECTOR RIDES OUT THE RECESSION
BY PACIFICA GODDARD
LAST year in Latin America, British American Tobacco (BAT) and Philip Morris International (PMI), the region’s two dominant companies, battled to maintain profits through declining volumes. Overall, Latin America was profitable for both companies. For BAT, profits were mainly attributable to a strong performance in Brazil, and improved premium brand sales, however volumes sales declined throughout the region.…
IAEA AND JRC COOPERATION BEARS FRUIT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) are starting to roll out joint projects after signing a major cooperation deal late last year.
The UN agency and the JRC’s Institute for Energy have agreed a ‘Practical Arrangement’ which outlined five main areas of joint work.…
FORMAL DRINKS INDUSTRY EDUCATION SYSTEMS GROWING WORLDWIDE
BY ALAN OSBORN, EMMA JACKSON, PAUL COCHRANE and JULIAN RYALL
INTRODUCTION
Professionalisation is a key trend in today’s drinks sector, particularly as export markets are growing fast in emerging markets. With brand loyalty up for grabs, it is critical for alcoholic drinks producers especially to maintain and raise quality.…
CHINA TIGHTENS ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING RULES
BY WANG FANGQING
CHINA will continue to crack down money on laundering in the next two years with a heavy hand, according to the nation’s central bank and financial intelligence unit, the People’s Bank of China (PBC). The bank announced a new five-year anti-money laundering strategy, beginning in 2008 and running to 2012, at a conference held in Beijing at the end of December 2009.…
EU REPORT BLAMES HIGH TAXES AND LANGUAGE BARRIERS FOR STIFLING AUTO EXPORTS TO JAPAN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT will come as no surprise to auto companies that generating sales in Japan is a tough task. Facing intense domestic competition, complex and unique regulations, high taxes and a culture that is very different from western models, foreign auto companies often struggle in Japan.…
EUROPE MOVES SLOWLY TOWARDS PUBLIC PLACE-SMOKING BANS AND EU COMPULSORY LEGISLATION IS UNLIKELY
BY ALAN OSBORN
JUST six years ago, in March 2004, Ireland was the first country in the world to impose an outright ban on smoking in workplaces. A lot of European governments have followed its lead though Ireland (plus the UK and, surprisingly, Turkey) remain the only countries in Europe where the ban is total – that is it applies to smoking in all enclosed public and workplaces without exceptions.…
BRUSSELS WARNS OF DRAWSTRING RISK TO CHILD CLOTHING CONSUMERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) RAPEX consumer alert service has reported a spate of sales bans and withdrawals of clothes with drawstrings, because of concerns that they could strangle wearers. Last week RAPEX publicised sales bans in Bulgaria of China-made J.S.J.…
MEPS CALL ON MEMBER STATES TO BACK EUROPEAN E-LIBRARY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MEMBER states of the European Union (EU) have been attacked by MEPs for their lukewarm support of the ‘Europeana’ online library, museum and archive. In a report released at the European Parliament’s culture and education committee, they called for more governments to offer content and European Union (EU) budget funding from 2013.…
UK'S NEW CARBON TRADING SYSTEM A UNIQUE AND MISUNDERSTOOD PROGRAMME
BY EMMA JACKSON
THIS April, the long-awaited carbon reduction commitment (CRC) scheme will commence in the UK, bringing in the first phase of a carbon emissions trading programme unlike any other in Europe.
The programme covers virtually everything the European Union’s (EU) emissions trading scheme (ETS) does not: any corporation, company or business – including transport and agriculture – which consumes more than 6,000 megawatt hours (MWh) per year.…
IAEA AND EU'S JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE COMBINE EFFORTS ON PRACTICAL NUCLEAR STUDIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has teamed up with the European Union’s (EU) Joint Research Centre to develop a collaborative programme of studies into practical day-to-day issues facing the nuclear energy sector.
Under an agreement negotiated late last year – which they have called ‘A Practical Arrangement’, the two organisations are now committed to working together in developing science for nuclear energy planning, nuclear safety and nuclear technology.…
MIGA EXPECTED TO BACK ETHIOPIAN FRUIT JUICE PROJECT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE MULTILATERAL Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank is considering backing an innovative development of an integrated fruit production and processing business in central Ethiopia. MIGA is looking at covering US$9.25 million in financing from the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) and Africa Juice BV, of the Netherlands.…
BODY MOVEMENT MONITOR ALLOWS NURSES TO KNOW BETTER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PROBLEM with diagnoses based on physical examination is that nurses, physiotherapists and doctors must often rely on what patients tell them about their problems. And of course, that information is not always accurate. Patients can be vague; exaggerate or underestimate their physical difficulties and shortcomings; can miss out important details; even gloss over accidents.…
SCHIPHOL AIRPORT GRAPPLES THREE CHALLENGES OF TERRORISM, CARBON EMISSIONS AND THE RECESSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AD Rutten, chief operating officer (COO) of the Netherlands’ Schiphol Group running Amsterdam airport had a busy Christmas and New Year. With Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year old Nigerian ‘underpants’ bomber, trying to blow up a A330-300 Airbus en route to Detroit from Schiphol airport on Christmas Day, Rutten has been working hard.…
CO2 EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS - YES IT IS REALLY HAPPENING IN EUROPEAN CARS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AFTER the disappointment of the Copenhagen summit on climate change, it is perhaps encouraging to note that the auto industry – so often painted as the bad boy of the climate change issue – really is reducing its vehicles’ carbon dioxide emissions.…
COMMISSION SUPPORTS DAIRY SECTOR MARKETING
BY EMMA JACKSON
THE EUROPEAN Commission has committed Euro 17.9 million to market dairy products over three years across the European Union (EU). The money will be spent by dairy industry organisations in 11 member states, who will also contribute funds, along with their national governments.…
EU ROUND UP - RUSSIA, UKRAINE BURY HATCHET OVER OIL TRANSIT FEES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
RUSSIA and Ukraine appear to have headed off an oil transit dispute that could have created a repeat of last year’s major disruption of European natural gas supplies. Moscow and Kiev have signed an agreement increasing by 30% the fees Ukraine charges on transporting Russian oil to the European Union (EU) – this alters a 2004 contract and the change had sparked a diplomatic tussle.…
FEED IN TARIFFS PROVING POPULAR WAY TO PROMOTE GREEN ENERGY
BY MARK ROWE and KEITH NUTHALL
THIS April, the UK will launch a feed-in tariff for electricity, which the government said will accelerate take-up of green energy among the general public. According to the European Commission’s energy directorate-general, the European Union (EU) already uses at least 20% more energy than is justified, which has led to twin concerns – the need to reduce consumption of fossil fuels and to encourage consumers to switch to green energy tariffs and sources.…
CLOTHING AND TEXTILE MANUFACTURERS WORLDWIDE LOOK FOR COMPETITIVE EDGE IN FIBRE INNOVATION
BY PHILIPPA JONES
WITH so much competition in design and price within the apparel and textile sector, manufacturers are always looking for an edge. One way in which they can steal a march on competitors is with fibre innovation. And with new technology allowing the incorporation of increasingly complex arrays of chemicals and particles, even on the nano-scale, the opportunities to develop a revolutionary new fibre or mix of fibres are maybe greater today than ever before.…
USA, CHINA, STRIKE ANTI-SUBSIDY DEAL ON CHINESE 'MAJOR BRANDS' DISPUTE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States is claiming victory in a trade dispute with China, after Beijing announced it would scrap subsidies for products including body lotion, liquid detergent, soap and fancy soap. Washington had argued these China-christened ‘famous brands’ handouts were export subsidies banned by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).…
LOBBYISTS DO BATTLE IN BRUSSELS OVER TOBACCO INDUSTRY'S FUTURE
BY DAVID HAWORTH and ALAN OSBORN
LINES are being drawn for another titanic battle in Brussels between the tobacco industry and anti-smoking activists. And the weapon of choice is lobbying.
The first phase, forcing cigarette companies to sell their product in plain, unbranded packets without logos, has already started following the 31-page document of non-binding recommendations (not a directive) published last year by the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers and which was briskly approved by the European Parliament.…
BRITISH MOTORISTS MAYBE BUYING BIGGER CARS - BUT AT LEAST THEY ARE GREENER: EU STATISTICS SAY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CO2 emissions statistics released by the European Commission show that while British motorists are ignoring government calls to buy smaller cars, their vehicles are at least getting greener. Across the European Union (EU) the CO2 emitted by passenger cars is falling fast: looking at 2008, a report said the average specific CO2 emissions from passenger cars were 153.5g CO2/km.…
SYRIA-EU BIO-BASED OILS AND FATS TRADE TO BENEFIT FROM FREE TRADE DEAL
BY PAUL COCHRANE and KEITH NUTHALL
SYRIA is such a staple of Middle East political turmoil, it is easy to forget that it is a near neighbour of Europe: less than 200 miles of sea separate it from Cyprus and it borders Turkey, which could be a European Union (EU) member by 2020.…
OIL AND GAS SECTOR STILL LEFT WITH QUESTIONS OVER EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS AFTER COPENHAGEN SUMMIT
BY KEITH NUTHALL, EMMA JACKSON and ERIC LYMAN
THE COPENHAGEN climate change conference ended on December 18 with an accord where key world economies promised to make binding agreements to cut carbon emissions. But detail on exactly how much will be settled at a later date, meaning its long term effects on the oil and gas industry are unclear.…
BRUSSELS GIVES MERGER CLEARANCE FOR TRONOX PLANT PURCHASE BY HUNTSMAN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has granted European Union (EU) merger clearance to for the proposed acquisition of some of USA-based Tronox’s titanium dioxide plants by fellow American chemical company Huntsman. Brussels did not impose any conditions on its permission, which followed an investigation.…
NORDIC REGION EMBRACING BIOFUEL INNOVATION
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.…
AUTO WORKERS IN SWEDEN, AUSTRIA, TO GET EU RETRAINING FUNDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FINAL approval has been given by the European Parliament for the European Union (EU) to spend Euro 15.6 million on helping Swedish and Austria auto industry workers who have lost their jobs through the global recession. The money will come from the EU’s Globalisation Adjustment Fund.…
Lisbon treaty passed: now politicians must persuade citizens to think European
By Keith Nuthall, International News Services
So the Treaty of Lisbon has been ratified. With the Czech Constitutional Court backing its contents as legal and a new national opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights portion of the treaty given to his country, Czech president Václav Klaus has at last signed the treaty.
It should now come into force by the end of the year. So we will see a permanent president of the European Council of Ministers (albeit probably low profile Belgian prime minister Herman van Rompuy rather than pushy ex-UK PM Tony Blair); an EU foreign minister; and more power for the European Parliament.…
GROWTH OF ECOTAXES GIVE GLOBAL AUTO SECTOR CAUSE FOR CONCERN
BY DEIRDRE MASON GAVIN BLAIR ANCA GURZU and KEITH NUTHALL
AS the Copenhagen conference charged with forging a new international climate change treaty gets under way this month, the auto industry worldwide will be looking closely at how the deliberations will affect its business.…
TOBACCO TRAVELLER - COLLECTION 2009 - ARGENTINA
BY PACIFICA GODDARD
THE CIGARETTE market in Argentina remained strong in 2008: the retail volume increased 3.12% from 2007 to 42.47 billion sticks, valued at Euro 1.72 billion, a 17.6% increase from 2007, according to the Argentine ministry of the economy.…
EUROPEAN RESEARCHERS AIM TO WIELD NANOTECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE ELECTRONIC CARS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MAJOR European research project is to spend Euro 44 million on developing tiny components to help electric vehicles improve their performance, so that they can better compete with models powered with liquid fuels. The Fiat and Audi-backed E3CAR (Energy efficient electrical car) project will especially focus on emerging nanotechnologies as its researchers aim to boost electric cars’ often less than stellar driving abilities.…
TOBACCO TRAVELLER - COLLECTION 2009 - GREECE
BY MAKKI MARSEILLES
TOBACCO manufacturing in Greece is alive and well and the industry is looking forward to a very fine future. A ban on smoking in public places introduced this April 1 has had very little effect so far and a reported 6% drop in sales alleged by some retailers has not been substantiated, stressed the Association of Greek Tobacco Industries.…
DUTCH PLOT TRAVEL DISTANCE TAX FOR ROAD USERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DUTCH government has become the first in Europe to move towards automatic universal road pricing by proposing a tax charging motorists on the kilometres they drive. It wants the Netherlands parliament to approve replacing road and car purchase taxes with the charge by 2012, varying rates/km by car model weight and CO2 emissions.…
EUROPEAN RESEARCHERS AIM TO WIELD NANOTECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE ELECTRONIC CARS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MAJOR European research project will spend Euro 44 million developing tiny components to help electric vehicles improve their performance and compete with liquid fuel models. The Fiat and Audi-backed E3CAR (Energy efficient electrical car) project will especially focus on emerging nanotechnologies to improve "semiconductor technologies, devices, circuits and sub-systems" increasing energy efficiency by 35%, boosting power and battery life.…
EUROPEAN TOBACCO INDUSTRY PLAGUED BY DECLINE AND TOUGH REGULATION
BY ALAN OSBORN
MEASURED by what’s been happening in the European cigarette market over the past 10 to 15 years, 2008 – and what we’ve seen of 2009 so far – hasn’t been that bad. It may not have been good, exactly, but considering the global recession few people will have been looking for uplift.…
NETHERLANDS PUSHES FOR EU ACTION ON MARITIME PLASTIC WASTE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to investigate removing plastic from seas and oceans worldwide, amidst growing concern about massive floating islands of plastic debris in international waters. The initiative follows a call by the Dutch government at the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers for action, which could involve further pressure to reduce the use of plastics in packaging, sacks and bags.…
GEORGIA AND EU NEGOTIATE COMMON AVIATION AREA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
NEGOTIATIONS have begun to incorporate Georgia within the European Union’s (EU) aviation system, leading the Caucasus republic to adopt most EU civil aviation rules. The talks will inevitably cause some diplomatic issues with Russia, given its recognition of the two Georgian breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.…
TOBACCO TRAVELLER - COLLECTION 2009 - VENEZUELA
BY PACIFICA GODDARD
The Venezuelan cigarette market experienced an overall decline in 2008 and the first half of 2009. In 2008, 11.95 billion sticks were sold, an 8.6% drop from the 13.07 billion sticks sold in 2007, according to the United Nations Statistics Division.…
EU COUNTRIES TO REPAY MISSPENT AGRICULTURE FUNDING
BY EMMA JACKSON
THE EUROPEAN Commission has ordered 18 European Union (EU) member states to collectively repay Euro 214.6 million in misspent food production funding. France owes Euro 71 million for weak on-the-spot checks regarding environmental and animal welfare standards, ensuring ‘cross compliance’ commitments made by producers are followed.…
EUROPE: Brussels backs new standard for latest wireless technology
By Alan Osborn
Technology researchers will benefit from a new research investment of ?18 million from the European Commission, designed to reinforce its support for the LTE (Long Term Evolution) standard for the fourth generation of wireless telecommunications, in preference to the alternative WiMax technology.…
IMPLANT MATERIALS STRENGTHENED TO DEAL WITH LONGER LIFESPANS
BY EMMA JACKSON
DEMAND for hip and knee implants is rising, partly because patients are too damned healthy and partly because they are overweight. While obesity’s strain on joints is obvious, being active longer in life is also ruining joints, and at a much younger age.…
EU ROUND UP - TURKEY TO JOIN ENERGY EU
BY KEITH NUTHALL
TURKEY – the lynchpin of European Union (EU) efforts to secure energy independence from Russia – has started negotiations to join the EU’s Energy Community. The organisation currently extends EU energy legislation to non-EU Balkans countries, but there are plans to add Moldova, Ukraine and Turkey to its membership.…
CHRISTIAN DIOR LOSES ECJ TRADEMARK CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CHRISTIAN Dior has lost a bid at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) Court of First Instance to secure European Union (EU) trademark rights to the ‘MANGO adorably’ mark (NOTE: SPELLING AND CASE IS CORRECT) for cosmetics, soaps and scents.…
ANGRY DAIRY FARMERS STILL UNSATISFIED BY BRUSSELS LARGESSE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DESPITE being granted special emergency subsidies, Europe’s hard-pressed dairy farmers are increasing their protests across Europe. Yesterday (MONDAY 21 SEPT), a group of producers set hay on fire and spilt milk in front of the European Commission headquarters in Brussels.…
BATTLE LOOMS OVER SUCCESSION TO AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER FISCHER BOEL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ANNOUNCEMENT this weekend by European Union’s (EU) agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel that she is standing down has sparked intense speculation on her potential replacement. The white-haired 66-year-old Dane has been something of a surprise star in the current crop of rather uninspiring Commissioners: she has handled a tough brief with efficiency and diplomacy.…
RECESSION STILL HITTING DUTCH DRIVERS HARD
BY MINDY RAN
IT could be a workingman’s cafe just about anywhere: pool tables, basic food where everything is served with chips, TV permanently tuned to football. Except for one thing: this is one of two big truck stops in the Netherlands, nestled between the cross points of two main motorways in the centre of the country.…
EL NINO NOT EXPECTED TO HIT ROBUST INDONESIAN AND MALAYSIAN PALM OIL SECTORS
BY WILL ROBERTSON, MARK ROWE and KEITH NUTHALL
THE ROBUST nature of the southeast Asian palm oil industry has been illustrated by the way the market has remained strong despite both the global recession and the arrival of weather phenomenon El Nino this year and its attendant drought conditions.…
CONTRACT PACKERS AND THEIR CLIENTS MUST WRESTLE WITH DETAILED AND COMPREHENSIVE EU LAW
BY KEITH NUTHALL
GIVEN contract packing is often undertaken by larger businesses and of course, packers usually welcome economies of scale, cross-border trades within the European Union (EU) is commonplace within Europe.
And as a result, naturally, keeping on top of EU legislation is essential for contract packing clients and suppliers.…
MALARIA VACCINE HOPE REVEALED
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL research project has shown immunity to malaria can be developed by patients inoculated with intact parasites whilst being treated with the common anti-malarial chloroquine. This kills the parasites towards the end of their life in the human body, apparently giving immune systems enough time to develop resistance.…
GLOBAL FOOD COMMODITY PRICE VOLATILITY HERE TO STAY
BY ANDREW CAVE
Food commodity prices are seldom out of the news nowadays, due to a mushrooming global population, the food-for-fuel controversy, an increasing focus on sustainability and the continued growth of the organic sector. However, beyond the generality of crop prices spiralling to new highs in 2007 and 2008 and then plummeting – in some cases – back to where they were before the boom, the picture is far from uniform.…
EU FOOD POLICY LIBERALISERS CAN EXPECT SWEDISH BACKING DURING PRESIDENCY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SUPPORTERS of liberalising the European Union’s (EU) common agriculture policy and other food subsidy regimes can expect a helping hand from the new Swedish presidency of the EU from July 1.
Sweden has traditionally allied itself with Britain, the Netherlands, and eastern European liberalisers in the EU Council of Ministers, which it will chair for six months until the end of this year.…
COMMERCIAL RESEARCH-TEACHING NEXUS IS NOT PERFECT - BUT IN ENCOURAGES SCIENTIFIC GROWTH
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WOULDN’T it be lovely if there were perfect research universities delivering perfect high quality courses, and that the more world beating research undertaken by academics, the better their teaching became.
Yes, it would, but of course such a rosy scenario does not exist, and the recent Research Report of the UNESCO Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge has even thrown doubt on whether it is possible.…
GERMAN CONFECTIONERY MACHINE MANUFACTURER KNOWS THE VALUE OF DEMONSTRATING PRODUCTION
BY ESTRID STROLL, in Leingarten, Germany, and KEITH NUTHALL
JAPAN and Germany are maybe the world’s top ranking electrical engineering companies, so it is no surprise that the Baden-Württemburg-based and Japanese-owned Hosokawa Bepex GmbH has a solid reputation for producing confectionary manufacturing machines.…
WORLDWIDE FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE UNITS MOVE TOWARDS OPERATIONAL ROLE AND AWAY FROM POLICY
BY ALAN OSBORN, LUCY JONES, RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, JULIAN RYALL, and KARRYN MILLER
THERE are 108 recognised Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) throughout the world and more are being created every year as the fight against international money laundering becomes ever more global.…
EU FUNDS BACTERIA AND FUNGI IDENTIFICATION NETWORK
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) research project will establish a consortium of microbial resource centres – called EMbaRC – (NOTE: MIX OF CASES IS CORRECT) harmonising across Europe ways of conserving and identifying samples of organisms such as bacteria, viruses and micro-fungi.…
DRINKS INDUSTRY LOBBYISTS - A GLOBAL REVIEW
BY KEITH NUTHALL, ALAN OSBORN, DAVID HAWORTH, RUSSELL BERMAN, MARK GODFREY and GAVIN BLAIR
INTRODUCTION
WHILE the drinks industry is undoubtedly an important sector in the global economy, the honest truth is that there are bigger players in town: the IT sector, steel making, and food, to name a handful.…
UNBUNDLING DEAL UNLIKELY TO FORCE COHESION IN EUROPEAN ENERGY MARKETS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FINAL shape of the European Union’s (EU) third energy packaging and its varied options on unbundling has generated concern, especially amongst acolytes of full scale liberalisation. The debates over this legislation have pitted countries such as France, with a mercantilist approach that a borderless market is an opportunity for local, especially large, companies; and liberalisers such as the Dutch and the British seeing the union as a massive market in which the fittest thrive, from whatever country.…
EU ALERT SYSTEM WARNS OF UNAUTHORISED ADDITIVE IN ALMONDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) RASFF food safety alert system has warned of two separate seizures by Norwegian customs of American almond exports because they contained an unauthorised food additive propylene oxide. Meanwhile French authorities have seized aflatoxin-tainted dried figs from Turkey.…
INTERNATIONAL ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING ORGANISATIONS HAVE ELITE CADRE OF SPECIALISTS
BY ALAN OSBORN
IN this year’s Money Laundering Bulletin series of articles on the development of an international profession of anti-money laundering (AML) specialists, we have often examined specialists working at the sharp end. But that is not the whole story of course.…
POLITICALLY STABLE BOTSWANA PUSHES AHEAD WITH AIRPORT EXPANSION
BY STEVEN SWINDELLS
POLITICALLY stable Botswana is moving ahead with investment in expanded and upgraded airports despite the economic downturn which has hit the southern African country’s tourism sector.
The main project is the US$60 million upgrade and expansion of the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport in the capital Gaborone.…
DUTCH SCIENTISTS TURN BABY FILM INTO COSMETIC CREAM
BY MONICA DOBIE
SCIENTISTS from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands have developed a synthetic version of the natural protective cream found on newborn babies. Its properties will in particular help protect babies born prematurely against temperature changes, dehydration and infection as well as providing adults with relief from skin disease.…
EU FAILS TO ACT ON CONTROLLING SPREAD OF SWINE FLU IN EUROPE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has drawn back from a robust collective response to the swine flu crisis, despite the disease spreading around Europe. Meeting on Thursday, the EU Council of Ministers for health rejected a French proposal for an EU-wide travel ban to Mexico, the source of the outbreak.…
CHINESE SWEETENER FIRMS PUSH INTO EUROPEAN MARKETS
BY DOMINIQUE PATTON
A HANDFUL of Chinese sweetener companies are ramping up both their capacity and service levels to build a competitive advantage in the global food industry.
China produces about 180,000 tonnes of high intensity sweeteners per year, according to Professor Zhu Lujia, of the sweetener committee of the China Food Additives Association (CFAA).…
TOBACCO CRIME GLOBAL ROUND UP - SMUGGLING BOOM HITS IRELAND
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MAJOR cigarette smuggling boom is being reported in Ireland by customs teams, with a record 135.2 million cigarettes being seized last year, almost twice the amount seized in 2007. Of these, 56.82 million were counterfeits, the country’s Sunday Independent newspaper has reported.…
INTRODUCTION - RENEWABLE ENERGIES FORGE AHEAD - BUT FROM A LOW BASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL, LEAH GERMAIN and MONICA DOBIE
MAYBE the best sign that renewable energies have hit the mainstream is that they now have their very own international organisation: the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Launched in Bonn, Germany, this January, with the support of 76 countries, including its host nation, Spain, Italy, France and Sweden, the roster of signatory nations has since been swollen by India and Belarus.…
BRITAIN'S RECYCLING IMPROVING COMPARED TO EUROPEAN PEERS: EUROSTAT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE STRENGTH of Britain’s recycling sector is becoming a force to reckon with across Europe, according to the latest available comparative figures from European Union (EU) statistical agency Eurostat. The proportion of municipal waste recycled in the UK equalled the EU average in 2007, it says – 22%.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION HAILS SUGAR REFORMS AS A SUCCESS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is claiming its reform of the European Union (EU) sugar and isoglucose sector has been a success, lowering prices for confectionery manufacturers. Brussels also claims that a planned contraction of EU sugar production over the past three years has left a sustainable industry based on efficient producers.…
LOW COUNTRY TRUCKERS BUCK EUROPEAN TREND - THEY REALLY LIKE THEIR JOBS
BY TONY MALLETT
GIVEN that they work in a country renowned for its knee-deep bureaucracy and fervent industrial action, Belgian truckers seem a surprisingly contented bunch. At least when taken individually.
Despite recent protests about the price of fuel – which resulted in their blockade of the Brussels inner ring road and demonstrations outside the headquarters of both the European Commission and the European Parliament – the pros riding way up high in the cabs of HGVs on Belgian roads seem generally happy with their lot.…
RIG DISMANTLING POSES OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY IMMENSE LEGACY DIFFICULTIES AND COSTS
BY MARK ROWE and SUZANNE KOELEGA
THE ISSUE of decommissioning rigs is an increasingly pressing one. According to consultants Wood Mackenzie up to half of the North Sea’s 600 installations – first installed nearly 40 years ago – are scheduled for decommissioning by 2021, while more than 4,000 are scheduled for removal worldwide.…
MORE NUT AFLATOXIN CONTAMINATION REPORTED AT EU BORDERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) food safety alert service RASFF has reported another spate of aflatoxin contamination of nuts being imported into Europe. It says there were seizures in Austria of Turkish roasted hazelnut paste; in the Netherlands of Paraguayan groundnut kernels; and in Spain of Chinese groundnut kernels, all through aflatoxin contamination.…
DEVELOPMENT OF NANOTECHNOLOGY IN FOOD CONTINUES APACE WHILE HEALTH CONCERNS GROW
BY MARK ROWE
BY the end of 2010, according to Britain’s Institute of Nanotechnology, nano elements will be incorporated in Euro 16.4 billion’s worth of annual food production across the world. This is likely to mean more work for environmental health officers.…
NATIONAL GM BANS APPROVED BY EU MINISTERS, DEFYING EUROPEAN COMMISSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BIOTECHNOLOGY companies will look carefully at the possible impact of a European Union (EU) Council of Ministers decision today to allow member states to block production f genetically modified (GM) foods previously approved by the EU. Ministers overwhelmingly threw out the latest bid by the European Commission to force Hungary to lift its national ban on the cultivation of Monsanto’s GM maize MON810 and Austria’s ban on MON810 and Bayer’s T25 maize.…
UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS POSING CHALLENGE FOR GLOBAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
BY PHILIPPA JONES
THE NUMBER of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the skies above Europe is increasing rapidly, but safety concerns mean they normally remain segregated from other airspace users, inhibiting their employment in a wide range of activities. Eurocontrol, the European organisation for the safety of air navigation, has therefore launched a major project of work intended to ensure the safe and efficient integration of UAS into the pan-European Air Traffic Management Network (ATM).…
INTRODUCTION - NUCLEAR ENERGY ANSWERS ITS CRITICS
BY KEITH NUTHALL, EMMA JACKSON and ALAN OSBORN
IN the early 1990s the nuclear power industry faced a bleak outlook. High profile accidents such as in Chernobyl and Three Mile Island in, Pennsylvania, the USA, had raised public concern about the safety of the industry to all time high.…
PRECAUTIONARY STEPS ADVISED BY TASKFORCE TO COPE WITH RADIOPHARMACEUTICAL SHORTAGES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A TASKFORCE established by the European Commission after last year’s shortage of radiopharmaceutical supplies in Europe has recommended precautions are taken to deal with any repeats of these problems. This follows a 2008 summer temporary shutdown of the Netherlands’ High Flux Reactor in Petten, which produces 60% of radioisotopes used in European radiopharmaceuticals.…
EUROPEAN INITIATIVE SEEKS TO PRESERVE OBSOLETE DIGITAL WRITTEN WORKS
BY MARK ROWE
AS book reading online enters the mainstream, one question that has plagued academic and cultural journals for years has re-emerged: digital obsolescence. Publishers are concerned about keeping pace with technological advances and preserving access to digital material.
No sooner, and at significant expense, is literature scanned and digitally secured in a given format, than it risks being overtaken by the latest storage versions.…
THE NETHERLANDS: Dutch researchers create soothing cream from baby film
By Monica Dobie
The ingredients of this cream was discovered through the Dutch researchers unraveling the ingredients of the protective film called Vernix caseosa (VC) that covers the foetus and newborn babies, helping skin growth before and after birth. It provides waterproofing inside the mother’s womb, allowing skin to grow in wet conditions, while after birth it hydrates and cleanses.…
VIETNAM PAINT SECTOR HOLDS FIRM AMIDST GLOBAL ECONOMIC GLOOM
BY MARK ROWE
DESPITE the gathering storm of global economic recession, the Vietnamese paint industry has so far turned in a reasonably strong performance through 2009. Projected growth of 8.1% for the whole of 2009 – made by Vietnam’s General Statistics Office (GSO) back in November 2008, now looks slightly optimistic, but the reality may not be too far from that figure, suggest experts.…
EU STEPS FORWARD TO HELP ELECTRICITY SECTOR THROUGH RECESSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EVERY recession has a silver lining: inefficient competitors are unmasked and forced out of business; and governments usually spend freely to pump prime an ailing economy. And for major essential industries such as the power sector, economic slumps can be good times.…
EU MINISTERS EXTEND LOW RATE VAT TO LEATHER REPAIRS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have voted to allow all 27 EU member states to charge low rate VAT on leather goods repair services in future. Although this formal right should be introduced from January 2011, the vote makes it unlikely that the European Commission would prevent earlier VAT rate reductions.…
CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS BEING DEVELOPED AT BREAKNECK SPEED
BY MARK ROWE
THE PRINCIPLE of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is of course well established amongst energy suppliers: polluting industries, such as coal, would be able to continue to burn fossil fuels, but carbon dioxide, rather than being expelled into the atmosphere, would be harvested in the energy production cycle and securely locked away.…
NATURAL GAS AID GUIDELINES ASSESSED BY EU COMMISSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PRECEDENT setting decision is expected from the European Commission on subsidising natural gas supplies to specific industries. Brussels has opened a formal investigation into tax exemptions offered by the Netherlands on gas used by Dutch ceramic producers.…
VAN BUITENEN NOT TO STAND AGAIN FOR EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
BY DAVID HAWORTH
THE BRUSSELS office for whistle-blower MEP Paul Van Buitenen told Accountancy Age that the Dutchman will not be standing for a second term of office on the European Parliament in June. The admission follows reports in the Amsterdam Telegraaf and Netherlands television that Van Buitenen was not planning to renew his electoral mandate.…
EUROPE: Top scientists warn about health threat from nanotechnology products
By Keith Nuthall
European scientists are starting to identify tangible health concerns associated with the use of nanoparticles in consumer products. Academic health experts within the European Union’s (EU) scientific committee on emerging and newly identified health risks have raised some serious problems in a new detailed paper.…
EUROPE: Targeted smart medicine capsules developed by EU scientists
By Monica Dobie
A European Union (EU)-funded research project called SonoDrugs is developing tiny, image-guided medicine capsules conveying doses through blood vessels to the centre of an infection or disease, after which the drugs are activated by ultrasound pulses. This new technology is initially being developed for cardiovascular disease and cancer by the Euro 15.9 million project, which includes Dutch electronics giant Philips; Nanobiotix, of France; and Lipoid, of Germany; as well as academics from the University of Cyprus, University of Gent (Belgium), University of Helsinki, University of London, University of Tours (France), University Victor Segalen Bordeaux (France), University of Technology Eindhoven (the Netherlands), and the University of Udine (Italy).…
IMAGE-GUIDED SMART CAPSULES COULD DELIVER TARGETED MEDICINES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU)-funded research project called SonoDrugs has united universities and high-tech businesses in developing tiny, image-guided medicine capsules which could target medicines to where they are needed in a patient’s body. The aim of the innovation is conveying doses through blood vessels to the centre of an infection or disease, after which the drugs are activated by ultrasound pulses.…
EU RESEARCHERS DEVELOPING FRUIT AND VEGETABLE QUALITY ADVICE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
INNOVATIVE recommendations are being developed for fruit and vegetable producers by a Euro 13.8 million European Union (EU) research project to increase consumption of their products. The ISAFRUIT scheme wants more Europeans to eat their recommended minimum five portions of fresh fruits and vegetables.…
SCIENTISTS PROBE GENETIC CODE OF C-DIFFICILE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SCIENTISTS in Britain, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Slovenia are trying to map the genetic code of superbug Clostridium (or C) difficile to help efforts to develop effective antibiotics or even a vaccine. The bug is often present in hospitals where it is hard to destroy through disinfection and infections are hard to treat.…
SCIENTISTS PROBE GENETIC CODE OF C-DIFFICILE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SCIENTISTS in Britain, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Slovenia are mapping the genetic code of superbug Clostridium (or C) difficile to develop effective antibiotics or even a vaccine. The bug is often present in hospitals where it is hard to destroy through disinfection and infections are hard to treat.…
CLOTHING AND TEXTILE SUBSIDIES - UNDER PRESSURE, BUT STILL AVAILABLE
BY ALAN OSBORN, LUCY JONES and KEITH NUTHALL
INTRODUCTION
CLOTHING and textile production and trade subsidies are under pressure today, as they have not been for many years. There has been a steady trend towards liberalisation in the sector worldwide, stemming from the abolition of the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) in January 2005 and with it, then end of restrictive quotas for imports for the WTO’s 152 member countries.…
EU RESEARCHERS DEVELOPING FRUIT AND VEGETABLE QUALITY ADVICE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
INNOVATIVE recommendations are being developed to boost fruit and vegetable consumption by Euro 13.8 million European Union research project ISAFRUIT. It says consumers in Greece, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, eat the most fruit in Europe (70- 100 kg per person), followed by Germany, Poland and Britain at 40-60 kg, but that consumption is not rising.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION ADVISED TO LIFT LORRY SIZE AND WEIGHT MAXIMUMS ACROSS EU
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has been advised to push for an increase in the maximum size and weight of lorries allowed across the European Union (EU) – maybe to 60 tonnes and 25.25 metres – by a report that will kick off an official review of these rules.…
EU ROUND UP - BRUSSELS UNVEILS MAJOR GAS INTERCONNECTOR INVESTMENT PLAN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced it wants Euro 3.5 billion of the general European Union (EU) economic recovery plan it announced in November spent on energy investment. It has proposed spending Euro 1.75 billion on gas and electricity interconnection projects; Euro 500 million on offshore wind power; and Euro 1.25 billion on carbon capture and storage.…
EU RESEARCHERS USE NANOPARTICLES TO HELP DRUGS TARGET TUMOURS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CHEMOTHERAPY and radiotherapy maybe effective against cancer, but sometimes they are a sledgehammer to crack a nut, causing patients to suffer from so many side-effects they sometimes wished their tumours had been left alone.
And so it has long been the aim of pharmaceutical companies and cancer researchers to devise means of targeting therapies, so that it is the tumour that gets harmed, while the patient feels OK.…
HYDERABAD'S NEW GREENFIELD AIRPORT OFFERS DESIGNERS A FREE HAND AND MODULAR DEVELOPMENT
BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA
IN the airport industry, starting from scratch is sometimes the best solution. Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad is a case in point. It displays the range of objectives that can be achieved in terms of efficiency and scope in a greenfield project over and above expanding an existing airport.…
ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING IS BECOME A PROFESSION, BUT A UNIVERSAL MODEL IS FAR AWAY
BY ALAN OSBORN
A RELATIVE newcomer has joined the ranks of the world’s professionals in the financial services sphere – the anti-money laundering practitioner. True, not everybody would agree that he or she warrants a place up there with accountants, lawyers and the other traditional professionals.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION ALLOWS MORE RESTRICTIONS ON TOBACCO DUTY FREE IMPORTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE MAXIMUM amount of duty-free or duty-paid tobacco that can be brought into the European Union (EU) from a non-EU country without paying EU excise duty can now be reduced to just 40 cigarettes. That is an option now offered to member states, which can maintain the previous 200 cigarette limit if they choose.…
EUROPE: EU must ensure "more and better use of R&D"
By Alan Osborn
The failure of business to invest significantly in innovation projects remains the major weakness in the European Union’s (EU) research picture, says the European Commission. While there is "substantial progress" in some aspects of the EU’s innovation performance, investments by business in R&D and IT projects "are still relatively weak, especially if compared to the US and Japan," claims Brussels.…
French protectionism threatens world trade
By Alan Osborn
We should have known better than to believe the French last year when they said they wanted a new, reformed common agricultural policy with lower subsidies for farmers. That, incredibly, was what French president Nicholas Sarkozy said in September 2007.
Incredible is right.
A year later Paris has thrown such pledges into the dustbin.
Late November’s French government paper setting out ideas for a meeting of EU agriculture ministers, when the future of the CAP was to be discussed, makes clear that France wants to preserve the traditional shape of the CAP with protection of farmers’ incomes uppermost.…
EIB EXPECTED TO FUNNEL EURO 200 MILLION TO TEVA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has drawn up a plan to lend Euro 200 million to what it calls "the largest generic pharmaceutical company", thought to be Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. The loan is to finance research and development for new generics and biosimilars, including clinical trials and regulatory approval procedures, backing privately backed work in Hungary, the Netherlands, Britain and Israel.…
RENEWABLE ENERGY DIRECTIVE IN PLACE - NOW THE HARD WORK OF CONSTRUCTION BEGINS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS 2009 dawns, the European Union’s (EU) renewable energy sector knows that it has truly entered the mainstream of EU utility markets, its growth being sanctioned by ambitious legislation approved before Christmas.
After more than a year of debates, the European Parliament and EU ministers have approved a new EU directive imposing mandatory national targets for the 27 member states regarding the portion of their gross final consumption of energy in 2020 coming from renewable sources.…
NEW DAIRY EMERGENCY AID DIVIDED AMONGST EU MEMBER STATES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EMERGENCY European Union (EU) subsidies totalling Euro 300 million for dairy farmers hit by this summer’s dip in prices have been divided amongst the EU’s 27 member states. The money has been allocated according to production (within EU quota limits) from April 2008-March 2009.…
WHISTLEBLOWER MEP SLAMS 'ILL-CONCEIVED' EU FRAUD OFFICE
BY CHRIS JONES and DAVID HAWORTH
PAUL van Buitenen, the notorious Brussels whistleblower and sleaze-buster, has announced he will not stand for re-election as an MEP when his current term comes to an end in June.
There will be relief amongst the complacent and unworthy in all the European Union (EU) institutions that he has decided to chuck it after only five years as a parliamentarian.…
EU JUDGES CLEAR WAY FOR EU GOVERNMENTS TO INSIST ON VEHICLE DIESEL FILTERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has cleared the way for national governments in the European Union (EU) to insist that diesel-powered vehicles registered in that country be fitted with special filters reducing particulate matter emissions. Judges struck down a European Commission decision blocking a Netherlands law effectively insisting that such a filter be used on all Dutch-registered diesel cars, lorries and vans.…
EU JUDGES SAY DUTCH DIESEL FILTER LAW SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN BLOCKED
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has struck down a European Commission decision blocking a Netherlands law effectively insisting diesel-powered vehicles registered in that country be fitted with filters reducing particulate matter emissions. Brussels claimed this was not a "proportionate" way of reducing pollution.…
AIR-POWERED CARS MOVE TOWARDS COMMERCIAL REALITY
BY KARRYN MILLER
ABOUT a decade ago we first heard whispers of compressed air cars: an eco-friendly driving option that kept travel costs low. Now, with mineral oil fuelled cars under pressure on price and pollution, air-powered vehicles are finally becoming a concrete product.…
BRUSSELS CLEARS VANDERLANDE INDUSTRIES DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the takeover of Dutch baggage handling service and systems company Vanderlande Industries BV by fellow Netherlands company SHV Holdings NV, a diverse group with heavy equipment, energy and other interests. Brussels concluded after an inquiry that the deal would not pose competition problems in the European groundhandling sector.…
PAINTING LIBYA'S DECORATIVE PAINT AND COATINGS INDUSTRY WITH A BLIND STROKE
BY IRINA PRENTICE
WHILE finding accurate statistics about the Libya industry is as easy as finding your way around the country’s vast deserts without a map, it is undeniable that this is a growing paint and coating market: the country is in full economic development which includes construction, boosting demand for coatings of all kinds.…
CHINA PAINT AND COATINGS BOOM SET FOR THE LONG TERM
BY MARK GODFREY
GIVEN the armies of migrant workers slapping millions of litres of paint onto the walls of spanking new hotels and creaking 1950s apartment blocks in and around Beijing during the preparations for the Olympic Games it is not surprising that paint demand in China currently outstrips that of India by five times, in tonnage used.…
OLD 15 MEMBER EU WILL HIT KYOTO TARGETS SAYS EEA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE OLD 15 member European Union (EU) will hit its Kyoto Protocol collective target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 8% for the period 2008-2012 from 1990 levels, but only by financing pollution cuts in poor countries abroad.…
OPERATING THE THIRD MONEY LAUNDERING DIRECTIVE PROVES DIFFICULT ACROSS THE EU
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) third money laundering directive should have been transposed into national legislation by December last year across the EU. But some EU member states and professional organisations have found its provisions difficult, particularly the introduction of a risk-based approach to the application of anti money laundering disciplines.…
THE NETHERLANDS: University researchers develop special ceramic to stop windscreens being auto-noise loud speakers
By Keith Nuthall
Windscreens are not such something to look through, say European university scientists: they also act as loud speakers, attracting and magnifying noise created by a car or lorry, reflecting the racket back at drivers and passengers alike. This fact has made researchers in the European Union (EU)-funded and University of Twente, Netherlands-coordinated InMAR (‘Intelligent Materials for Active Noise Reduction’) project consider how to change the materials making windshields, so that they absorb noise rather than amplify it.…
DRINKS PRODUCTION AND MARKETING RULES SEEK TO BALANCE PROTECTING EXCELLENCE WITH LIBERATING COMMERCE
BY ALAN OSBORN
INTRODUCTION
About 10 years ago the American distiller JB Wagoner decided to market a fiery liquor made from the cactus-like agave plants growing in the hills on his estate at Temecula in California. He called it "temequila." It soon became known as "the American tequila," proving indistinguishable in taste, texture and effect from the well-known Mexican drink.…
SEQUENCING OF COCOA GENOME COULD IMPROVE RELIABILITY AND QUALITY OF THIS KEY INGREDIENT
BY MARK ROWE
THE CHOCOLATE giant Mars has begun work on sequencing the cocoa genome, a move that it says could dramatically improve the health and yields of cocoa growers around the world, guaranteeing food manufacturers with more reliable and high quality supplies.…
EU MINISTERS STRIKE DEAL OVER ENERGY UNBUNDLING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DEAL has been struck at the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers over unbundling major energy players. The agreement has been anointed by the European Commission: its president José Manuel Barroso enthused: "It is a crucial step towards the completion of the single market."…
BAKERS' YEAST DEAL APPROVED BY BRUSSELS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition of baker’s yeast production facilities from GBI, of the Netherlands, by Britain’s Associated British Foods (ABF). Brussels approved the deal after ABF promised to offload GBI yeast businesses in Spain and Portugal to allay competition concerns.…
THERE MAYBE NO GLOBAL AML DIPLOMA, BUT THE DISCIPLINE'S PROFESSIONAL TRAINING PROLIFERATES
BY ALAN OSBORN
NO official global body exists to help in assessing the quantity and quality of anti money laundering schools, colleges and consultants throughout the world, but the number must certainly run into the thousands – and by far the majority of them are in the US.…
EUROPE: Academics to discuss impact of Europe's sharp population decline
By Keith Nuthall
European academics are preparing to gather at a high level conference to discuss the problems being caused to higher education by a sharp decline in the European population. The debates at the European University Association (EUA) conference comes as the latest figures from European Union (EU) statistical agency Eurostat confirm the number of young people in European countries is already shrinking and will get smaller.…
ENVELOPE ADHESIVES TAKEOVER APPROVED BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PLANNED acquisition of the release liner business of Loparex Holding, of the Netherlands, by stationary company Mondi plc of South Africa, has been approved by the European Commission. Loparex’s siliconised release liners – coated paper or film strips protecting the adhesive surface of envelopes, stickers or plasters before use – are seen by Mondi as a good match for its business.…
SPECIAL CERAMIC IS KEY TO STOPPING WINDSCREENS BEING AUTO-NOISE LOUD SPEAKERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WINDSCREENS are not such something to look through, say European Union (EU) scientists: they also act as loud speakers, attracting and magnifying noise created by a car, reflecting the racket back at drivers and passengers alike. This has made researchers in the EU-funded InMAR (‘Intelligent Materials for Active Noise Reduction’) project consider how make windscreens absorb noise rather than amplify it.…
BAKERS' YEAST DEAL APPROVED BY BRUSSELS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition of baker’s yeast production facilities from GBI, of the Netherlands, by Britain’s Associated British Foods (ABF). Brussels approved the deal after ABF promised to offload GBI yeast businesses in Spain and Portugal to allay competition concerns.…
MOLDOVA BREWERY TO RECEIVE EUROPEAN UNION FINANCING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
PART of an anticipated wave of European Union (EU) support for its eastern neighbours following the Georgia conflict, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is planning a USD$18 million long term loan to the Efes Vitanta Brewery in Moldova.…
EU RESEARCH PROJECT AIMS TO DISCOVER SOURCE OF FOOD ALLERGIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) researchers are investigating why the citizens of poorer European countries are less likely to contract food allergies by those in richer states. The EU’s EuroPrevall project has noted that between 2% to 4% of EU adults suffer from food allergies, with 6% of children younger than three-years-old suffering from the problem.…
EU RELEASES GALILEO CONTRACTOR SHORTLIST
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN aerospace players have been named in an 11-strong shortlist of applicants to build the first complete network of European Union (EU) satellite navigation system GALILEO. They have been chosen by the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA), and have been narrowed down to a choice of two per task – with one job, launch services, having a shortlist of one: France’s Arianespace.…
SPECIAL CERAMIC IS KEY TO STOPPING WINDSHIELDS BEING AUTO-NOISE LOUD SPEAKERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WINDSHIELDS are not such something to look through, say European scientists: they also act as loud speakers, attracting and magnifying noise created by an auto, reflecting the racket back at drivers and passengers alike. This fact has made researchers in the European Union (EU)-funded InMAR (‘Intelligent Materials for Active Noise Reduction’) project consider how to change the materials making windshields, so that they absorb noise rather than amplify it.…
CONCERN GROWING OVER THE SAFETY OF NANOPARTICLES IN CLOTHING
BY MARK ROWE
NANOTECHNOLOGY can imbue textiles with eye-catching properties, but scientists and watchdogs are increasingly uncertain about the extent to which safety issues surrounding such developments have been explored.
According to the US-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, more than 350 nanotech consumer products are now available, such as stain-resistant clothing, (as well as cosmetics, sunscreens and food containers).…
EUROPE: European academics are anti-commercial crime resource for businesses
By Alan Osborn
Many European academics and experts in the study of commercial crime are more than happy to discuss the state of play in the sector in an informal way with outsiders; others may be a little more cautious. But all are likely to suggest ways to gain further assistance.…
EU ROUND UP - EUROPEAN ENERGY NEGOTIATIONS WITH RUSSIA FROZEN OVER GEORGIA CONFLICT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has frozen its partnership and cooperation negotiations with Russia over the Georgia conflict, just three months after the talks were launched following long delays. An emergency meeting of the EU Council of Ministers has ordered no meetings will take place with Moscow on the agreement until its "troops have withdrawn to the positions held prior to 7 August", prior to its short war with Georgia.…
JTI EXECUTIVE SEES GLOBAL ROLE EXPAND
BY KARRYN MILLER
FRITS Vranken, senior vice president for business development at Japan Tobacco International (JTI), has recently seen his role expanded since his 2006 appointment at JTI’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Mr Vranken’s role changed at the start of 2008 to include corporate strategy, tobacco taxation and internal communications.…
ECJ OUTLAWS STRANDED COSTS LEVIES ON CONSUMERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL.
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has declared illegal under European Union (EU) billing consumers a surcharge to compensate private utilities saddled with ‘stranded costs’ liabilities. Because these were imposed when a utility was part of a regulated system without free competition, they are deemed eligible for subsidy competition under the 1996 electricity internal market directive.…
EU ROUND UP - EASTERN EUROPEAN ENERGY COMMUNITY GETS TEETH
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) and Balkans ministerial council has approved the rules of a dispute settlement mechanism for countries participating within the southeast Europe Energy Community. This links Balkans’ gas (and electricity) regulation with that of EU member states and ensures EU energy legislation is adopted in participating countries.…
AFTER MARKET WANTS BLOCK EXEMPTION TO SURVIVE CURRENT EU REVIEW
BY ANDREW CAVE
ONE might suppose that scrapping the European Union’s (EU) restrictive block exemption legislation that helps big car manufacturers and hinders thousands of independent suppliers and garages wanting to repair their automobiles would be welcomed in the after-sales market.…
GLOBAL: Higher education still tougher for women than men
By Keith Nuthall
It is almost a truism that women have a tougher time in most professions than men, and academia is no different. But it is worth considering the absurdity of this statement: that in the 21st century, it is still quite normal to assume that the success of an academic or student is likely to be affected by their gender.…
FOOD ALLERGIES SOURCE TOPIC OF EU RESEARCH PROJECT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
Research on the causes of food allergies and measures that can be taken to
prevent them are primary topics of the EU-funded project EuroPrevall,
coordinated by the Institute of Food Research in Norwich, UK.
Between 2 and 4% of EU adults suffer from food allergies 6% of children
under three.…
EUROPE: HE ROLE CONSIDERED IN GLOBAL CONTEXT AT IAU MEETING
BY ALAN OSBORN
As a demonstration of how the top higher education people from across the world can meet, debate, agree and disagree without ever losing sight of their common goals as academic leaders you would find it hard to better the 4-yearly conference of the UNESCO-based International Association of Universities (IAU).…
PREGNANT WOMEN EATING NUTS INCREASE THE RISK OF ASTHMA IN CHILDREN - DUTCH SCIENTISTS
BY MONICA DOBIE
PREGNANT women eating nuts or nut products increase their future babies’ risk of developing asthma by more than 50%, claim Dutch researchers. The data emerged from an asthma and mite allergy study funded by the Netherlands government.
ENDS…
BRUSSELS "STOPS THE CLOCK" ON FOOD INGREDIENTS DEAL COMPETITION PROBE
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has "put on hold" its investigation into the proposed acquisition of parts of the Netherlands food ingredients company GBI by Associated British Foods of the UK because certain information sought by Brussels had not arrived by the time of an inquiry deadline.…
SMALL CARIBBEAN JURISDICTIONS STRUGGLE TO EFFECTIVELY REGULATE A CASINO SECTOR VULNERABLE TO MONEY LAUNDERERS
BY SUZANNE KOELEGA and JUHEL BROWNE
"CASINOS are an important part of the development of the Caribbean tourist sector, yet they hold a particular attraction to money launderers. Casinos provide the venues for large flows of cash, which launderers can utilise to disguise the true origins of their criminal proceeds."…
REDUCED VAT RATES RIGHTS FOR EU MEMBER STATES FOR CLOTHING REPAIRS TO BE PERMANENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE TEMPORARY right of European Union (EU) member states to levy reduced rates of VAT on clothing and footwear repair services could become permanent. The European Commission has proposed governments henceforth always can reduce VAT on such services by up to 5% from their standard rate.…
EUROPE: European education good but more needed
By Alan Osborn
The 27 EU member states will have to speed up their educational progress if they are to meet a range of self-imposed targets deemed necessary if the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs is to be successful by 2010.…
EUROPE STILL STRUGGLING TO CREATE EU-WIDE GAS MARKET - DESPITE LIBERALISATION LEGISLATION
BY ALAN OSBORN
FEW people would challenge the European Commission’s assertion earlier this year that, in practice, market integration in the gas market in the European Union (EU) "is still far from a success."
In its report Progress in Creating the Internal Gas and Electricity Market published in April, Brussels said that major barriers to the efficient functioning of the market still existed largely because of "insufficient implementation of European legislation."…
INTERVIEW WITH THE EUROPEAN SMOKING TOBACCO ASSOCIATION
BY DAVID HAWORTH
THE EUROPEAN Smoking Tobacco Association (ESTA) represents the interests of the European manufacturers, distributors and importers of fine-cut (rolling) tobacco, pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco and nasal snuff tobacco. The members of ESTA are mainly small and medium sized companies (SMEs) as well as member associations from the vast majority of the European Union Member States from Norway and Switzerland.…
GLOBAL: Facebook for researchers promotes online collaboration
By Keith Nuthall
WE all know about Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. These social utility websites allow us all to keep in touch with friends and family around the world, exchange messages, post pictures and play silly games – such as throwing a digital sheep at someone or giving them a pixellated hellraiser cocktail.…
WORLDWIDE EFFORTS TO MAKE TANKERS LESS POLLUTING ARE MAKING PROGRESS
BY DEIRDRE MASON, in London; LUCY JONES, in Dallas; JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo; and KEITH NUTHALL
GIVEN the spate of oil tanker accidents in recent years involving substantial pollution of seas and coastlines around the world, it is no surprise that international organisations have weighed in with regulatory controls and guidelines on shipping standards.…
OECD WARNS OF MAJOR BURDEN TO WATER UTILITIES CAUSED BY AGRICULTURAL POLLUTION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A REPORT from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has revealed that almost a half of OECD member countries (including many in Europe) have potentially dangerous nutrient and pesticide concentrations in drinking water sources.
Tests carried out in recent years (NOTE: CALLED MID-2000’S IN THE REPORT) on surface water and groundwater monitoring sites in agricultural areas show these pollutants often "exceed national drinking water recommended limits" said a new OECD report on the environmental impact of farming.…
NOW GALILEO'S FUTURE IS SOLID, DISCUSSIONS ON SERVICES PROCEED APACE
BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Brussels
WITH the launch of the long-debated Galileo orbiting satellite system now largely secure, attention is being turned to its varied applications and services. These were debated last week (Thurs June 12) at a half day conference for European Parliament members and European Commission officials.…
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION ROUND-UP: RESCUE PACKAGE FOR EU FISHERMEN DEBATED IN BRUSSELS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers are debating an urgent rescue package for a European fishing sector that is being buffeted by high fuel prices. European Commission officials are drafting formal proposals, which would suspend certain European Fisheries Fund subsidy controls for two years.…
EU AGREES NEW ANTI-POLLUTION RULES AS OECD COUNTS COST OF WATER CONTAMINATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AGREEMENT has been secured on a new European Union (EU) directive reducing or banning 33 pollutants – mainly pesticides and heavy metals – found in EU rivers, lakes and coastal waters. By 2018, member states will have to reduce pollution from "priority substances", while blocking or phasing out emissions, discharges and losses of "priority hazardous substances".…
CHINA COSMETICS ANIMAL TESTS STILL COMPULSORY - BUT CHANGE COULD BE COMING
BY MARK GODFREY, in Beijing
IT could be an animal rights campaigner’s worst nightmare: not only is the testing of cosmetics China allowed, it is in fact compulsory for all products. And this is going to cause problems to the international cosmetics sector.…
TERRORIST FINANCING SLINKS INTO THE LEGITIMATE PRIVATE SECTOR TO COVER ITS TRACKS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SINCE the September 11 attacks, the control of terrorist financing has been an international policing priority. But businesses also need to be aware of the risks. Keith Nuthall reports.
TERRORISM may be an exceptional crime, but the money required to stage violent attacks on the public is – ultimately – just money.…
ALLIANCE OF EUROPEAN STATES SPIKE EUROJUST REFORM PLANS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN ALLIANCE of Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden have effectively blocked moves to create a European Public Prosecutor position. The European Commission has dropped draft proposals establishing the post within Eurojust, the European Union’s (EU) network of prosecution agencies.…
OLAF AND ITALIAN POLICE SMASH GHOST TOBACCO SUBSIDY SCAM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ITALIAN Carabinieri police force and European Union (EU) anti-fraud office OLAF have smashed a fraud ring involving the claiming of agricultural subsidies for more then 900,000 kilograms of non-existent tobacco. OLAF claims that at least Euro 3 million had been illegally siphoned from EU common agricultural policy budgets in this scam, which has led to 80 individuals being placed under formal judicial investigation by the Italian public prosecutor’s office (Procura della Repubblica) in Perugia, north of Rome.…
EU ROUND UP - AGREEMENT FORGED OVER UNBUNDLING OF EU GAS AND ELECTRICITY NETWORKS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DEAL has been struck at the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers over unbundling of gas (and electricity) networks, which will allow formal ownership of production and distribution operations.
However, this compromise option will insist on transmission systems being managed by an independent operator.…
UKRAINE SUNFLOWER OIL BANNED FROM EU OVER CONTAMINATION FEARS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has banned imports of sunflower oil from Ukraine, because of concerns it could be contaminated with mineral oil. Brussels has been pressing for guarantees that Ukraine sunflower oil is safe since a 40,000 ton batch exported to France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands was found contaminated in April.…
EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS BOOST COOPERATION OVER FIGHTING TAX REFORM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN governments have backed reforms to fight tax evasion and fraud. Importantly, the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers has informally supported changes to the EU savings tax directive, to close a loophole where private citizens could protect bank account information by transferring money to accounts held by companies established to boost their privacy.…
EU CAP REFORM TO DECOUPLE FIBRE SUBSIDIES FROM PRODUCTION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission yesterday (Tues 20 May) proposed ending a long-established link between paying fibre crop producers’ subsidies and the amount of flax and hemp that they grow. Brussels wants these grants rolled into the EU’s single payment system, where farming subsidies are not governed by harvest levels.…
COMMISSION GREEN-LIGHTS NEW MERGED NAVIGATION AID COMPANY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MAJOR company able to create integrated digital navigation maps and portable navigation devices should be formed, following the approval of a Dutch merger deal by the European Commission. It has green-lighted the acquisition by the Netherlands’ device manufacturer Tom Tom of co-patriots Tele Atlas, which makes navigable digital maps covering Europe and north America.…
ROAD TRANSPORT HAS BOOMED IN 10 NEW EASTERN AND SOUTHERN EUROPE EU MEMBER STATES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ROAD transport has been booming in the 10 eastern and southern European countries joining the European Union (EU) in 2004. Between 1995 and 2005, traffic volumes increased by 400%, compared to 16% in longer established EU member states such as Britain, a consultants report written for the European Commission has claimed.…
DIESEL FUMES IMPAIR DRIVING ABILITIES, SAY DUTCH RESEARCHERS
BY MONICA DOBIE
INHALING diesel exhaust impairs the brain’s processing of information according to a study from Zuyd University, the Netherlands. Participants inhaled diesel exhaust similar to that breathed by roadside or garage workers during 30 minutes. Their minds displayed stress responses recorded on an electroencephalograph (EEG) whilst controls breathing clean air registered normal brain activity.…
BRUSSELS LAUNCHES MERGER PROBE ON YEAST
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has opened a detailed merger probe into the proposed acquisition of certain parts of the Netherlands’ GBI by Britain-based Associated British Foods (ABF). Both companies produce dry, compressed and liquid baker’s yeast and Brussels fears competition problems in Portugal, Spain and France.…
SNUS BAN MAYBE LIFTED AFTER EXPERT HEALTH OPINION FROM EU SCIENTISTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN EXPERT scientific report from the European Commission has suddenly made it respectable to talk once again about lifting the European Union (EU) ban on snus, the smokeless tobacco product from Sweden whose sale in other member states has been prohibited by an EU directive since 1992.…
USA: American researcher shows how the safety of nanomaterials can be tested in a petri-dish
By Mark Rowe
NANOMATERIALS, made of miniscule particles much smaller than those generally found in nature, are being developed by many industries as a means of dramatically improving every day products. Yet, as with any scientific development, caution abounds the possible health effects.…
GLOBAL - Universities offer commercially valuable research to businesses worldwide - new projects
By Keith Nuthall and Monica Dobie
Universities and colleges are constantly working with business and industry to undertake commercially valuable research. University World News here again features a selection of these cutting edge developments in its business pages.
*The University of Latvia’s Institute of Polymer Mechanics Eureka has helped create construction bricks with domestic waste polymers usually considered too varied or dirty to be recycled.…
SAFETY OF NANOMATERIALS TO BE TESTED IN A PETRI-DISH
BY MARK ROWE
NANOMATERIALS, made of miniscule particles much smaller than those generally found in nature, are being developed by many industries as a means of dramatically improving every day products. Yet, as with any scientific development, caution abounds the possible health effects.…
DANISH BABY CLOTHES RETAILER TAKEOVER APPROVED BY EUROPEAN COMMISSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the takeover over Denmark baby clothes retailer BabySam by Netherlands-based AAC Capital Partners, and a Danish arm of the Polaris equity fund – Polaris Private Equity.
Regulatory approval will kickstart AAC-Polaris plans to turn BabySam into "the Nordic region’s leading integrated baby retail chain", by transforming "the chain of independent shops by merging 12 existing legal entities," said AAC.…
LOW COUNTRIES CONVERTERS SUFFER BECAUSE OF RECESSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LOW Countries markets of Belgium and the Netherlands are a good place to take Europe’s converting industry temperature as it rides the recession this year. There is no denying that business is down in this key European region, but there are certainly no signs of melt-down and converters in this country appear well positioned to exploit an economic recovery, when it comes.…
GLOBAL - UN-sponsored responsible business education initiative takes off
By Keith Nuthall
A UNITED Nations-sponsored global initiative to encourage business schools to teach and promote social and environmentally responsible commercial practices has gathered a critical mass of support. More than 100 business schools worldwide have now signed up to the Principles for Responsible Management Initiative.…
EU RESEARCHERS DEVELOP EARLY WARNING SYSTEM FOR DRUG TRIAL FAILURES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INNOVATIVE computer system is being developed by a European Union (EU)-funded research project that is designed to swiftly warn regulators about new unexpected side-effects of approved medicines. At present, clinicians are responsible for reporting such events, but this ad hoc system has meant "adverse effects of drugs may be detected too late, when millions of patients have already been exposed," claims the ALERT research consortium.…
EU MINISTERS EXTEND PRODUCTION AID FOR EUROPEAN FLAX AND HEMP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SUBSIDIES will continue to be paid to European Union (EU) producers of flax and hemp fibre crops, the EU Council of Ministers has decided. Indeed, ministers have decided to increase the aid paid to long flax fibre producers, raising it from the current Euro 160 per tonne to Euro 200 per tonne from the 2009/10 marketing year onwards.…
EU MINISTERS EXTEND PRODUCTION AID FOR EUROPEAN FLAX AND HEMP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SUBSIDIES will continue to be paid to European Union (EU) producers of flax and hemp fibre crops, the EU Council of Ministers has decided. Indeed, aid for long flax fibre producers will rise from Euro 160/ tonne to Euro 200/tonne from 2009/10 onwards, with additional aid for long flax fibre traditional production within Belgium, France and the Netherlands.…
DIESEL FUMES IMPAIR DRIVING ABILITIES, SAY DUTCH RESEARCHERS
BY MONICA DOBIE
INHALING diesel exhaust impairs the brain’s processing of information according to a study from Zuyd University, the Netherlands. Participants inhaled diesel exhaust similar to that breathed by roadside or garage workers during 30 minutes. Their minds displayed stress responses recorded on an electroencephalograph (EEG) whilst controls breathing clean air registered normal brain activity.…
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT THREATENS DELAY OVER ACCEPTING ACCOUNTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s budgetary control committee has tied its recommendation that the European Union’s (EU) 2006 accounts be approved to the creation of a joint parliament-European Commission group improving EU accounting and auditing. The group would especially monitor new quarterly checks on the financial management of regional development ‘structural’ funds that command Euro 278 billion from 2007-13.…
JAA BREAK-UP MOVES FORWARD
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE OUTGOING Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) system and liaison office will close by June 30, 2009, a working group has declared. With many JAA functions now being handled by the European Union’s (EU) European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the JAA Training Organisation in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands, will continue operating as an associate of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC).…
NABUCCO SUPPORTERS PUSH TO SOLVE TURKISH PROBLEMS WITH CRUCIAL EUROPE GAS PIPELINE
BY ALAN OSBORN
OF all the European Union’s (EU) flagship energy projects, maybe none is more central to the goal of ensuring security of supply and none more fraught with political and technical complexity than the proposed Nabucco pipeline designed to bring natural gas from the Caspian region, the Middle East and Egypt into Austria and then on to consumers in western Europe.…
EXPANSION OF LATIN AMERICAN GM OIL CROPS CONTINUES APACE
BY RACHEL JONES, in Caracas
SINCE biotech oil crops were first commercialised over a decade ago, their use has experienced yearly double-digit growth worldwide, with Latin America being something of a nursery for this growth. Globally, the area of biotech crops grew by 13%, or by 12 million hectares, in 2006, to reach 102 million hectares, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA).…
FATF, WORLD BANK AND IMF DEVELOPING EVER-CLOSER RELATIONSHIP OVER ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING WORK
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE FIGHT against money laundering took on a new character in early 2004 when the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) formally adopted new methodology drawn up and agreed the previous year by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).…
INTERNATIONAL CONSENSUS SOUGHT FOR DEVELOPMENT OF GLOBAL BIOFUEL STANDARDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
INTERNATIONAL standards are crucial for the trade in goods, because they allow
importers to have confidence that the foreign product they are buying meets the
specifications they are familiar with at home. So, it may come as some surprise that no
such global standard currently exists as regards the technical definition of biofuels.…
EUROPE INCHES TOWARDS THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW GENERATION OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
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.…
EU: Europe's universities and businesses must work together says European commissioner
By Renée Cordes, in Brussels
Europe’s universities and companies must work together as a matter of urgency to ensure a more productive, mobile workforce, European Union (EU) education Commissioner Ján Figel has told the first European University/Business Forum in Brussels.
"Europe a has been too weak for too long in bringing the worlds of university academia and business enterprise together, to achieve successful commercial exploitation of academic excellence," he said, adding that universities here have tended to shy away from ‘getting their hands dirty with business.…
COSMETICS SECTOR PRESSES AHEAD WITH NANOTECHNOLOGY INNOVATION, DESPITE CONSUMER FEARS
BY MARK ROWE
WHILE many of the claimed benefits of nanotechnology remain uncertain, the cosmetics industry is at the vanguard of developments. There seem to be real advances that nanotechnology can offer for particular products, such as suncscreen and anti-ageing creams.…
UNIVERSITIES EXPLORE NEW TEACHING OPTIONS IN VIRTUAL WORLDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EVERY decade or so comes a technology that is so new, comprehensive, interesting, and damned useful, that it changes the way that we learn, have fun and do business. Think commercial air travel, the mobile phone and the Internet…..these…
EU ROUND UP - EUROPEAN FISHERIES FUND PROGRAMMES BEING ROLLED OUT BY EUROPEAN COMMISSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has been approving a series of operational programmes for many European Union (EU) member states’ fishing (and aquaculture) sectors, outlining how it will target money from the European Fisheries Fund (EFF).
One of the largest recipients of this Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) subsidy scheme is France, which is to receive Euro 216 million from 2007-13, less than it received under the 2000-2006 Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG), which supplied Euro 278 million.…
NETHERLANDS GETS GREEN LIGHT TO SPEND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SUBSIDIES
BY ALAN OSBORN
The European Commission has authorised the Netherlands government to provide an extra Euro 2.144 million in state aid for a revised long-term programme to stimulate production of renewable energy and combined heat and power. The new programme is a modification and extension of the MEP project, approved in 2003, which has so far paid out some Euro 8.259 million in subsidies.…
EU RESEARCHERS DEVELOP NEW CONTINUOUS INK-JET TEXTILE PRINTER
BY ALAN OSBORN
A new system of continuous ink-jet printing designed to help textile printers cope with the increasingly rapid turnover of clothes in shops has been developed by the French company Imaje jointly with the Dutch firm Osiris Digital Printing under the EU’s EUREKA initiative which provides support to businesses carrying out cross-border innovative projects.…
EU REPORT SAYS TENS SPENDING MUST BE VERY FOCUSED
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A CONSULTANTS report by Ecorys, of the Netherlands, advising the European Commission on the 2007-13 European Union (EU) trans-European networks (TENs) transport programme, has called for close targeting of its Euro 5.1 billion grants, ignoring roads altogether. The Commission has already decided it wants to spend most of the money on rail and inland waterways.…
BOOK TOKEN PROMOTION BOOSTS DUTCH CHRISTMAS SALES
BY DAVID HAWORTH
ALTHOUGH final Christmas and New Year sales figures are not yet available, every indication from Dutch publishers and retailers is that the Netherlands enjoyed a plump festive season following 12 months in which sales of copies increased by 4.5% – representing in cash terms a 7.5% growth.…
ECJ SAYS EU ROAD ACCIDENT VICTIMS SUING INSURERS CAN USE THEIR HOME COUNTRY COURTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has indicated that British fleet drivers who are victims of accidents in other European Union (EU) member states, can sue the insurer of responsible party in the UK. The ECJ precedent-making ruling came in a case where a German driver was injured in the Netherlands.…
ECODRIVING GIVES LOCAL AUTHORITIES OPPORTUNITY TO BE GREEN AND BE SEEN BEING GREEN - IEA CONFERENCE
BY CHRIS JONES, in Paris
A FEW hours of training and a handful of simple-to-follow driving rules can help significantly reduce CO2 emissions by buses, lorries and other public sector vehicles, and help local authorities do their bit – and be seen doing it – to tackle global warming.…
FUEL COMPANIES KEEN TO JUMP ON THE ECO-DRIVING BANDWAGON
BY CHRIS JONES, in Paris
FUEL companies are getting increasingly involved in support for eco-driving campaigns, but still have the own self-interest at heart, according to Peter Wilbers of Senter Novem, the Dutch energy agency.
Wilbers was speaking at an international forum organised by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris on November 22-23, which brought to together policy-makers, fuel companies, car manufacturers and road users to discuss the role of eco-driving on fuel economy and CO2 emissions.…
PETTEN REACTOR LIFE EXTENDED BY EU COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
Brussels
The operation of the high flux research reactor operated by the European Union’s (EU) Joint Research Centre, in Petten, the Netherlands, has been extended for one more year by the EU Council of Ministers. The reactor will now continue as a research tool until December 2008, with a Euro 8.5 million budget donated by the Dutch and French governments.…
DATA ON PUBLIC PLACE SMOKING BAN HEALTH IMPROVEMENTS REMAINS INCONCLUSIVE
BY ANDREW CAVE
FOLLOWING the introduction on July 1 of public place smoking bans in England 240 million people worldwide were covered by public smoking restrictions, according to the International Union Against Cancer (UICC). (NOTE – THIS IS A FRENCH ACRONYM)
The movement towards such restrictions is becoming ubiquitous in the European Union (EU), with Estonia, Finland, Scotland and Ireland already have full public-place bans, while Italy, Sweden and Malta have partial bans, allowing smoking only in closed-off, separately-ventilated areas.…
PETTEN REACTOR LIFE EXTENDED BY EU COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE OPERATION of the high flux research reactor operated by the European Union’s (EU) Joint Research Centre, in Petten, the Netherlands, has been extended for one more year by the EU Council of Ministers. The reactor will now continue as a research tool until December 2008, with a Euro 8.5 million budget donated by the Dutch and French governments.…
JURY STILL OUT ON HEALTH IMPACT OF PUBLIC PLACE SMOKING BANS
BY ANDREW CAVE
PUBLIC place smoking bans are spreading like wildlife these days, with one country after another drawing up rules preventing tobacco use where it could expose non-smokers to second-hand smoke.
In the European Union (EU), this year, public place smoking bans have been introduced in England, Estonia and Finland, for instance.…
ARCTIC NATIONS STRUGGLE FOR ENERGY RIGHTS
BY LARS RUGAARD, in Copenhagen
REPUTEDLY immense riches looming below the glaciated surface of the Arctic Ocean have come within human reach because climate change is gradually thawing the world’s previously frozen-stiff polar regions. But this consequence of a milder physical climate has provoked tension between the countries with an Arctic Ocean, creating echoes of the long defunct cold war, and indicating a long and tough legal and political fight for what could be an important addition to the Earth’s undiscovered hydrocarbon reserves.…
EU MINISTERS ALLOW DUTCH TO CHARGE CLOTHING CONTRACTORS TO FIGHT VAT FRAUD
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has authorised the Netherlands to derogate from standard VAT law for the ready-to-wear clothing industry by shifting the obligation to pay sales tax from clothing firm sub-contractors to their contractors. The aim of this temporary reform – which would last until December 2009 – is, said council minutes: "Preventing fraud in a sector in which collecting VAT is rendered awkward by the difficulty of identifying and supervising the activities of subcontractors."…
EU MINISTERS BACK PIGMEAT STORAGE REGIME
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have backed the European Commission’s move to introduce private storage aid for pigmeat to fight current low prices. Under the programme, pigmeat producers can claim EU aid when storing meat for between three and five months.…
BREAK UP OF NETHERLANDS ANTILLES WILL POSE TOUGH CHALLENGE ON FIGHTING CARIBBEAN MONEY LAUNDERING
BY SUZANNE KOELEGA, in Sint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles, JAMES FULLER, in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, and KEITH NUTHALL
A MAJOR shake up is looming in the political organisation of the Caribbean, with the impending dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles federation, and the creation of separate political units for its composite islands Curaçao, Bonaire, Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius (Statia).…
SMOKING STATISTICS SHOW BRITONS MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO ANTI-SMOKING MESSAGES THAN MANY CONTINENTALS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ENVIRONMENTAL health officers may think there are a lot of smokers in the UK – in 2005, 24% of adults aged 16 or over in Britain smoked cigarettes, but spare a thought for officials in Greece – home of Europe’s keenest smokers.…
BRITAIN'S WASTE MANAGEMENT ON PAR WITH EASTERN EUROPE, EEA REPORT SHOWS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LEVEL of incineration and recycling of municipal waste within Britain is as low as former communist countries in eastern Europe, a new European Environment Agency (EEA) report has concluded. In an assessment of the contrasting waste management practices in the 27 European Union (EU) member states, the EEA bracketed Britain with Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.…
MEPS ACCEPT LIBERALISATION OF VEHICLE PARTS DESIGN PROTECTION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PROPOSED liberalisation of European Union (EU) design rights legislation, allowing lorry parts makers to copy and sell spares already made by vehicle manufacturers across the EU has been accepted by the European Parliament’s legal affairs committee. A committee communiqué said: "The directive will allow suppliers to produce motor vehicle components which are identical to the original parts without infringing design protection."…
EU ROUND UP - EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PUSHES FOR GREEN BIOFUEL PRODUCTION STANDARDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s environment committee wants European Union (EU) rules to insist that biofuel production is environmentally sustainable, even an increase in this growing fuel sector reduces CO2 emissions. The call was made in amendments tabled to European Commission proposed reforms to the EU fuel quality directive to reduce CO2 production.…
EU MINISTERS ALLOW DUTCH TO CHARGE CLOTHING CONTRACTORS TO FIGHT VAT FRAUD
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EU MINISTERS ALLOW DUTCH TO CHARGE CLOTHING CONTRACTORS TO FIGHT VAT FRAUD
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has authorised the Netherlands to derogate from standard VAT law for the ready-to-wear clothing industry by shifting the obligation to pay sales tax from clothing firm sub-contractors to their contractors.…
CALL FOR EU UNBUNDLING COMPROMISE FROM PORTUGUESE PRESIDENCY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PORTUGUESE presidency of the European Union (EU) has called for compromise proposals on the European Commission’s energy unbundling plans, under discussion at a Council of Ministers meeting on Monday (Dec 3). A paper released by Lisbon clarified the split between member states: supporting the proposal are Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Romania and Sweden; opposing are France, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg and Slovakia.…
BRITAIN'S WASTE MANAGEMENT ON PAR WITH EASTERN EUROPE, EEA REPORT SHOWS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LEVEL of incineration and recycling of municipal waste within Britain is as low as former communist countries in eastern Europe, a new European Environment Agency (EEA) report has concluded. In an assessment the 27 European Union (EU) member states, the EEA bracketed Britain with Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.…
IRAN AND VENEZUELA DEVELOP ANTI-AMERICAN OIL AND GAS AXIS
BY RACHEL JONES, in Caracas
FOLLOWING the late-November OPEC summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited Tehran to discuss joint ventures over oil refining and then chuckle with his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, over the weakened US dollar.…
CAR MAKERS WANT CLEARER VISION ON ECO-DRIVING, THAT GOES BEYOND TECHNICAL IMPROVEMENTS
BY CHRIS JONES, in Paris
AUTO manufacturers in Europe are calling for greater support from national governments and European Union (EU) institutions in promoting eco-driving – where good motoring styles are adopted which reduce the greenhouse gas and other polluting emissions from vehicles.…
EIB MAKES URANIUM PRODUCTION LOAN TO URENCO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) is lending Euro 200 million to Urenco Ltd for expanding two uranium enrichment plants in Britain and the Netherlands. The money will help the company install new centrifuge cascades in both plants. Said an EIB memorandum: "This project forms part of the company’s medium-term investment programme, meeting global uranium enrichment demand by the use of Urenco’s world-leading energy-efficient technology."…
EUROPEAN ACADEMICS ARE ANTI-COMMERCIAL CRIME RESOURCE FOR BUSINESSES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MANY European academics and experts in the study of commercial crime are more than happy to discuss the state of play in the sector in an informal way with outsiders; others may be a little more cautious. But all are likely to suggest ways to gain further assistance.…
CONTINENTAL EUROPEAN DRIVERS CAUGHT BREAKING EU WORKING TIME RULES IN BRITAIN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
TACOGRAPH spotchecks by British highways officials and police have revealed that continental lorry drivers are far more likely to break European Union (EU) working time rules on UK roads than Britons. Looking at newest available EU-wide comparative data 27,418 of offenders detected in 2003-4 on British highways were UK citizens, while 11,565 were from the much smaller pool of drivers from other EU member states.…
EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY WARNS ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS STILL BEDEVIL EUROPE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NEED to limit particulate matter in Britain and continental western Europe has been underlined by the European Environment Agency’s (EEA) latest assessment of pollution in Europe. In its fourth annual environmental health check of Europe, central Asia and Asiatic Russia, the agency concluded that much of western, central and south east Europe, especially urban areas, "experience daily average PM10 concentrations in excess of 50 ?g/m3…
EU ROUND UP - EU AND RUSSIA CONSIDER REPAIRING STRAINED ENERGY RELATIONS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A CHINK of light has emerged in the perennially taut energy relations between the European Union (EU) and Russia: both sides have agreed to establish a committee to examine how a system of gas unbundling ‘reciprocity’ might work.…
EUROSTAT MAKES CLEAR EUROPE'S DEPENDENCE ON RUSSIAN GAS
THE DEPENDENCE of the European Union (EU) on gas from Russia has been made starkly clear by the latest detailed trade figures released by EU statistical agency Eurostat – 42% of imported natural gas came was Russian in 2005. This 4.9 million terajoules compared with 2.6 million terajoules (22%) from Norway; 2.2 million terajoules from Algeria (19%) and 1.9 million from other sources (17%).…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION SHARPENS EU RESPONSE TO BLUETONGUE OUTBREAKS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has secured approval for new European Union (EU) legislation that will force EU member states to improve their surveillance, monitoring and publicity regarding cases of bluetongue. With the disease rampaging across northwestern Europe, the EU’s Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health have agreed to make monitoring compulsory in all infected countries, while bluetongue-free member states must undertake "surveillance proportionate to the risk".…
ITALY PUNISHED BY EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR DAIRY OVER-PRODUCTION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ITALIAN government has been told to secure a levy of Euro 176 million from its dairy producers after allowing them to flood the European Union (EU) market with 617,000 tonnes of excess milk in 2006/7. The penalty was ordered by the European Commission under a system of national milk production quotas, to be scrapped by 2015.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION POSTPONES DANONE TAKEOVER DECISION BY 10 DAYS
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to postpone by 10 days – until October 31 – its competition regulatory decision on the proposed take-over by the French company Danone of the Netherlands firm Numica. This is in order to "market test" commitments given by the two companies, a spokeswoman for the Commission’s competition directorate told just-food.com.…
BRITAIN MUST CATCH UP OVER LOW SULPHUR FUELS - EU REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BRITISH road transport sector has to play catch up with many of its European Union (EU) competitors regarding the introduction of sulphur-free fuels, a report from the European Commission has shown. It shows that as long ago as 2005, member states such as Germany, Italy and Ireland were already selling this environmentally-friendly petrol and diesel, while Britain was still selling low sulphur fuel, of between 10 and 50 parts per million sulphur content.…
EU ENVIRONMENT AGENCY SAYS UK PARTICULATE MATTER EXPOSURE COMPARATIVELY LOW
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN is comparatively free of particulate matter PM10 which can cause serious respiratory problems, the latest Europe-wide pollution survey from the European Environment Agency (EEA) has concluded. It said the "highest urban concentrations were observed in Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain" plus western Balkan cities, with northern Italy’s Po Valley, parts of Belgium and the Netherlands, and southern Spain being the worst affected.…
APPALLING DRINKING WATER PROBLEMS DAMAGE HEALTH OF EASTERN EUROPE - EEA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
APPALLING drinking water quality problems still pose major health hazards for some south-eastern Europe countries wanting to join the European Union (EU), the European Environment Agency’s (EEA) latest assessment of European pollution has concluded. For example, Albania’s "urban water rarely has even preliminary treatment" through "the lack of adequate…facilities and the unreliable supply of chemicals."…
CONTINENTAL EUROPEAN DRIVERS CAUGHT BREAKING EU WORKING TIME RULES IN BRITAIN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
TACOGRAPH spotchecks by British highways officials and police have revealed continental van and lorry drivers are far more likely to break European Union (EU) working time rules on UK roads than Britons. Looking at newest available EU-wide comparative data 27,418 of offenders detected in 2004-4 on British highways were UK citizens, while 11,565 were from the much smaller pool of drivers from other EU member states.…
EU: European court says EU grants for studying abroad in Europe cannot be tied to continuing courses started locally
BY KEITH NUTHALL
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has declared illegal rules that insist European Union (EU) students wanting to study in a foreign EU state must continue a course subject they have already begun in their home country, if they want to receive a grant from the government of the country where they normally live.…
SECOND LIFE OFFERS VIRTUAL BUSINESS WORLD FOR ACCOUNTANTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL, in the real world, and BELINDA BLESSED, in Second Life
EVERY decade or so comes a technology that is so new, comprehensive, interesting, and damn useful, that it completely changes the way that we have fun and do business.…
EU JUDGES ORDER NETHERLANDS AND GREECE TO REMOVE OBSTACLES TO USED CAR IMPORTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has told Greece and the Netherlands to remove obstacles to second hand car imports that would make it easier – if they are removed – for fleet managers to export and sell old vehicles.…
RUSSIA DAIRY PRODUCT IMPORT RESTRICTIONS HITS EASTERN EUROPEAN PRODUCERS HARD
BY MARK ROWE
RUSSIA’S new-found belligerence and confidence is not confined to the political and military sphere: in the past four years – and increasingly so in the past 12 months – Russia has adopted an aggressive, take-it-or-leave it stance when it comes to imports of dairy and other food products.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION TRIES TO DODGE BULLET OVER UNBUNDLING HOT POTATO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE OUTCOME of the political struggle about this month’s (Sept) release of a comprehensive proposed package of European Union (EU) energy directives and regulations insisting on some unbundling between power producers and transmitters will test the EU’s ability to threaten core interests of national governments.…
NUCLEAR ADD - EIB AND URENCO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
The European Investment Bank is lending Euro 200 million to Urenco Ltd for expanding uranium enrichment plants in Britain and the Netherlands.
ENDS
…
BENETTON CASE SPURS ECJ CLOTHES SHAPE TRADEMARK PRECEDENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CLOTHING companies cannot trademark design shapes after advertising campaigns highlighted particular products, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. In a case between Benetton and Dutch clothing company G-Star International BV, judges ruled such protection is excluded under European Union (EU) directive 89/104/EEC on trademarks.…
DUTCH FOOD COMPANY WINS RIGHT TO FINANCING TAX BREAK IN ECJ CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NETHERLANDS’ Koninklijke Friesland Foods has won the right to benefit from a Dutch tax break for the international financing of companies within commercial groups through a case at the European Court of Justice’s Court of First Instance.…
EUROPE: HE ROLE CONSIDERED IN GLOBAL CONTEXT AT IAU MEETING
BY ALAN OSBORN
AS a demonstration of how the top higher education people from across the world can meet, debate, agree and disagree without ever losing sight of their common goals as academic leaders you would find it hard to better the 4-yearly conference of the UNESCO-based International Association of Universities (IAU).…
EUROPE: HE ROLE CONSIDERED IN GLOBAL CONTEXT AT IAU MEETING
By Alan Osborn
As a demonstration of how the top higher education people from across the world can meet, debate, agree and disagree without ever losing sight of their common goals as academic leaders you would find it hard to better the 4-yearly conference of the UNESCO-based International Association of Universities (IAU).…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION THREATENS LEGAL ACTION OVER DRIVER TRAINING LAW
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has sent final legal warnings to 10 European Union (EU) member governments, telling them to abide by minimum standards for the training of professional drivers working in their countries. EU directive 2003/59 imposes requirements for initial qualification and continuing training: compulsory basic training of 280 hours, and periodic training of 35 hours every five years to update knowledge and skills.…
CONTINENTAL EUROPE FACES LIVESTOCK DISEASE SURGE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONTINENTAL Europe has been grappling with a series of livestock disease outbreaks whilst Britain has attempted to nail down its latest foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak. Germany and the Netherlands have both been fighting cases of bluetongue in cattle and sheep, showing that the disease that once was restricted to the Mediterranean is now well established in north-west Europe.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION ACTS OVER POORLY TRAINED FOREIGN BUS DRIVERS
BY MONICA DOBIE
CONCERNS that non-British bus and coach drivers from 10 European Union (EU) member states could have weak professional driving training and be a public transport safety risk are being addressed by the European Commission. It is threatening action at the European Court of Justice against these countries for not complying with an EU directive on professional drivers training that insists upon 280 hours compulsory basic training and 35 hours further training every five years.…
EU COMMISSION PLANS MEAT MARKETING GRANTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced funding to help meat industry organisations promote sales of their products within the European Union (EU). The money will be matched by relevant national governments and by private sources. Italy will benefit the most: the Commission is to spend Euro 1.75 million over three years promoting quality beef and mutton from Italy’s San Daniele and Grana Padano regions; and Euro 2 million promoting over three years the same products from Italy’s Alpine regions, such as the Alto Adige.…
JRC HIGH FLUX REACTOR GETS MORE RESEARCH FUNDING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN ADDITIONAL Euro 8.5 million in research has been approved in research spending for this year at the European Union’s (EU) Joint Research Centre’s high flux reactor, at Petten, the Netherlands. EU ministers approved research projects including reactor safety and waste management.…
FOOD PRICES MAY RISE BECAUSE OF GLOBAL BIOFUEL BOOM
BY ANDREW CAVE
BIOFUELS have generated earnest debate ever since German inventor Rudolph Diesel ran the world’s first diesel engine on peanut oil back in 1894, but suddenly there is a biofuels boom that’s moving global markets.
World economies are in a race to find alternatives to fossil fuels and turning crops such as wheat and corn into ethanol or oilseed rape, soya, or palm oil into biodiesel is having an impact on farmers, manufacturer and industrial producers worldwide.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION ANNOUNCES SALES AID FOR EU FOOD PRODUCERS
BY MONICA DOBIE
THE EUROPEAN Commission is giving food companies from 10 European Union (EU) member states Euro 38.8 million over three years to promote food product sales within the EU, with a large share going toward organic lines. France’s organic products agency Agence Bio and other French organic players, will receive Euro 3.6 million in EU funding, while Austria’s organic food producers, AMA Marketing GesmbH, will receive Euro 1.5million.…
EU GENETIC OBESITY STUDY FOCUSES ON FULLNESS FEELINGS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COMPREHENSIVE genetic research project aimed at reducing obesity launched by the European Union (EU) is examining the DNA of more than 13,000 individuals to devise a long-term dietary anti-obesity plan in eight European countries. The EU-funded DiOGenes (Diet, Obesity and Genes) project is studying the dietary, genetic, physiological and psychological factors behind obesity, so that more sophisticated food control policies can be developed.…
EU ROUND UP - EU MINISTERS OPPOSE WHOLESALE ENERGY UNBUNDLING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs has admitted that support for a comprehensive unbundling of EU energy suppliers and producers is weak within the EU Council of Ministers, signalling that he may have to water down planned tough draft proposals.…
EU GENETIC OBESITY STUDY FOCUSES ON FULLNESS FEELINGS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COMPREHENSIVE genetic research project aimed at reducing obesity launched by the European Union (EU) is examining the DNA of more than 13,000 individuals to devise a long-term dietary anti-obesity plan in eight European countries. The EU-funded DiOGenes (Diet, Obesity and Genes) project is studying the dietary, genetic, physiological and psychological factors behind obesity, so that more sophisticated food control policies can be developed.…
EU ROUND UP - EU MINISTERS OPPOSE WHOLESALE ENERGY UNBUNDLING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs has admitted that support for a comprehensive unbundling of EU energy suppliers and producers is weak within the EU Council of Ministers, signalling that he may have to water down planned tough draft proposals.…
EU COUNCIL DEBATE SHOWS WEAK SUPPORT OVER UNBUNDLING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs has admitted that support for a comprehensive unbundling of EU energy suppliers and producers is weak within the EU Council of Ministers, signalling that he may have to water down tough draft proposals.…
EU COUNCIL DEBATE SHOWS WEAK SUPPORT OVER UNBUNDLING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs has admitted that support for a comprehensive unbundling of EU energy suppliers and producers is weak within the EU Council of Ministers, signalling that he may have to water down tough draft proposals.…
OPERATION DIABOLO YIELDS COUNTERFEIT CLOTHING SEIZURES, SAYS EU
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has revealed the seizure of many thousands of items of counterfeit clothing and accessories in a coordinated EU customs swoop on illicit cargoes in European Union (EU) international ports. Codenamed ‘Diabolo’, Brussels said Netherlands ports yielded the most counterfeit clothing and accessories: 4,920 coats; 18,014 jeans, trousers and tracksuit bottoms; 4,296 pieces in a mixed cargo of clothing and caps; and 52,578 footwear pairs.…
EIB PLOTS NUCLEAR ENRICHMENT LOANS FOR BRITAIN AND THE NETHERLANDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) is planning to lend Urenco Limited up to Euro 200 million to extend the nuclear fuel enrichment capacity of two plants – in Britain and the Netherlands. Two environmental impact assessments have been completed and the EIB says the projects (costing Euro 430 million overall) should now comply with EU environment laws.…
EIB PLOTS NUCLEAR ENRICHMENT LOANS FOR BRITAIN AND THE NETHERLANDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) is planning to lend Urenco Limited up to Euro 200 million to extend the nuclear fuel enrichment capacity of two plants – in Britain and the Netherlands. Two environmental impact assessments have been completed and the EIB says the projects (costing Euro 430 million overall) should now comply with EU environment laws.…
EU STUDIES GENES TO DEVELOP OBESITY PROGRAMMES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COMPREHENSIVE genetic research project aimed at reducing obesity is examining the DNA of more than 13,000 individuals to devise a long-term dietary anti-obesity plan. The European Union (EU)-funded DiOGenes (Diet, Obesity and Genes) is devising a method of predicting weight change in response to different dietary nutrients and is examining how carbohydrate and high dietary protein enhances fullness feelings.…
CO2 ACID SEAS WEAKEN SHELL STABILITY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRENCH and Dutch researchers warn oyster and mussel health is being risked by CO2 emissions’ making the world’s seas significantly more acidic. The Netherlands Institute of Ecology and the Oceanographic laboratory of the French National Scientific Research Centre have noted projections ocean pH will fall 0.4 units by 2100.…
FINANCIAL ADVISORS STRUGGLE TO IMPLEMENT EU MONEY LAUNDERING LEGISLATION
BY ALAN OSBORN
As with many financial service providers in the EU, the definition of financial adviser differs, often significantly, from one country to another. In its very basic sense – i.e. the provision of financial advice pure and simple, without the add-on of other services that could involve the handling of client money – the profession of fee-paid advisor is a limited one and probably confined to only a few thousand people in Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.…
BRUSSELS FEELS THE HEAT OVER UNBUNDLING PLAN
BY ALAN OSBORN
A LENGTHY row over European Union (EU) energy policy is shaping up following the publication in April of a detailed independent study sponsored by the European Commission of the electricity markets in six EU countries.
The study – Structure and Performance of Six European Wholesale Electricity Markets in 2003, 2004 and 2005 – was drawn up by the consultants London Economics in association with Global Energy Decisions and focuses on the electricity wholesale markets in Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands, and the UK excluding Northern Ireland.…
EU REPORTS HOW BRITISH LORRY ROADWORTHINESS RECORD IS FLAWED
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FREIGHT Transport Association (FTA) has called for British hauliers to adopt the same road worthiness standards abroad than at home, after a European Commission statistical report indicated a flawed safety record driving in other European Union (EU) countries.…
BRUSSELS RELEASES NUTRIENT POLLUTION MAP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONCENTRATIONS of manure and fertiliser nitrogen run-off into watercourses in Wales and other livestock-focused areas of Britain and Ireland have been made starkly clear in a new European Union’s Joint Research Centre atlas on nutrient pollution. This shows the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark as being Europe’s hotspots for such contamination, although Wales and Northern Ireland perform poorly.…
EU LAUNCHES WATER POLLUTION NUTRIENT MAP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONCENTRATIONS of manure and fertiliser nitrogen run-off into watercourses across Europe have been made starkly clear in a new European Union’s Joint Research Centre atlas on nutrient pollution. This shows the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark as being Europe’s hotspots for such contamination, although Wales and Northern Ireland perform poorly.…
DUTCH QUEEN OPENS REVAMPED SINT MAARTEN PRINCESS JULIANA AIRPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL, in Sint Maarten
A NEW Caribbean airport terminal has been opened to secure Sint Maarten’s Princess Juliana International Airport’s (PJIA) role as a regional hub. Formally launched by the Netherlands’ Queen Beatrix November 10, the airport serves the world’s smallest territory split between two sovereign states (Dutch Sint Maarten and French Saint Martin).…
EUROPEAN SCIENTISTS WARN OF CO2 THREAT TO SHELLFISH
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRENCH and Dutch researchers are warning that the health of oysters and mussels are being risked by CO2 emissions’ making the world’s seas significantly more acidic. The Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO) and the Oceanographic laboratory of the French National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS) warn the 25 million tonnes of CO2 absorbed by the sea daily has lowered global oceans’ average pH by 0.1 units since the industrial revolution, (making it more acidic), and they have noted projections this pH will fall a further 0.4 units by 2100.…
EU CUSTOMS RAID NETS FAKE LEATHER GOODS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has revealed the seizure of thousands of counterfeit shoes and leather jackets in a coordinated February customs swoop on illicit cargoes in European Union (EU) international ports. Brussels said EU anti-fraud office OLAF coordinated the raids which involved 300 customs officials and police from national customs units of the EU’s 27 member states, EU police agency Europol, Interpol and the World Customs Organisation.…
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT BACKS CRIMINALISING PIRACY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has approved in principle a directive criminalising across the European Union (EU) the counterfeiting and pirating of goods, a serious problem regarding cosmetics and perfumes. MEPs however excluded patent rights abuse from its scope and also decided its minimum criminal punishments should apply only to deliberate and commercial counterfeiting.…
OLAF CLAIMS MAJOR SUCCESS OVER CLOTHING COUNTERFEITERS IN MASS SEIZURES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has revealed the seizure of many thousands of items of counterfeit clothing and accessories in a coordinated February customs swoop on illicit cargoes in European Union (EU) international ports. Brussels said EU anti-fraud office OLAF coordinated the raids which involved 300 customs officials and police from national customs units of the EU’s 27 member states, EU police agency Europol, Interpol and the World Customs Organisation.…
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT BACKS CRIMINALISING PIRACY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has approved in principle a directive criminalising across the European Union (EU) the counterfeiting and pirating of goods, although MEPs weakened the proposed legislation with amendments. In its first reading, the parliament excluded patent rights abuse from its scope and also decided its minimum criminal punishments should apply only to deliberate and commercial counterfeiting.…
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT BACKS CRIMINALISING PIRACY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has approved in principle a directive criminalising across the European Union (EU) the counterfeiting and pirating of goods, a serious problem regarding leather products. MEPs however excluded patent rights abuse from its scope and also decided its minimum criminal punishments should apply only to deliberate and commercial counterfeiting.…
BOUYANT MEXICO PAINT INDUSTRY FUELLED BY HOUSING BOOM
BY LUCY JONES, in Dallas, Texas
GRAFFITI artists, US baby boomers and the massive expansion of low-cost housing are several – very diverse – factors buoying up Mexico’s paint industry.
Vast improvements in the property-buying process for foreigners, plus a slowing of the housing sector at home, are making the country’s coastal areas from Cancun to Baja California increasingly attractive for North American retirees.…
EU INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION ROUND UP - DUTCH WIN CASE OVER REISSUING UNUSED FISHING LICENCES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has rejected arguments by the European Commission that when a member state receives funding to reduce the size of its fishing fleet, it should not re-issue licences left unused when boats are transferred to a non-European Union (EU) register.…
EFSA RELEASES FRESH DATA ON SALMONELLA IN BROILER FLOCKS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has unveiled further data underlining the risk to human health posed by widespread contamination of broiler chicken flocks across Europe with the pathogen salmonella. In its latest figures, which back earlier alarming data about salmonella contamination within egg production systems, EFSA said that in 2005-6, almost a quarter – 23.7% – of EU broiler (meat) flocks were contaminated with salmonella.…
EU HEARING FOCUSES ON VAT FRAUD CONTROLS
BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Brussels, and KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union VAT fraud is still growing at such a pace, that the accuracy of member states’ trade statistics remains under serious threat, a recent seminar of tax experts and accountants sponsored by the European Commission concluded.…
DUTCH SCIENTISTS DESIGNS SOFTWARE PATCH MAKING CARS MORE FUEL EFFICIENT
BY MONICA DOBIE
DUTCH scientists working with Ford Motors have designed a simple and affordable way to reduce CO2 emissions in new vehicles by 2.6%, an innovation that could help auto manufacturers meet future European Union (EU) fuel emission guidelines.
Drs Michiel (NOTE: SPELLING IS CORRECT) Koot and John Kessels of Eindhoven technical University, in the Netherlands, have developed a software patch that shuts an alternator on and off when it is inefficient for the engine to power it, therefore conserving energy and improving the overall efficiency of the engine.…
EU EXPERT COMMITTEE CHALLENGES DUTCH COPPER-PAINT RESTRICTIONS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission may move against a Dutch ban on copper-based anti-fouling paints for leisure boats, after the European Union’s (EU) Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER) concluded The Hague had insufficiently justified the law. In an expert opinion, the committee concluded the Netherlands government’s explanation “does not provide sufficient sound scientific evidence to show that the use of copper-based antifouling paints in leisure boats presents significant environmental risk.”…
EU WARNS OF DUTCH MASCARA HEALTH ALERT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission’s consumer alert service RAPEX has warned of a voluntary recall of ‘Rival de Loop’ double effect mascara in the Netherlands. This followed the discovery of excess bacterial contamination in 17% of the line, which was totally recalled.…
EU PUSHED FOR FLEXIBILITY OVER TETHERED ORGANIC CATTLE RULE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is being pushed by 13 of its 27 member states for postponement of a rule that says for beef cattle to be labelled organic, they must not be tethered. Under the existing regulation EEC/2092/91 on organic production of agricultural products, organic labelled beef must be from untethered cattle from 2010.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION PLAN ON DIGITAL ACADEMIC PUBLISHING RAISES CONCERN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has shied away from forcing all European Union (EU) Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) research grant recipients from publishing in open source formats, but a policy paper says the incoming European Research Council (ERC) may make such demands.…
TURKISH CYPRUS COMPLAINS ABOUT ACCESS BAR TO EU EDUCATION PROGRAMMES
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EASTERN Mediterranean University (EMU) in Famagusta, Northern Cyprus is waiting for an imminent ruling from the European Ombudsman charging the European Commission with “maladministration” over its refusal to allow access to the EU’s Socrates and Erasmus programmes and the Bologna Process on higher education structure.…
EBRD INVESTS IN UKRAINE MINI-STEEL MILL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) US$85 million loan to ISTIL Ukraine, will help the Ukraine’s only modern mini-steel mill using an electric arc furnace and continuous casting technology to raise Euro 3 million in Kyoto Protocol carbon credit sales.…
EBRD INVESTS IN UKRAINE MINI-STEEL MILL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) US$85 million loan to ISTIL Ukraine, will help the Ukraine’s only modern mini-steel mill using an electric arc furnace and continuous casting technology to raise Euro 3 million in Kyoto Protocol carbon credit sales.…
FISCHER BOEL SAYS DAIRY SECTOR COULD BE THE NEXT CANDIDATE FOR CAP LIBERALISATION REFORM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SURVIVAL of the European Union’s (EU) production-linked subsidy schemes for the dairy sector are under review and could be under attack soon, European Union (EU) agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel has told a conference at Wageningen University, the Netherlands.…
EUROSTAT REPORT WARNS OF EASTERN EUROPE ACCIDENT RISKS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DRIVE into eastern Europe and your chance of being killed in a road accident rise steeply say the latest European Union (EU)-wide comparative accident figures from EU statistical agency Eurostat. The EU’s worst blackspots are Latvia at 752 road accident deaths per million car registrations; Romania 749; Lithuania 571; Slovakia 507 and Poland 476.…
BRITISH FISHING CATCHS FALLS IN ATLANTIC, NORTH SEA, BALTIC, STEEPER THAN EUROPEAN RIVALS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE STEEPNESS in the decline of British commercial fishing catches from 1995 until 2005 has been highlighted in a new report from European Union (EU) statistical agency Eurostat. It shows that for the north-east Atlantic, North Sea and the Baltic, total British commercial catches fell from 905,678 tonnes in 1995 to 658,802 in 2005, a fall of 28%.…
EU WARNS OF CONTRACTION IN EU BEEF PRODUCTION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BEEF production in the European Union (EU) is likely to fall in the years to 2013 the European Commission is predicting, because of subsidy cuts under common agricultural policy (CAP) reform and the shrinking size of EU dairy herds.…
EU STARTS PUSH TO LIBERALISE EUROPEAN DAIRY INDUSTRY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SURVIVAL of the European Union’s (EU) production-linked subsidy schemes for the dairy sector are under review and could be under attack soon, European Union (EU) agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel has told a conference at Wageningen University, the Netherlands.…
ECJ SAYS ROADWORTHY DUMPERS ARE STILL DUMP TRUCKS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DUMPER trucks sufficiently roadworthy to use public roads should still be categorised as off-road dump trucks if that is the main purpose of their design, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. This comes in a customs case involving Dutch second-hand dumper truck importer BAS Trucks and Rotterdam customs office over classifying a MAN and a Scania vehicle, both with driver cabs and tippers for sand, stone and rubble.…
EU ESTATES AGENTS ARE SO DIVERSE - FOLLOWING EU RULES IS TOUGH
BY ALAN OSBORN
A CENTRAL purpose of the European Union’s (EU) second money laundering directive (sometimes called 2MLD amongst officials) that came into effect in 2003 was to extend to estate agents, along with other similar professions, the anti-money laundering (AML) controls until then had applied only to banks and one or two other financial institutions.…
EUROPE CATCHING UP WITH USA ON INNOVATION SAYS REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is catching up with the United States in innovation, a European Commission-financed statistical report has claimed, although the US still has many significant advantages. This year’s European Innovation Scoreboard (2006) concludes: “The innovation gap between the EU [minus new members Bulgaria and Romania] and Japan, and in particular with the US is decreasing.”…
EUROPEAN DAIRY ASSOCATION PREPARES FOR FUTURE LIBERALISATION
BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Brussels
THE EUROPEAN Commission’s proposal to simplify the organisation for milk and dairy products, announced last month, is already having profound effects on the industry says Dr Joop Kleibeuker, Secretary General of the Brussels-based European Dairy Association in an exclusive interview with just-food.com.…
INTERNATIONAL POLICE START WINNING FIGHT AGAINST EURO COUNTERFEITING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
INTERNATIONAL policing organisations are toughening their fight against Euro banknote counterfeiting, as seizures fall within the European Union (EU), but worries persist about counterfeiting outside the EU. The first International Conference on the Protection of the Euro against Counterfeiting takes place in The Hague, the Netherlands, May 15-16.…
UNECE PUSHES TRANSBOUNDARY WATER QUALITY CONVENTION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is pushing signatories to its new Protocol on Water and Health to its Convention on Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes to agree detailed targets on improving European water quality.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION DEMANDS CAP REFUNDS OVER FRAUD AND MISMANAGEMENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has demanded refunds of Euro 232 million in Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies from Greece because of alleged frauds and mismanagement in administration and management. Euro 163.7 million was demanded for olive cultivation, because a compulsory register checking declarations was not set up; Euro 37.4 million was to be repaid for cotton subsidies, where Athens failed to cross-check production aid and did not penalise errors; and Euro 30.9 million was to be returned over poorly checked grape aid, paid for an overestimated geographical area.…
EU MINISTERS ALLOW AUSTRIA TO PRESERVE NATIONAL GM BANS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
LEGAL experts are carefully studying the decision on Monday (18-12) of the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers that Austria should continue its national bans on two generically modified maize varieties. The European Commission, which wanted the bans abolished, is considering its options, because the maize – Zea Mays L.…
EU PLANS DRIVING LICENCE DATA SWAP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has approved in principle a proposed European Union (EU) regulation which would allow police and other law enforcement officials within the EU’s Schengen open border area to inspect registration documentation held in all countries of this zone.…
CARIBBEAN FOOD MANUFACTURERS PUSH TO DIVERSIFY
BY WESLEY GIBBINGS, in Port of Spain
TIME-WAS that food production in the Caribbean was dominated by commodities, with sugar and bananas being king and queen of island economies. Protected from the rigours of world markets by age-old ties to current or former colonial markets, these cash crop supplies remained largely unchanged for centuries.…
GOVERNMENTS STRUGGLE TO CONTAIN CAROUSEL FRAUD
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) VAT laws can be mightily complex, and offer plenty of opportunities for fraudsters revelling in regulations lacking in clarity and simplicity. Add high technology to the mix and carousel fraud was born. It’s a problem that has sparked tough police action and regulatory reform.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION PROPOSES RETROFITTING BLIND SPOT MIRRORS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
LORRIES already on the road in the European Union (EU) will be forced to retrofit blind-spot mirrors or other devices under new legislation proposed by the European Commission. It wants heavy goods vehicles of 3.5 tonnes or more, registered after 2004, retrofitted one year after entry into force of this proposed directive; HGVs registered after 2001, two years afterwards; and lorries registered after 1998, three years afterwards.…
EU LAUNCHES DETAILED RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL and DAVID HAWORTH, in Brussels
THE DETAILED guts and sinews of the European Research Area have been revealed in the shape of 35 large-scale research projects that will involve the swapping and analysing of data on a major scale.…
EU ENERGY COMMISSIONER ANDRIS PIEBALGS INTERVIEW
BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Brussels, and KEITH NUTHALL
1. One of the EU’s difficulties is that few new power stations are being built. How might a common energy policy meet this deficiency as regards renewable energy and CHP, given that national governments seem reluctant to ensure more capacity?…
EU DIVIDES UP PHILIP MORRIS MONEY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE COST to Britain’s exchequer of refusing to participate in the European Union’s legal agreement with Philip Morris over illicit cigarette trades has become clearer with the European Commission dividing up the spoils. PMI has promised to pay US$1 billion over 12 years to the European Commission and 10 European Union (EU) member states who have participated in the deal, with the cigarette giant already handing over US$325 million.…
ECJ RULES ON MEAT AND BONE MEAL POWER INCINERATION EXPORTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed a common European Union (EU) labelling system for veal, albeit with enough flexibility to accommodate national traditions. Brussels wants a cap of 12 months for the age of calves whose meat is sold as ‘veal’ in a local language.…
EC LAUNCHES HARMONISED EU VEAL STANDARDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed a common European Union (EU) labelling system for veal, albeit with enough flexibility to accommodate national traditions. Brussels wants a cap of 12 months for the age of calves whose meat is sold as ‘veal’ in a local language.…
BRITISH SCIENTISTS LEAD PROJECT TO MEASURE THE UNMEASURABLE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A BRITISH science team is leading new European Union (EU) research that seeks to measure phenomena that have thus far been un-measurable. The UK National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, is heading up a ‘measurement of naturalness’ project that is part of the EU Sixth Framework Project ‘measuring the impossible’ series of studies.…
DUTCH BITUMEN CARTEL COMPANIES FINED
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL cartel, inflating bitumen prices for road projects in the Netherlands, has been punished and broken by the European Commission. It fined 14 companies Euro 266,717 – among them British bitumen suppliers BP and Shell- for participating in a cartel setting the price of this crucial construction material.…
EU ACTS AGAINST BLUETONGUE'S NORTHWARD MARCH
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WITH the cattle and sheep disease Bluetongue spreading north in Europe from its usual southern European base, the European Commission and other specialist agencies are investigating why the pathogen has marched northwards. The European Union’s (EU) reference laboratory, at Pirbright, Surrey, has confirmed this strain of Bluetongue hitting livestock in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, was previously unknown in Europe.…
NETHERLANDS PAINT INDUSTRY FEATURE
BY ALAN OSBORN
By many measures, the Dutch are the world leaders in paint and coatings which is not quite the same as saying they’re the largest suppliers or that Dutch paints are the best known though they do come at or near the top in both categories.…
EU COMMISSION TABLES VAT CONCESSIONS FOR HOUSE RESTORATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has asked European Union (EU) ministers to authorise until January 2011 the right of the Isle of Man and 13 foreign EU member states to levy low rates of VAT on certain building repair services.…
DUTCH LAUNCH EMISSIONS-FREE SCOOTER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DUTCH engineering team has developed an emissions-free scooter that uses heat generated from braking to help recharge its battery. Epyon, a spin-off company from the Netherlands’ Delft Technology University, has designed a hybrid hydrogen-battery energy supply enabling its models to outperform standard scooters without pollution.…
IEA SAYS WIND POWER ON THE INCREASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Energy Agency (IEA) has said in its latest annual report that wind energy still only satisfies 1.2% of power demand in its 20 rich country members, although that proportion is increasing fast in some cases. It said that from 1995 to 2005, the contribution of wind power to national electricity demand rose from 0.2%, with 12 IEA members being in the European Union (EU).…
EU COMMISSION CLEARS DUTCH PLASTICS DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the acquisition of sole control of Dutch plastics product manufacturer Synbra Group BV by investment house GIMA BV, also of the Netherlands. Acting as the European Union’s senior competition authority, the Commission has cleared the deal without conditions.…
DUTCH BITUMEN CARTEL COMPANIES FINED
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITISH bitumen suppliers BP and Shell are amongst 14 companies fined Euro 266,717 for participating in a cartel setting the price of this crucial construction material in the Netherlands. The secret agreement included eight suppliers, also including Esha, Klöckner Bitumen, Kuwait Petroleum, Nynäs, Total and Wintershall, and six construction firms: Ballast Nedam, Dura Vermeer, Heijmans, Hollandsche Beton Groep (now part of Koninklijke BAM Groep), Koninklijke BAM Groep and Koninklijke Volker Wessels Stevin.…
SMITHFIELDS - SARA LEE DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition of the Netherlands-based Sara Lee Foods Europe by a joint venture of US-based Smithfield Foods and Oaktree Capital Management. Smithfield and Sara Lee both produce processed meat products in Europe.…
FEE EUROPEAN COMMISSION ACCRUAL ACCOUNTING CONFERENCE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MEMBER states of the European Union (EU) have been encouraged at a European Federation of Accountants (FEE) sponsored-conference in Brussels to follow in the European Commission’s footsteps and adopt accrual accounting practices. EU budget Commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite told the ‘Modernising accounting in the Public Sector – Exchange of Experience’ conference that the system, now largely installed at the Commission, offered national governments major benefits.…
BRITISH DUTCH DEFEAT EU COMMISSION OVER FLEET TRANSFER SUBSIDIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission looks likely to be blocked from forcing the UK and Dutch governments to repay Euro 7.4 million’s worth of subsidies for downsizing their fishing fleets by transferring two boats apiece to Argentina. Brussels was angered when both countries subsequently registered four replacement vessels, claiming this contravened the grants’ conditions.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION RELEASES 2007-2013 ENERGY TENS PLANS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved a list of priority projects that will draw in EU funding and diplomatic support under its 2007-13 trans European network (TENs) energy programme. Agreed with the European Parliament, the schemes are designed to fulfil the EU’s energy policy goals of improving security of supply, especially from outside member states, and underpinning Europe’s internal market in gas and electricity.…
EU GAS PRICE RISES SHARPLY - EUROSTAT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
NATURAL gas prices rose steeply in the European Union (EU) during 2005, a report from EU statistical agency Eurostat has confirmed: up 16% for domestic customers and 33% for industrial users. There were significant variations between member states: for instance for households, prices rose by 30% in Slovakia; 27% in Luxembourg and the Czech Republic; and 25% in Ireland, while prices remained nearly stable in Estonia and increased just 5% in Denmark and 8% in Italy.…
JRC BOSS BULLISH ABOUT FUTURE, DESPITE FUNDING FREEZE AND ERC LAUNCH - EU RESEARCH INTERVIEW
BY MARK ROWE, in Munich
THE EUROPEAN Commission’s independent research body has been told its funding is likely to be frozen in the next round of funding, but the head of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) has insisted this will have little impact on its projects or future status.…
IFC LENDS ARGENTINA NETHERLANDS RUSSIA DOLLARS FOR OIL, KYOTO PROJECTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC), of the World Bank, will lend US$70 million over 10 years to independent Argentine oil producer Companias Asociadas Petroleras SA (CAPSA), which works within the southern province of Chubut. The money will finance capital expenditures, working capital requirements, and general corporate activities.…
EU ROUND UP - MAURITANIA, KIRIBATI, MOROCCO FISHING ACCESS DEALS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has renewed its European Union (EU) fishing access deal with Mauritania, initialling a new six year deal that involves a two-year protocol, but which should be renewed twice automatically, unless serious political problems emerge.
Brussels is being bullish about the deal, claiming: "It is the most important fisheries agreement concluded by the EU with a third country both in financial terms and as regards fishing opportunities for EU vessels"
And the agreement does will provide fishing rights for about 200 EU vessels on crustaceans (mainly shrimps), hake and other demersal species), cepaholopods, small pelagics and tuna.…
SMITHFIELDS - SARA LEE DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition of the Netherlands-based Sara Lee Foods Europe by a joint venture of US-based Smithfield Foods and Oaktree Capital Management. Smithfield and Sara Lee both produce processed meat products in Europe.…
LATVIA, NETHERLANDS ATTACK EU SUGAR REFORM SECURITIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LATVIA and Netherlands governments want the European Commission to lower securities demanded from sugar producers wishing to restructure as the EU lowers production aid. Brussels currently demands 120% of grants be lodged as security. Latvia said such "abnormal demands" prevented companies participating; the Dutch branded the demand "severe".…
FINLAND PAINT INDUSTRY FEATURE
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.…
EASTERN EUROPE ELECTRICITY FEATURE -NUCLEAR POWER PHASE OUT CAPACITY REPLACEMENT
BY DEIRDRE MASON
A SIGNIFICANT boost in funding from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will speed the challenging switchover from ageing nuclear power stations in central and eastern Europe (CEE) to a cleaner, more efficient and more sustainable energy scene in these new and aspiring entrants to European Union (EU) membership.…
NEW ZEALAND NETHERLANDS LACTOSE DEAL - EXCIPIENTS
STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared a proposed joint venture involving Campina, of the Netherlands, and Fonterra, who plan to combine their respective pharmaceutical and fine chemical lactose activities. Brussels has ruled that the deal would not damage competition in these related sectors.…
NETHERLANDS LEASING TAKEOVER - EUROPEAN COMMISSION
STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has concluded an overlap in Netherlands fleet leasing and management services is not sufficiently serious to block a planned takeover of international leasing and body repair company Athlon by a subsidiary of Holland’s Rabobank.…
EU INK RESIN COMMERCIAL DEAL APPROVAL AKZO NOBEL APOLLO GROUP NETEHRLANDS USA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the proposed acquisition of the inks and adhesive resins business of Dutch company Akzo Nobel by the USA’s Hexion, part of the Apollo Group. This follows a Commission inquiry focusing on potential damage to competition in supplies of printing ink industry resins, especially rosin resins.…
EU NEW POLYMER FOAM RESEARCH
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITISH Vita and chemical multinational Dow (Benelux) are planning to secure European research funding via the EUREKA network to commercialise successful bio-polymer research, that has made strides towards manufacturing a foam from such ingredients. The European Commission’s directorate general (DG) for research has reported that a Vita-Dow-led consortium would focus on "the implementation of green polyols into PU foams".…
ECJ TOBACCO CUSTOMS STAMPS CASE NETHERLANDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) member states are entitled to charge tobacco companies for additional excise stamps, even if they have previously bought such tax tokens, and they have subsequently been lost, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled.…
NETHERLANDS DIGITAL PRINTER EU ENVIRONMENTAL PRIZE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DUTCH digital textile printers Ten Cate Advanced Textiles BV and Color Wings BV have won a ‘European Business Award for the Environment’ from the European Commission for "developing a digital technology for printing and finishing textiles using exactly dosed drops".…
LATVIA, NETHERLANDS ATTACK EU SUGAR REFORM SECURITIES
STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LATVIA and Netherlands governments want the European Commission to lower securities demanded from sugar producers wishing to restructure as the European Union lowers production aid. Brussels currently demands 120% of grants be lodged as security ahead of a payment.…
EU ROUND UP - RUSSIA EU ENERGY DIVERSIFICATION CALL - BIOFUEL PRODUCTION INCREASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN UNPRECEDENTED joint paper from the European Commission and European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Javier Solana calls for the EU to diversify its energy sources beyond Russia. In particular, the paper suggests the EU looks closer to home: at Algeria and Turkey.…
EU STRIKES FISHING ACCESS DEALS WITH SÃO TOMÉ E PRINCIPE, MADAGASCAR: EU INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION FISHING ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has initialled new fishing access deals with two African island nations: São Tomé e Principe, off west Africa, and Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean. The Madagascan deal will last six years from January 2007, and exclusively covers tuna.…
EU COUNCIL OF MINISTERS FLAX HEMP AID
STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved a subsidy regime for EU short flax fibre and hemp producers in the old fashioned way – paying money per tonne of fibre. Ministers agreed to extend until the end of the 2007/2008 marketing year processing aid of Euro 90/tonne for short flax fibre and hemp fibre and Euro 160/tonne for long flax fibre until 2007/2008, and Euro 200/tonne for 2008/2009 and thereafter.…
EUROSTAT WIND POWER GROWTH SURVEY
STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL
WIND power is Europe’s big growth area for electricity generation, according to the latest comparative figures from European Union (EU) statistical agency Eurostat, with capacity growing by 154% between 2000 and 2004. Its report noted wind power "is responsible for more than half of the new generating capacity" in these years.…
EU FOOD LEGISLATION REPORT
BY ALAN OSBORN
INTRODUCTION
WITH the approval in May of two key regulations covering respectively nutrition and health claims and the addition of vitamins and minerals to foods the EU has taken an important step forward in setting the legal framework for the food industry in Europe.…
EU ROUND-UP - MOROCCO, MAURITANIA, QUOTA TIMETABLE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers and the European Parliament have approved a new fishing agreement with Morocco, despite controversy over its covering waters off the disputed territory of the Western Sahara. The Polisario Liberation Front has since 1975 been fighting Morocco for self-determination over the largely desert territory.…
AKZO NOBEL NETHERLANDS SICO CANADA TAKEOVER
BY MONICA DOBIE
DUTCH coatings giant Akzo Nobel NV has taken over Canadian paintmaker Sico Inc. for approximately CDN$284 million.
Akzo based in Arnhem, the Netherlands, will acquire all of Sico’s outstanding common shares at a cash price of CDN$20 per share and will also offer to buy Sico’s class B preferred shares for CDN$3.8 million in total.…
EU BATHING WATER DEREGISTRATION SCAM
STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL
ATTEMPTS to duck increased pollution clean-up costs imposed by the revised European Union (EU) bathing water directive have sparked 11 separate legal actions by the European Commission. It has reacted promptly to a massive delisting of 7,000 official bathing water sites by 11 EU governments, to avoid having to comply with new cleanliness standards.…
GM - NETHERLANDS - AUTO EXPORT RESTRICTION CASE APPEAL - ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
GENERAL Motors BV (formerly General Motors Nederland BV and Opel Nederland BV), of the Netherlands, have lost a second appeal against being fined over preventing their dealers exporting to other European Union (EU) member countries. This European Court of Justice (ECJ) has confirmed GM BV must pay a Euro 35.47 million fine.…
BRITAIN FLEXITIME - ECJ WORKING TIME LEAVE COMPENSATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN is more enlightened over flexi-time compared with the European Union’s (EU) other large economies, say new figures released by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The EU agency says only Sweden, Finland and Latvia practice more flexi-time, although Britain does not always perform well regarding the degree of flexibility allowed by employers.…
EU BATHING WATER DELISTING SCANDAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRAZEN political manoeuvres to duck increased pollution clean-up costs imposed by the revised European Union (EU) bathing water directive have sparked 11 separate legal actions by the European Commission. It has reacted promptly to a massive delisting of 7,000 official bathing water sites by 11 EU governments, to avoid having to comply with new cleanliness standards.…
CESR REGULATIONS FINANCIAL INFORMATION GUIDELINES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN is one of only seven European countries that are fully complying with key guidelines on institutional oversight of financial information issued by the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR). Its standard No.1 advises on how the harmonisation of institutional oversight systems in Europe maybe achieved, especially regarding enforcement of good practice.…
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT HEARING ENERGY REFORM
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.…
GM - NETHERLANDS - AUTO EXPORT RESTRICTION CASE APPEAL - ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
GENERAL Motors BV (formerly General Motors Nederland BV and Opel Nederland BV), of the Netherlands, has lost a second appeal against being fined for preventing their dealers exporting to other European Union (EU) member countries. The European Court of Justice has confirmed GM BV must pay Euro 35.47 million.…
ECJ HERBAL CIGARETTES EXCISE DUTY CASE - NETHERLANDS
STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL
HERBAL cigarettes should attract excise duty, even if they contain no tobacco and are marketed as an aid for quitting smoking, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. Dutch herbal cigarette wholesaler A.C.Smits-Koolhoven had claimed his products should be exempt from excise duty under EU directive 95/59/EC.…
EUROPE BUTTERFLY POPULATIONS DECLINE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SHARP decline observed in European butterfly populations by an international study has raised parallel concerns about worsening environmental conditions in general. The report published in the Journal of Insect Conservation says that butterflies "are very good candidates to build biodiversity indicators".…
ICC OIL PRICE WARNING - GLOBAL ECONOMY THREAT - ENERGY EFFICIENCY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL Chamber of Commerce survey has concluded that most developed countries are responding to high oil process by improving energy efficiency. Especially good performers included Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland and Belgium. The US had also made progress "to a lesser degree".…
EU FISHING NEWS ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to stage negotiations with the Peruvian government on forging a fishing access agreement with the European Union (EU), its first struck with a South American country. If successful, a deal would be a rich prize for EU fishermen, given the plentiful stocks that teem Peru’s deep Pacific Ocean territorial waters.…
LOW VAT CLOTHING REPAIRS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) member states have been authorised to levy until January 2011 low rates of VAT on clothing and household linen repair services. The decision continues for four years an experiment that has thus far been renewed annually and which has been exploited by Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands – who have charged 6% VAT on these services and – Greece, which has charged 8%.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION MERGERS ACQUISITIONS SUPERVISORY APPROVALS REFORM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ACCOUNTING firms working in the banking, insurance and securities sectors have been asked how European Union (EU) rules controlling mergers and acquisitions in these financial industries might be improved. The European Commission says national regulators have inconsistently implemented a rule allowing them to block takeovers and alliances if they consider a target company’s "sound and prudential management" at risk.…
EU BANKRUPTCY CONFERENCE REFORM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Commission conference designed to ease the damage caused by bankruptcy has heard how most European Union (EU) countries are already reforming their insolvency laws. Speaking at a Commission conference on ‘Insolvency and Fresh Start’ in Brussels, 120 legal experts from 24 countries were told last year 140,000 corporate insolvencies in the old 15-member EU, risked 1.5 million jobs.…
MIGA INVESTMENT GUARANTEES OIL AND GAS SECTOR WORLD BANK
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE MULTILATERAL Investment Guarantee Agency, or MIGA, is the international organisation companies turn to when they want to invest in a jurisdiction where their assets might not be that safe. Oil and gas companies have long used MIGA to cover risks that are too tasty for the private insurance industry, and at December 2005, MIGA had supported 13 oil and gas projects, with guarantees totalling US$707 million, with a standard leverage of five-to-one, so investments covered are actually five times larger.…
BIRD FLU RESPONSES - VACCINATION - BACKYARD FLOCKS CONTROL - DOMESTIC CATS AND DOGS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DEBATES are continuing in European Union (EU) institutions over whether general vaccination is a safe response to Europe’s growing bird flu problem. With Germany, France, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Greece, Switzerland, Slovenia, Italy all reporting new cases, the EU’s Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health has approved the first vaccination campaigns.…
CHINA PAINT INDUSTRY FEATURE AUTOMOBILE PAINTS USA CONSTRUCTION GROWTH
BY JANE MOIR, in Hong Kong
CONSTRUCTION is on the up, people are eagerly buying homes, cars are being churned out at a rapid pace and the 2008 Beijing Olympics are just around the corner. The demand for paint and coatings in China should never have been better.…
BIRD FLU RESPONSES - VACCINATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DEBATES are continuing within EU institutions over whether vaccination is a safe response to bird flu. The EU’s standing committee on the food chain and animal health has approved limited vaccination in France and the Netherlands. But this was resisted by Austria, Denmark, Germany and Portugal, who fear vaccination’s potential cost, damage to consumer confidence and resulting overseas import bans.…
EU REGIONAL ELECTRICITY REGULATION PLAN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PRACTICAL and regional initiative to remove barriers in trading electricity between neighbouring European Union (EU) countries has been launched by the European Regulators’ Group for Electricity and Gas (ERGEG). It is grouping states’ regulators and utilities together to focus on regulatory and technical difficulties impeding cross-border sales of electricity for countries sharing frontiers.…
BIOLOGICAL HYDROGEN SOURCE HYDROGEN FUEL CELL CARS RESEARCH
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU)-research project is developing small-scale hydrogen generators, which could be operated by homes and businesses to refuel hydrogen-autos. The aim of the Hyvolution scheme is to create practical technology that could form part of a sustainable and widespread refuelling network, something that is essential for hydrogen fuel-cell transport to take off.…
EU RISING ROAD DEATH STATISTICS
BY ALAN OSBORN
There were about 41,600 road deaths in the 25 EU countries in 2005, down from around 50,000 in 2001 reports the European Commission. This is progress "but not enough" says Brussels which wants member states to halve the rate to 25,000 by 2010 under the EU’s Road Safety Action Programme.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION EU PUBLIC HEALTH MEDIA CAMPAIGN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a broadcast public health campaign, including the production and exchange of documentaries that are designed to persuade European Union (EU) citizens to adopt healthy lifestyle choices. EU health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said the "Health in Europe" involved the creation of a network of public broadcasters in Europe, committed to collaborate in producing such material.…
EUROBAROMETER FOOD POLL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WHEN European Union (EU) consumers think of food, more associate it with "taste" – 31%, than with "pleasure" – 29%, "hunger" – 27%, "health" – 19% and "necessity" – 15%. As usual with culturally diverse Europe, however, there were wide national variations.…
BIRD FLU RESPONSES - VACCINATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DEBATES are continuing in European Union (EU) institutions over whether vaccination is a safe response to Europe’s growing bird flu problem. With Germany, France, Slovakia, Slovenia, Italy and other countries all reporting cases, the EU’s Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health approved the first vaccination campaigns.…
EU WTO ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
NEW EFSA BOSS BUDGET ROW – LATEST ADVICE
THE FRENCHWOMAN appointed to take the vacant top executive director job at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will need all her political skills to solve a potential budget crisis facing the agency.…
EU COUNCIL OF MINISTERS SUGAR GLUT ACTION CALL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
GERMANY, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Sweden, have pressed the European Commission to reduce European Union (EU) sugar production quotas by 10% for 2006/7, because of a pan-EU 2 million sugar surplus generated in 2005/6. Germany said current intervention stocks should continue to be stored to protect prices.…
BELGIUM DIOXIN OUTBREAK - GERMANY, NETHERLANDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission and the Belgian Federal Food Chain Security Agency are investigating the contamination of animal feed with poisonous dioxins, some of which have been exported to Germany and the Netherlands. Hundreds of farms have been closed in the alert in all three countries, which was caused by defective filters at Belgian chemical producer Tessenderlo Chemie.…
EU COUNCIL OF MINISTERS SPAIN NETHERLANDS ITALY VAT LEVYING ANTI-FRAUD WASTE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SPECIAL VAT rules designed to drive tax evasion from the European Union (EU) materials recycling sector have been approved for Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. The EU Council of Ministers has allowed all three countries to derogate from standard VAT rules until December 2009.…
CFATF - CARIBBEAN REGIONAL ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING ORGANISATION
BY WESLEY GIBBINGS, in Port of Spain, Trinidad
WITH its multiple small jurisdictions, offshore tax havens and proximity to both drug producing countries in Latin America and the United States, the Caribbean has always been a focus of global anti-money laundering efforts.…
UNDERGROUND WASTE COLLECTION SYSTEMS VACUUM TECHNOLOGY SWEDEN BRITAIN
BY DEIRDRE MASON
IN the next few weeks, contracts are expected to be signed for the UK debut of a pioneering underground waste collection system that can also build recycling into the operation from the outset. If it proves successful here, it could see a marked reduction in the bulky collection banks that are such a feature of today’s built environment.…
SUBSUBSIDIARY CAPITAL DUTY TAXATION NETHERLANDS GERMANY BRITAIN ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) member states should not levy capital duties on subsidiaries, when a parent company boosts the capital of a sub-subsidiary, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. It said that although such financial transfers might boost the share value of a subsidiary, this is merely "an automatic and incidental economic repercussion", not a "second separate contribution which could…be subject to tax".…
BIRD FLU POULTRY PRODUCTION PRICE FALL FEARS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ITALY, Belgium, Greece, Malta, France, Spain, Hungary, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Portugal have called on the European Commission to support poultry producers hit by low prices because of bird flu outbreaks in Turkey and Romania.
ENDS…
BIRD FLU POULTRY PRODUCTION PRICE FALL FEARS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ITALY, Belgium, Greece, Malta, France, Spain, Hungary, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Portugal have called on the European Commission to support poultry producers hit by low prices because of bird flu outbreaks in Turkey and Romania.
ENDS…
ECJ ROCHE PHARMACEUTICAL PATENT CASE
BY ALAN OSBORN
Legal action by and against drugs firms over patent infringement in the EU will become much more expensive and cumbersome if a preliminary ruling by an advocate general at the European Court of Justice is upheld by the full court (likely but not certain).…
PLASTIC BAGS CARTEL FINE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has fined 16 firms Euro 290.71 million for operating a cartel in the plastic industrial bags market, in clear violation of European Union (EU) fair trade rules. One British participant – British Polythene Industries PLC – escaped being penalised, along with Belgium’s Combipac BV, however, after they tipped off the Commission about the cartel, which covered Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Spain.…
BELGIUM DIOXIN OUTBREAK
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission and the Belgian Federal Food Chain Security Agency are investigating the contamination of animal feed with poisonous dioxins, some exported to Germany and the Netherlands. Hundreds of farms have been closed in the alert, caused by defective filters at Belgian chemical producer Tessenderlo Chemie.…
LOCAL AUTHORITY BROADBAND PROMOTION - EUROPEAN COMMISSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PROMOTORS of a European Commission-supported research project encouraging municipalities across Europe to establish local broadband services say their four trials have proved a success. The scheme is especially designed to help local authorities seed new comms tech investment in zones deemed too remote by commercial service providers for investing in infrastructure.…
NETHERLANDS DRINKS IMPORT TAX CASE ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Court of Justice advocate general Francis Jacobs has advised that where consumers buy alcohol in a foreign European Union (EU) country, and arrange for drinks to be transported to their home EU state, only the excise duty originally paid is due.…
EU DUTY NETHERLANDS EXCISE DUTY IMPORT TAX CASE - ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) advocate general Francis Jacobs has advised that where consumers buy excised goods, including tobacco and alcohol, in a foreign European Union (EU) country, and arrange for them to be transported to their home EU state, only the excise duty originally paid is due.…
NETHERLANDS BIRD FLU VACCINE CONTROL RESEARCH
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DUTCH scientists have shown that bird flu vaccines could effectively halt the disease’s spread, as well as providing protection to individual vaccinated poultry. Tests carried out by the Central Institute for Animal Disease Control in Leystad, and Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands showed that two weeks after vaccination, two vaccines could "completely block the spread of the disease".…
NETHERLANDS SUGAR MOLLASES DUTY CASE ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) regulation (1423/95) has been declared invalid by the European Court of Justice, because it allows the imposition of additional second duties on sugar imports, except molasses.
ENDS…
OPERATION FAKE COUNTERFEIT KNITTED CLOTHING SEIZURES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU)-wide customs initiative has netted thousands of counterfeit articles of knitted clothing manufactured from China. Operation Fake was two-week exercise involving customs authorities, the EU anti-fraud office, OLAF, and the European Commission’s taxation and customs directorate, and took place this May, although its results have just been released.…
GM - NETHERLANDS - AUTO EXPORT RESTRICTION CASE APPEAL - ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
GENERAL Motors BV (formerly General Motors Nederland BV) and Opel Nederland BV, of the Netherlands, look set to lose a second appeal against being fined over preventing their dealers exporting to other European Union (EU) member countries. This was found by the European Commission a breach of EU freedom of trade laws, and sparked a Euro 43 million fine to the companies.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AFTER years of doing nothing, and then years of erecting complex bureaucratic controls, the European Union (EU) is at last starting to get its act together on controlling fraud. Keith Nuthall reports.
IN a filthy flat, not properly cleaned for years, moving the odd cupboard and shining a torch on the floor is sure to highlight a few cockroaches, scuttling for safety towards some Godforsaken corner.…
EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY URBAN WASTEWATER ASSESSMENT REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SPAIN has been singled out for criticism by a European Environment Agency (EEA) report on urban wastewater treatment, noting that despite Euro 3.8 billion in targeted subsidies, it does not comply with relevant European Union (EU) laws. The EEA said only 55% of the population is connected to public sewage treatment plants, “and advanced treatment remains an exception”.…
NAPPY RECYCLING METHODS - NETHERLANDS, CALIFORNIA
BY MARK ROWE
EACH day eight million disposable nappies are used in the UK, adding up to 2.5 billion every year. A single disposable nappy in landfill takes 500 years to decompose and, as a result, the industry in recycling disposable nappies is taking off.…
BIODIESEL - O2DIESEL - ABENGOA - EUROPE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE USA’s O2Diesel Corporation will work with Spain’s Abengoa Bioenergy to sell O2Diesel’s ethanol diesel fuel blend in Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. Abengoa will buy more than 10% of O2 stock with Euro 3 million.…
INTEGRATED POLLUTION CONTROL DIRECTIVE REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONCERNS about delays in the implementation of a major piece of European Union (EU) environmental legislation have sparked a review by the European Commission, and will encourage it to pursue legal action in the courts. The law in question is the 1996 integrated pollution prevention and control directive, which insists large EU industrial and agricultural installations obtain operating permits – issued only if the best available techniques on controlling emissions are in use.…
UNDERGROUND WASTE COLLECTION SYSTEM - NETHERLANDS, SOUTH KOREA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
LITTER collection and refuse disposal can pose environmental health hazards, so surely cities and towns would be cleaner if waste was sucked underground by a futuristic sucking mechanism. Sounds like the 22nd century, but actually, Swedish firm Envac Centralsug is already offering such a service.…
INTEGRATED POLLUTION CONTROL DIRECTIVE REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONCERNS about delays in the implementation of a major piece of European Union (EU) environmental legislation have sparked a review by the European Commission, and will encourage it to pursue legal action in the courts. The law in question is the 1996 integrated pollution prevention and control directive, which insists large EU industrial and agricultural installations obtain operating permits – issued only if the best available techniques on controlling emissions are in use.…
EU TRANSPARANCY ACTION PLAN - MEMBER STATES EU SPENDING AUDITS
Keith Nuthall
POLITICAL pressure is being piled onto European Union (EU) member states to release more information about the way they spend EU-funded grants and subsidies from the Euro 110 billion EU budget. In a long-awaited ‘European Transparency Initiative’, EU anti-fraud Commissioner Siim Kallas has proposed discussions with national governments about “the introduction of a legal obligation to publish information about projects and end beneficiaries of funds under shared management”, between member states and Brussels.…
HAGUE CONVENTION ON THE PROTECTION OF CULTURAL PROPERTY - ARMED CONFLICT
BY MARK ROWE
IN times of conflict, cultural property, such as archaeological sites, works of art, museums and monuments, can also suffer grievously at the hands of opposing military and guerrilla forces. In recognition of this, such objects are accorded protection by the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.…
COLGATE PALMOLIVE NETHERLANDS TOOTHPASTE IMPORT CASE - ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
COSMETICS and soap trademark holders must be able to prove they are acting on firm knowledge when insisting a consignment of their products owned by a third party be blocked over concerns that they are counterfeit, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled.…
HIGH FAT DIET DIETARY BENEFITS - US RESEARCH
BY MONICA DOBIE
CHEESEBURGERS can help fight off dangerous bacteria and stomach complaints, say Dutch scientists. A study published in the USA’s Journal of Experimental Medicine, shows that eating high fat foods can help ward off infection and soothe gut inflammations.…
CARIBBEAN FEATURE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ROLE of the Caribbean as a staging point for ill-gotten gains goes back to the trans-Atlantic misadventures of the first European ships over 400 years ago. It would appear some habits die hard. Wesley Gibbings reports from Port of Spain, Trinidad.…
HIGH FAT FOOD GOOD DIGESTIVE HEATH RESEARCH USA
BY MONICA DOBIE
EATING a hearty meal consisting of cheeseburgers and fries and other high fat foods, notorious for blocking arteries and raising cholesterol levels, can actually help fend off dangerous bacteria and stomach complaints, according to Dutch scientists.
A study published in the USA’s Journal of Experimental Medicine, shows that eating high fat foods may help ward off infection and soothe gut inflammations.…
CHAOS THEORY MEDICINE TESTING - BIOSIM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MATHEMATICAL models based on chaos theory are to be developed by a European Union (EU) research project to help pharmaceutical manufacturers assess whether a potential drug will be successful. The aim of the Euro 10.7 million BioSim Network of Excellence project is developing simulation models for designing, selecting and testing of drugs, rather than relying on standard trial and error.…
MONEYVAL FEATURE MONEY LAUNDERING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CRITICS of European political institutions have sometimes been unkind about the Council of Europe, which has been accused of being a powerless talking shop. And although the Council lacks the power to fine and cajole member governments enjoyed by the European Union (EU) – from which it is completely independent – it has some important roles.…
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL GLOBAL CORRUPTION STANDINGS
Keith Nuthall
A HEALTHY-DOSE of Nordic culture has been prescribed by the world’ premier anti-corruption organisation Transparency International, which has again hailed northern Europe as the region most free of graft, bribes and kickbacks. Such financial crime is rarest in Iceland, says the 2005 corruption rankings from the German group, with Finland and New Zealand tying at second place, Denmark, fourth, Sweden sixth, and Norway eighth.…
GLOBAL TOBACCO ADVERTISING REGULATION FEATURE
BY ALAN OSBORN
ON July 31 this year the European Union’s (EU) Tobacco Advertising Directive came into effect, making it illegal to advertise tobacco products in the print media, radio and over the Internet within the EU. Also banned was tobacco sponsorship of cross-border cultural and sporting events.…
PSYCHIATRIC NURSES MENTAL HEALTH ATLAS
BY ALAN OSBORN
BRITAIN employs more psychiatric nurses on a per capital basis than other major EU countries according to the 2005 world mental health atlas compiled by the World Health Organisation (WHO). This shows the UK had 104 psychiatric nurses per 100,000 of population compared to 99 in the Netherlands, 98 in France and only 52 in Germany.…
EU FRAUD COURT OF AUDITORS - EU TRANSPARANCY ACTION PLAN - MEMBER STATES EU SPENDING AUDITS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
POLITICAL pressure is being piled onto European Union (EU) member states to release more information about how they spend EU-funded grants and subsidies from the Euro 110 billion EU budget. In a long-awaited ‘European Transparency Initiative’, EU anti-fraud Commissioner Siim Kallas has proposed discussions with national governments about ” a legal obligation to publish information about projects and end beneficiaries of funds under shared management”, between member states and Brussels.…
ECJ NETHERLANDS CIGARETTE CUSTOMS CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DUTCH cigarette wholesale trader hit by an illegal diversion of cargo involving corrupt customs officers should pay Euro 1 million customs debts, the European Court of Justice’s Court of First Instance has ruled. It said Ricosmos, of the Netherlands, then part of the Kamstra Shipstores group, was liable, despite not being involved in the fraud.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has pushed ahead with securing more overseas fishing access deals for EU fishing crews in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Crucially EU ministers have been formally asked to approve a deal regarding the key Pacific grounds off the Solomon Islands.…
DUTCH DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the acquisition of sole control of Netherlands-based EU food ingredient business IMCD Group by global financial services group ABN AMRO.…
SERVICES - EU LIBERALISATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has called on European Union (EU) countries to further liberalise their professions, including accountancy, although a detailed report praises Britain for its reforms. The UK “is making good progress” across the board in fighting restrictive practices regarding profession entry, fees and advertising, along with Denmark and the Netherlands, said Brussels.…
CURACAO BREWERY CLOSURE
BY KEITH NUTHALL, in Philipsburg, Sint Maarten
A CARIBBEAN brewery claiming to manufacture the world’s only beer made from desalinated seawater will close, following a decision by its owners Antillean Brewery, which is 56% controlled by Heineken. Brewing a range of Amstel beers on the Netherlands Antilles island of Curaçao, the closure is likely to cost 55 employees their jobs.…
ECJ NETHERLANDS CIGARETTE CUSTOMS CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DUTCH cigarette wholesale trader hit by an illegal diversion of cargo involving corrupt customs officers should pay 2.2 million Dutch guilders customs debts (Euro 1 million), the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) Court of First Instance has ruled.…
SERVICES - EU LIBERALISATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has called on European Union (EU) countries to further liberalise their professions, including legal specialists, although a Communication’ policy paper praises Britain for its reforms. The UK “is making good progress” across the board in fighting restrictive practices regarding profession entry, fees and advertising, along with Denmark and the Netherlands, said Brussels.…
TOBACCO PRODUCTS DIRECTIVE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN tobacco industry is resisting handing over detailed cigarette ingredients data to national European Union (EU) governments, a European Commission report has claimed, despite it being their legal duty under the EU tobacco products directive. Highlighting “some difficulties associated to the submission of ingredient information…by the industry”, the Commission said data has so far only been sent to Brussels by 13 out of the 25 EU member states.…
JRC HYDROGEN
KEITH NUTHALL
TESTING facilities for companies and utilities seeking to evaluate hydrogen production and fuel cell technologies have been opened at the European Union’s (EU) Institute for Energy in Petten, the Netherlands. Part of the EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), its scientists will simulate operational lifetime conditions on fuel cells under all foreseeable conditions, from arctic to tropical weather, and from motorway driving to forest tracks.…
STARVATION-MENTAL ILLNESS
BY MONICA DOBIE
A LINK between under-nourishment and mental illness has been confirmed after scientists found that children born during China’s 1959-61 famine were twice as likely to develop schizophrenia. It afflicts roughly 1% of the global population and tends to run in families but researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University noted that the percentage of children who were babies during the famine and developed schizophrenia rose to 2.2%.…
ECJ ACCOUNTING CASES
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE BRITISH government is confident that it will avoid legal action from the European Commission at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which has formally warned the UK and five other European Union (EU) about not implementing a key accounting directive.…
BIRD FLU MEETING
BY ALAN OSBORN
VETS and government officials of the 25 EU member states were due to meet in Brussels yesterday (Thursday) to consider whether more European farmers should be banned from keeping poultry outdoors as a precaution against bird flu. The Netherlands has already introduced a ban and Germany may follow suit in the next few weeks.…
REGISTRATION TAXES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed the abolition of registration taxes that it says impede the transfer of vehicles to the 16 European Union (EU) member states that impose them. Britain is not among the countries concerned, but they include Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Austria and Poland.…
CONTAMINATION ASSESSMENTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) research project has developed technology that enabling local authorities to assess contaminants on brownfield sites, without having to drill boreholes and take physical samples. The HYGEIA consortium has developed a high-precision positioning system for ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys, which is necessary for collecting high-resolution 3-D data.…
DSM BAKERY INGREDIENTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ACQUISITION of sole control of fresh yeast, dry yeast and related bread ingredients producer DSM Bakery Ingredients by Gilde Buy-Out Fund II, of the Netherlands, from fellow Dutch company Royal DSM NV, has been approved without conditions by the European Commission.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PROACTIVE competition inquiry has been launched into the European Union’s (EU) natural gas sector, with the aim of rooting out anti-competitive practices. If the European Commission discovers instances of gas companies breaking existing EU competition law, legal action could follow.…
OECD - TERRORISM
BY ALAN OSBORN
SPURRED by the recent OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) report on terrorism risk cover, insurers have begun to wonder about the optimum pattern for cover in this highly unpredictable sector with its potential for catastrophic losses.…
TAX/REGISTRATION CASES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NETHERLANDS, Greece and Poland have come under legal pressure from the European Commission to reform their car taxation rules so that it is easier to move vehicles around the European Union (EU). It has sent their governments formal requests to reform their systems, which – if ignored – could lead to a referral to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).…
INDUSTRIAL ACTION - EU
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN still suffers from comparatively high rates of industrial action compared with its European Union (EU) competitors, according to the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The EU agency says that whilst the UK lost 904,900 working days through strikes in 2004, Germany lost just 50,673, and the Netherlands 15,000 (in 2003).…
ECJ CASES ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has started moving against established rich member states of the European Union (EU) who prevent citizens of the 10 new EU countries exercising their rights to work across Europe. It has formally requested that the Netherlands reviews rules often insisting employers secure working permits for staff temporarily posted from these eastern and southern EU countries.…
EXOTIC DISEASE DIAGNOSES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CHARITY may begin at home for many people, but as far as diagnosing exotic foreign diseases is concerned, it is far better begun abroad. The growth in diseases spread round the world by mass air travel, such as viral haemorrhagic fever (VHF) and SARS, led in 1998 to the creation of a European Network for Diagnostics of Imported Viral Diseases (ENIVD).…
ARTIFICIAL BLOOD
BY KEITH NUTHALL and MONICA DOBIE
A EUROPEAN Union (EU)-sponsored research project has been launched to create practical cell-factories producing a genetically-modified haemogoblin, the key element of blood that carries oxygen around the body. The Euro Blood Substitutes initiative wants to use ‘Aspergillus niger’ fungus and ‘Escherichia coli’ bacteria to create super-charged haem proteins, helping create reliable supplies of alternative blood products.…
FLOOD CONSULTATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INSURANCE industry is being asked to comment on European Commission plans to table a European Union (EU) ‘floods directive’ telling member states to limit the potential risks posed by floods and plan for dealing with any that arise.…
DSM BAKERY INGREDIENTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ACQUISITION of sole control of fresh yeast, dry yeast and related bread ingredients producer DSM Bakery Ingredients by Gilde Buy-Out Fund II, of the Netherlands, from fellow Dutch company Royal DSM NV, has been approved without conditions by the European Commission.…
DSM BAKERY INGREDIENTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ACQUISITION of sole control of fresh yeast, dry yeast and related bread ingredients producer DSM Bakery Ingredients by Gilde Buy-Out Fund II, of the Netherlands, from fellow Dutch company Royal DSM NV, has been approved without strings by the European Commission.…
ECJ GRAPHITE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A HEAVY fine levied by the European Commission on Germany’s SGL Carbon for participating in a cartel on the speciality graphite market has been reduced from Euro 27.75 million to Euro 18.45 million. Following an appeal against the fine, the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) Court of First Instance has confirmed that SGL and three other companies should be fined for market fixing; however, it said Brussels’ “was manifestly incorrect” when calculating the German company’s fines.…
EASA - RAMP INSPECTIONS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has called for the “reinforcement” of European Union (EU) standards for ramp inspections of non-EU aircraft calling at EU airports. The idea, said EASA, was “that the same procedures are applied throughout the EU in a transparent and harmonised manner”.…
PIGMEAT TRENDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Commission report has predicted pig production will decrease by 0.6% across the European Union (EU) this year, compared with 2004. Changes vary widely amongst member states, however, from down 9.4% in Hungary and 8.2% in Slovakia to up 12.8% in Estonia and 6.1% in the Netherlands.…
FOOD PROMOTION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission will spend Euro 26.1 million on 26 programmes promoting the sale within the EU of organic food products, olive oil, milk and cheese, ham, fruit and vegetables, plus some drinks products. There will be matching funding from participating countries Britain, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Finland, Hungary, Poland and Cyprus.…
IN WORK POVERTY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NEW European Commission report has raised concerns that while efforts are being made by European Union (EU) institutions, not enough done to raise people in work out of poverty. It says that while “low pay is obviously an important risk factor…being low-skilled and remaining in unstable and often part-time employment, can also lead to poverty”.…
PLASTIC LIGHT DEVICES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A HEAVYWEIGHT European international consortium will spend Euro 20 million on trying to develop commercially-viable flat plastic light sources, that could be moulded to fit spaces in homes and offices. The OLLA project (‘high brightness Organic Light-emitting diodes for information technology and Lighting Applications’) aims to build on basic research into these materials.…
MALT AID INQUIRY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has opened a formal investigation into a planned Euro 7.425 million-subsidy package planned by the Dutch government into its country’s malt sector. The money would help establish a malt production plant in Eemshaven, in the Netherlands’ roningen province.…
NURSE/DOCTOR DUTIES STUDY
BY MONICA DOBIE
AN IN-DEPTH world analysis has concluded that although nurses taking on doctors’ duties provide a high quality care, they may neither save health care costs nor reduce a doctor’s workload.
The assessment for the UK-based Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews probed 16 studies involving more than 25,000 patients in Britain, the United States and Canada.…
PARA RED DYE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is staging an investigation into the toxicity of the food dye ‘para Red’ (p-Red), supported by the development of analytical methods by laboratories from Britain, the Netherlands, France and Spain. The data will help set an EU maximum contamination level.…
BELGIUM FEATURE
BY ALAN OSBORN
WHILE the consumption of paint, ink and colourings in Belgium is, like that in most other European countries, best described as “stable”, the country’s production industry is eying opportunities to relocate in cheaper regions, such as eastern Europe.…
LEAF DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the sale of joint control of Netherlands-based confectionary producer Leaf International BV to Nordic Capital Fund of Jersey by international investment group CVC European Equity Partners.…
PARA RED DYE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is staging a European Union investigation into the toxicity of the food dye ‘para Red’ (p-Red), supported by the development of analytical methods by laboratories from Britain, the Netherlands, France and Spain.…
SCALDIA DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the acquisition of paper merchants Scaldia, of the Netherlands, and Papeteries de France, by Finland pulp and paper group Stora Enso. The Finns had bought Scaldia from US-based International Paper (IP) in 2004, and the Commission launched a partly retrospective inquiry after Enso also decided to buy the French group from IP.…
ISRAEL - SOFT DRINKS
BY ALAN OSBORN
ACCORDING to global consumption figures, Israel is the world capital of teenage soft drink demand, with hot weather combined with a competitive market to create something of a utopia for drinks companies. An international survey of soft drinks consumption published by the Economist by 15 year olds of both sexes suggests that Israel has the world’s biggest teenage consumers of carbonated and still drinks, colas, sodas, juices and the like on a per capita basis.…
EASTERN EUROPE/BRITAIN HOURS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WORKING hours in Britain exceed those in most new European Union (EU) member states from eastern and southern Europe says a report showing how western Europe workers generally work fewer hours. Britain’s usual weekly work hours, said the European Industrial Relations Observatory are 43.1, only exceeded in the expanded EU by Latvia’s 43.3.…
LEAF DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the sale of joint control of Netherlands-based confectionary producer Leaf International BV to Nordic Capital Fund of Jersey by international investment group CVC European Equity Partners, which has wholly owned the food business.…
EU-ASIA FOOD STANDARDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL initiative to raise Asian food safety standards to those required by the European Union (EU) for imports has been launched with the support of the European Commission. It is donating Euro 597,000 to the SELAMAT project to create a network of European and Asian food institutes, swapping information and best practice on meeting EU health-based food regulations.…
REVERSE CHARGE VAT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) governments could be given the power to demand waste metal and scrap buyers hand over VAT rather than their suppliers, under proposed reforms tabled by the European Commission. It wants changes to the EU sixth VAT directive making this system available on demand to member states for the industry, even though it conflicts with the standard EU rule that suppliers pay VAT.…
COOL PIGS
BY MONICA DOBIE
STRESS levels in pigs increase in temperatures of 19C or above, resulting in them eating and growing less, according to research from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. Pigs with cooling systems, such as floor cooling, sprinkling or water baths, remained cool and grew better.…
NON-CUBA CIGARS AOInv106
BY ALAN OSBORN
PRESIDENT George W Bush’s re-election last November has pretty well ruled out any change in the US ban on Cuban cigars for the next four years – if anything, things are likely to get tougher. One of the last things the previous Bush administration did last October was to actually tighten the import ban by barring Americans travelling to Cuba from bringing back up to US$100 dollars worth of Cuban cigars.…
DRINKS SPONSORSHIP FEATURE
BY DEIRDRE MASON and KEITH NUTHALL
THE SPORTS and entertainment industries thirst for sponsorship, and with the ever-growing boom in televising sporting events worldwide via satellite, the chance to expose a drinks company logo to world audiences in their billions should make sponsorship a sellers’ market.…
BIO FUELS THREAT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has accused nine European Union (EU) governments of dragging their feet over promoting biofuels in their countries. It has sent critical formal notices to Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland and Slovenia accusing them of failing to submit national reports framing 2005 targets for biofuel consumption, as required under the Biofuels Directive.…
BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GROUP of major European plastics producers have promised to abide by an internationally recognised standard when manufacturing biodegradable plastics, to minimise their environmental impact. Germany’s BASF, the USA’s Cargill Dow, Italy’s Novamont and the Netherlands’ Rodenburg Biopolymers and others, supplying 90% of the EU biodegradable plastics market, made the pledge in a voluntary agreement with the European Commission.…
EU RAPID ALERT SYSTEMS
BY DEIRDRE MASON
DO product and food alerts work? For consumer safety, it is essential that they do, but the global nature of today’s markets means that the recall net has to be cast over a vastly wider area than in the past.…
FMD CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has thrown out a bid by Dutch livestock producers for restrictions to be imposed on national health authorities over their tactics to fight foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks. The plaintiffs had claimed that European Union (EU) directive 85/511 imposed limits on the “power to order the slaughter of animals belonging to a holding adjacent to or within a specific radius of a holding containing infected animals”.…
ITALY DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the takeover of Italian copper production holding company Generale Industrie Metallurgiche SpA (GIM), of Italy, by Milan-based finance house INTEK SpA, which is controlled by Quattroduedue Holding BV, of the Netherlands. GIM companies produce and distribute copper and copper alloy products, operating 18 production plants located in Britain, Italy, Germany, Spain and China.…
X-RAY LASER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN and eight other European countries have signed a memorandum of understanding about constructing a groundbreaking X-ray research laser, so acute it could measure chemical reactions in real time. The UK, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Germany have agreed to negotiate in detail an inter-governmental arrangement for building an approximately three-kilometre-long underground laser generator.…
DESIGN REGISTRATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ITALY and Germany dominate design innovation in the European Union (EU) textile sector, according to the figures from the EU’s Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) – OHIM. They show that in 2003 and 2004, Italy formally registered 2,899 textile designs with the office, gaining them legal protection against plagiarism.…
CARTEL FINE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has fined three companies Euro 216.91 million for operating a cartel for monochloroacetic acid, a food thickener: the Netherlands’ Akzo Nobel; France’s Atofina – now Arkema; and Germany’s Hoechst.…
BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GROUP of major European plastics producers have promised to abide by an internationally recognised standard when manufacturing biodegradable plastics, to minimise their environmental impact. Germany’s BASF, the USA’s Cargill Dow, Italy’s Novamont and the Netherlands’ Rodenburg Biopolymers and others, supplying 90% of the EU biodegradable plastics market, made the pledge in a voluntary agreement with the European Commission.…
NETHERLANDS/BULGARIA
KEITH NUTHALL
THE NETHERLANDS government has shown how rich countries can fulfil their Kyoto Protocol commitments by promoting the overseas development of efficient green energy production, claimed the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The Dutch are funding a Euro 5 million conversion of a Bulgarian paper mill from generating energy via oil and gas to biomass via the EBRD-managed Euro 32 million Netherlands Emissions Reduction Co-operation Fund.…
NETHERLANDS DRINKS IMPORT TAX CASE ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Court of Justice advocate general Francis Jacobs has advised that where consumers buy alcohol in a foreign European Union (EU) country, and arrange for drinks to be transported to their home EU state, only the excise duty originally paid is due.…
KYOTO/EMISSIONS TRADING
KEITH NUTHALL
On the basis of existing policies and measures alone, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Sweden and the United Kingdom should reach their individual targets. The Netherlands and Luxembourg will achieve their targets with the help of credits from the project-based mechanisms.…
NETHERLANDS BIRD FLU VACCINE CONTROL RESEARCH
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DUTCH scientists have shown that bird flu vaccines could effectively halt the disease’s spread, as well as providing protection to individual vaccinated poultry. Tests carried out by the Central Institute for Animal Disease Control in Leystad, and Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands showed that two weeks after vaccination, two vaccines could "completely block the spread of the disease".…
LOCAL AUTHORITY BROADBAND PROMOTION - EUROPEAN COMMISSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PROMOTORS of a European Commission-supported research project encouraging municipalities across Europe to establish local broadband services say their four trials have proved a success. The scheme is especially designed to help local authorities seed new comms tech investment in zones deemed too remote by commercial service providers for investing in infrastructure.…
COLGATE PALMOLIVE NETHERLANDS TOOTHPASTE IMPORT CASE - ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
COSMETICS and soap trademark holders must be able to prove they are acting on firm knowledge when insisting a consignment of their products owned by a third party be blocked over concerns that they are counterfeit, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled.…
NETHERLANDS SUGAR MOLLASES DUTY CASE ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) regulation (1423/95) has been declared invalid by the European Court of Justice, because it allows the imposition of additional second duties on sugar imports, except molasses.
ENDS…
EU DUTY NETHERLANDS EXCISE DUTY IMPORT TAX CASE - ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) advocate general Francis Jacobs has advised that where consumers buy excised goods, including tobacco and alcohol, in a foreign European Union (EU) country, and arrange for them to be transported to their home EU state, only the excise duty originally paid is due.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WHILE discussions continue over how to ensure the security of energy supplies to the European Union (EU), Brussels institutions are sinking money into one sure bet, eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), for instance, is lending US$170 million to SOCAR, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, to fund two Caspian gas projects.…
AUSTRALIAN PAINT INDUSTRY
BY MATTHEW BRACE
AUSTRALIA’S paint and coatings industry has been enjoying a period of stability and steady prosperity of late, as a mature sector that is generally growing at the same rate as the country’s robust economy. Despite suffering the effects of the general downturn in the Asian economy after SARS and terrorism fears, the industry has remained highly competitive throughout the five-year period to 2003-2004.…
KYOTO/EMISSIONS TRADING
KEITH NUTHALL
AS the European Union (EU)’s greenhouse gas trading scheme beds in this year, its environment ministers can push ahead with fighting pollution, in the knowledge that the EU should hit its Kyoto Protocol emissions targets. According to the European Commission, current and planned policies should enable the expanded EU to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 8% from their 1990 levels during 2008-2012.…
CHEMICAL CARTEL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has fined three chemical companies Euro 216.91 million for operating a cartel in monochloroacetic acid production; it makes detergents and thickens cosmetics. The companies concerned included Akzo Nobel, of the Netherlands (Euro 84.38 million); Atofina – now Arkema – of France (Euro 58.5 million); and Hoechst, of Germany (Euro 74.03 million).…
ECJ ADDITIVES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that European Union (EU) governments may not ban feed supplements that are lawfully manufactured in another EU country because they contain certain levels of vitamin D. Germany’s Denkavit Futtermittel GmbH had been fighting North Rhine-Westphalia restrictions on sales of its Netherlands-manufactured piglet feed.…
NETHERLANDS DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the acquisition by Dutch veal and calf producer Van Drie of calf-feed specialist Schils, also of the Netherlands, which focuses on dry dairy feed calf-milk replacers. Although Brussels accepted the merged company would command influence in European feed and slaughtering markets, it concluded there was sufficient competition to allow the take-over.…
KYOTO - BRAZIL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CLEAN Development Mechanism (CDM), of the Kyoto Protocol has approved its first emissions trading project: the NovaGerar, landfill gas to energy project, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Netherlands CDM Facility will buy 2.5 million tons of its CO2 emissions savings at Euro 3.35 a ton.…
EU HEALTH POLICY REVIEW
BY KEITH NUTHALL
NATIONAL governments are often jealous of attempts by the European Union (EU) to increase its power into policy areas that they consider none of its business. Defence and foreign affairs are obvious examples, but health is another. EU member states have long resisted Brussels’ calls for influence over their health policies, but their resolve has weakened of late.…
PUBLIC RELATIONS - CAP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LAST people most farmers would like controlling European agricultural policy are glib public relations experts, armed with palm-top digital personal organisers and a sheaf of focus group studies. Such complaints have often been levelled at the Blair government, accused of bending with the wind of public opinion.…
DUTCH STUDY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
GRANTS worth Euro 1.35 million have been awarded by the Dutch government to fund two new research centres carrying out multidisciplinary studies into the prevention, management and treatment of infectious diseases in the Netherlands and developing countries. The centres will be virtual institutions, recruiting researchers from around the country.…
MANDELSON - CHINA
Keith Nuthall
CIVIL unrest could be sparked in smaller developing countries next year by the abolition of World Trade Organisation (WTO) textile trade quotas and resulting loss of export markets to Chinese competition, new European Union
(EU) trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has claimed.…
NETHERLANDS VITAMINS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DUTCH government has been told by the European Court of Justice to scrap rules insisting exporters from other European Union (EU) member countries wanting to sell foodstuffs with additional vitamins or mineral salts first prove they meet a “nutritional need” and do not risk public health.…
MIGA - NETHERLANDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) has signalled a retreat from commercial reinsurance by allowing the Netherlands to offer annual state guarantees of Euro 150 million for its international development projects, the first time a member state has reinsured MIGA for projects involving its national companies.…
DIOXIN CONTAMINATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
GERMAN clay producer Fuchs is at the centre of a row involving the contamination of animal feed with dioxin, after its kaolin – used by agricultural to separate potato peels from potatoes – was found to contain the cancer-causing chemical.…
MICRO-FINANCE ANALYSIS
BY ALAN OSBORN
IS there a role for the insurance companies of rich countries to play in developing “micro finance” in the world’s very poorest regions? The question has become relevant following the launch earlier this month (November) of the International year of Microcredit 2005 by the UN’s Agricultural Fund for Development (IFAD).…
EMISSIONS TRADING
KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is largely on track for a timely start to its emissions trading system on January 1, with the unconditional approval in late October of six more CO2 emission allocation plans, from Belgium, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Portugal.…
DRUG REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ECSTASY has become Britain’s number two illicit drug, overtaking amphetamines, warns a new European Union (EU) narcotics report alerting public health professional across Europe to increasing abuse of most recreational drugs. The best news highlighted by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) is that heroin use and new HIV infections are falling in western Europe, although they are increasing in many eastern European countries, such as the Baltic States.…
EU INFORMATION PIECE
BY DAVID HAWORTH
LAST summer’s European Parliament elections plus the delayed inauguration of the new European Commission under José Manuel Barroso has meant many quiet months in developing European Union (EU) policies affecting museums. What changes to EU cultural policy might be expected under Slovakia’s Jan Figel, the new education and culture Commissioner for the next five years will also not be evident until 2005.…
KYOTO - BRAZIL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CLEAN Development Mechanism (CDM), of the Kyoto Protocol has approved its first emissions trading project: the NovaGerar, landfill gas to energy project, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Netherlands CDM Facility will buy 2.5 million tons of its CO2 emissions savings at Euro 3.35 a ton, totalling Euro 8.4 million.…
REACH LATEST
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) chemical control package REACH that has been causing metal companies serious concern is starting to move steadily towards the Brussels statute book, with the European Parliament preparing to start formal debates next month. Its responsible committee on the environment, public health and food safety stages its next meeting on November 23 and 24, following a session of the industry, research and energy committee, which has the right to propose its own amendments.…
SUGAR THINK PIECE
BY ALAN OSBORN
IT’S not quite “back to the drawing board chaps” for sugar reform in the European Union (EU) now that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has formally ruled against the present system but some new thinking is surely needed – and quickly.…
MIGA - NETHERLANDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Bank’s key risk management agency has signalled a retreat from relying overwhelmingly on the commercial reinsurance market by striking a deal with the Netherlands over state guarantees for its international development projects. The Dutch government has promised to provide up to Euro 150 million a year in reinsurance capacity to the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).…
REACH DEVELOPMENTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) chemical control package REACH that has been causing metal mineral mining companies some concern is moving steadily towards the Brussels statute book, with the European Parliament preparing to start formal debates this autumn. In the meantime, the European Commission is still fine tuning the proposals, which it has already formally tabled for agreement by ministers and MEPs.…
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT CASES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
PUBLIC procurement procedures are illegal if they insist cost should be local authorities’ sole consideration in selecting a contractor for certain jobs, according to a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling. It concluded that an Italian law (109 of 1994) broke EU directive 93/37/EEC by insisting that except for certain construction and management jobs “contracting authorities use only the criterion of the lowest price”.…
AIDS COMPACT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
HEALTH ministers from seven European Union (EU) countries have announced a plan to boost research cooperation to develop an HIV/AIDS vaccine. Meeting in Paris, ministers from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands agreed to jointly organise studies and clinical trials to speed up discoveries, avoiding wasteful duplicate testing.…
WORKING TIME REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS European Union (EU) debates reforms to its working time rules designed to make it harder for Britain to opt-out of this EU legislation, an International Labour Organisation (ILO) report has claimed more Britons work excessive hours than other Europeans.…
ROBOT WARS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE OPPORTINITY for companies to buy efficient robots to tackle unpopular or dangerous jobs is increasing fast, with orders for industrial robots rising by 18% worldwide January-June this year, a United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) report has said.…
COMMISSION TURMOIL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MAJOR reshuffle of the proposed European Commission due to take office on November 1 will be made with president-elect José Manuel Barroso withdrawing his team because of opposition to its appointment within the European Parliament. Although the prime concern of MEPs has focused on Italy’s nominee as Commissioner for justice, freedom and security Rocco Buttiglione, the Netherlands’ competition Commissioner-designate Neelie Kroes is also in the firing line.…
WORKING TIME REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL Labour Organisation (ILO) report has claimed more Britons work excessive hours than other Europeans, with 15.5% of UK citizens working more than 50 hours a week, while in other EU countries the proportion ranges from 1.4% in the Netherlands to 6.2% in Greece and Ireland.…
AIDS COMPACT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
HEALTH ministers from seven European Union (EU) countries have agreed to boost research cooperation to develop an HIV/AIDS vaccine. Meeting in Paris, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands agreed to jointly organise studies and clinical trials to speed up discoveries, avoiding duplicate testing.…
COMMISSION TURMOIL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LIKELIHOOD of Italy’s nominee as the new European Union (EU) Commissioner for justice, freedom and security taking up his post has become extremely unlikely, with the European Parliament forcing a withdrawal of the entire new Commission due to start work on November 1.…
EUROSTAT - EMPLOYMENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN’S current strong performance in employing its citizens in general, and offering part-time jobs in particular, has been confirmed by a Eurostat report placing the UK above most other European countries. In a comparative study on employment rates, (rather than unemployment), the European Union (EU) statistical agency said 17.4% of Britons were in part-time employment, a larger proportion than in any other EU country, except in the Netherlands, where it is 32.8%.…
ENERGY PRIORITIES
KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) current Dutch presidency has ruled out securing political approval for the EU’s proposed directive on energy efficiency and energy services in the remainder of its 2004 presidency. Speaking to the European Parliament’s energy committee, the Netherlands’ economic affairs Minister Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst said the proposed directive on the security of electricity supply would take priority.…
EU DISEASE AGENCY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NEW European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has started work in Stockholm, its permanent home, electing Dr Marc Sprenger, director-general of the National Institute for Health and Environment in the Netherlands, as chairman of its management board.…
KROES HEARING
Keith Nuthall
NEELIE Kroes, the European Union (EU) Commissioner-designate for Competition – called the Commission’s second most important job after its president’s – vigorously defended herself at the European Parliament against allegations of divided loyalties today.
Appearing at a hearing before parliament’s economic committee earlier today, she endured a three hour grilling from cross-party tormentors who included her Dutch countryman Paul van Buitenen, formerly a whistle blower and now an MEP.…
HEART DISEASE MAP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN’S performance in reducing heart disease deaths could be much improved compared with many of its European Union (EU) partners, a new World Health Organisation heart disease atlas, has shown.
Dividing a country’s annual deaths from heart disease with its population, saturated fats and beer loving Britain had a comparative factor of 2, based on 120,530 deaths in 2002 amongst a population of 59 million.…
SECOND EU DIRECTIVE MONEY LAUNDERING
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE LEGAL web being cast by the European Union (EU) in the fight against money laundering is being tightened still further. A third directive has now been proposed by the European Commission that, among other things, will broaden the definition of money laundering to include not only the concealment or disguise of the proceeds of serious crimes but also the financing of terrorism with either criminal or legally acquired money.…
DYE CONCERN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EU food contamination rapid alert system RASFF has revealed cases where carcinogenic dyes Sudan 1 and Sudan 4 have been discovered in food. Affected minced meat, spice-salt, chilli sauce and pepper, palm oil, pepper sauce, cayenne and red peppers have been removed from sale in Britain, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Environment Agency (EEA) says the old 15 member European Union’s (EU) greenhouse gas emissions fell by 0.5% from 2001-2, following increases in the previous two years. Sadly, proactive anti-global warming measures were not top of the agency’s reasons for the cut.…
RESUMING WITH ORIGINAL FILE
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).…
MADE IN EUROPE
Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has abandoned its plan to introduce a Made in Europe label to boost European Union (EU) manufactured textile and clothing after consultations revealed opposition amongst some member states. Britain, Germany and the Netherlands, among others, were keen to retain their own national labels and there were concerns that a Made in Europe system would have proved expensive.…
MADE IN EUROPE
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has abandoned its plan to introduce a Made in Europe label to boost European Union (EU) manufactured clothing after consultations revealed opposition amongst some member states. Britain, Germany and the Netherlands, among others, were keen to retain their own national labels and there were concerns that a Made in Europe system would have proved expensive to administer.…
DUTCH PRESIDENCY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NEW Dutch presidency of the European Union (EU) is to press for political agreement over the proposed directive on security of electricity supply, drawn up following last year’s power failures. It would require member countries to define targets on the security of their transmission and distribution networks and increase investment in cross-border electricity interconnectors, although substantial redrafts are expected to secure a deal.…
SEDIMENT CHECKS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FOLLOWING the success in collecting data about prehistoric climate changes from polar ice cores, the European Union (EU)-funded PROMESS1 project has collected 500,000-year-old sediment samples from the Mediterranean floor. These, said a European Commission note, “will allow researchers to reconstruct climate variations since pre-historic times, thus providing keys for understanding what is happening to Earth’s climate now…holding (geological) archives of past developments”.…
DEPRESSION PROJECT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NEWLY launched European Union (EU)-funded research project will uncover genetic factors linked to depression, helping to develop new drug treatments over the next five years. The NEWMOOD project has received Euro 7.2 million in EU funding. It will help researchers “revolutionise antidepressant drugs, which have not changed much over the past 30 years,” claimed the European Commission.…
EU SOFTWARE PATENTS
BY ALAN OSBORN
FEVERISH efforts are being made to rescue the European Union’s (EU) software patent directive after suggestions that a number of member states voted for it “by mistake” in May and now seeking ways of reversing their positions. One of those seeking to change its vote – the Netherlands – said it mistakenly thought the measure incorporated amendments approved by the European Parliament which excluded patents for pure software.…
NETHERLANDS PRESIDENCY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SECURING agreement on the proposed EU regulation on nutrition and health claims made about food products is a key priority of the new Dutch presidency of the EU. It also wants a deal on a directive on adding vitamins and minerals to food.…
ECJ CASES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NETHERLANDS, Ireland and Belgium are facing legal action by the European Commission over their alleged failure to implement a series of utility-related European Union (EU) directives. The announcements come before Brussels’ long summer break, when member states are often sent legal notices.…
NETHERLANDS PRIORITIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SECURING agreement in principle on the proposed European Union (EU) regulation on restricting the use of certain fluorinated greenhouse gases is a key priority of the new Dutch presidency of the EU. Official documents drawn up by the EU Council of Ministers committee of permanent officials (Coreper) show the Netherlands wants a deal on this legislation at October 14’s environment council.…
EU HEALTH CONCERNS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONFIDENCE in the durability of public health systems is not high amongst continental Europeans, a new Swedish report has claimed. Without reform 81% of 8,000 citizens in seven European Union (EU) member countries fear that the quality of their healthcare will decline or stagnate.…
EU CAR PRICE REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WITHIN the newly expanded European Union (EU), Poland is the cheapest country in which to buy a car, although under current trends that honour may not last long. According to the latest European Commission figures, Polish car prices are on average 9% cheaper than those in Finland, the cheapest country using the single European currency.…
FINLAND TAX CASE
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.…
NETHERLANDS CHECKS CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SPECIAL inspections required in the Netherlands on vehicles that have previously been registered in another European Union (EU) member country are an illegal restriction on the movement of goods in Europe, the European Commission is claiming. It has sent a legal final warning letter (a ‘reasoned opinion’) to the Dutch government, warning that it could ask the European Court of Justice to order the tests be scrapped, if the Netherlands refuses to abolish them first.…
MONEY LAUNDERING LATEST
BY KEITH NUTHALL
‘CATCH me if you can’ might well be the motto of international money launderers. Despite laws criminalising the practice being well established, international organisations are continuing to extend their legal and geographical scope. Keith Nuthall reports.
IF a continent has need of comprehensive cross-border anti-money laundering legislation, it surely has to be Europe.…
EUROSTAT ACCIDENT STATS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
NATIONAL work accident statistics are keenly examined by occupational health practitioners, but they do not enable the safety of British workplaces to be compared against other European countries; that is where Eurostat, the European Union’s (EU) statistical agency comes in.…
DERIVATIVES CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is threatening seven European Union (EU) countries with legal action at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for failing to apply EU law and give local companies the option of applying International Accounting Standard (IAS) 39 on financial instruments.…
EMISSIONS TRADING
KEITH NUTHALL
EMISSIONS trading plans for eight European Union (EU) countries – including Britain – have been approved by the European Commission, enabling 5,000 industrial plants to buy and sell pollution permits by January 2005. Brussels accepted national plans from Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Sweden unconditionally and another three – from Austria, Britain and Germany – on condition that technical changes are made, which would make them automatically acceptable.…
HOLIDAY LEAGUE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WITH the summer holiday season in full swing, hold those calls to Stockholm: the Swedes have more time off than other Europeans, Germany’s IW economic institute has claimed. In an international survey of holidays taken by workers in 2003 in 14 western European countries, the Cologne-based think tank said Sweden was closely followed by the Netherlands (31 days) and Denmark (30 days).…
EU DUTCH PRESIDENCY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SECURING agreement in principle on the proposed European Union (EU) directive on managing waste from extractive industries is a key priority of the new Dutch presidency of the EU. Official documents drawn up by the EU Council of Ministers committee of permanent officials (Coreper) show the Netherlands wants a deal on this legislation at October 14’s environment council.…
EU TELECOMS REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
TELECOMMUNICATIONS investment is being attracted to European countries with the least state involvement in dominant operators, according to a survey from the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA). It says that Britain, Denmark and Ireland are the most popular countries for telecoms investors, with Belgium, France, and Germany the least, (other countries surveyed were Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden).…
UNDECLARED WORK
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE GREEKS may be European football champions, but they are bottom of the league for tax honesty, said a European Commission report, with more than 20% of work by value being undeclared. ‘Undeclared work in an enlarged Union’ shows Britain is much more honest, with only 2% of its GDP concealed from the tax authorities, second only to Austria (1.5%).…
NETHERLANDS WASTE-ENERGY
KEITH NUTHALL
THE DUTCH government should be censured by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for excessively restricting hazardous waste exports earmarked for energy generation in another country via incineration, an ECJ advocate general has advised. Francis Jacobs criticised a Dutch rule blocking exports if more than 20 per cent of the waste could be recovered in the Netherlands.…
ART THEFTS - INTERPOL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
Italy, the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation have suffered particularly serious thefts from museums and other cultural sites according to figures from Interpol. In a new table published by the international police organisation Italy reports a total of 18,715 thefts – far more than any other country – of which 2,875 represented liturgical objects.…
UNDECLARED WORK
Keith Nuthall
THE GREEKS may be champions in European football, but they are bottom of the league for tax honesty, a European Commission report has concluded, with more than 20% of work by value being undeclared. The paper ‘Undeclared work in an enlarged Union’ shows that Britain is much more honest, with only 2% of its GDP being concealed from the tax authorities, second only to Austria (1.5%).…
ECJ TAX CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
COMPANY and private car drivers moving from one European Union (EU) Member State to another should not be required to pay fresh registration taxes when they change their country of residence, a European Court of Justice (ECJ) advocate general has recommended.…
VAN BUITENEN SLATE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
HIGH-PROFILE European Commission whistleblower Paul van Buitenen has detailed the recent series of European Union (EU) scandals and corruption cases within a manifesto, issued to promote his campaign for election to the European Parliament on June 10. Exploiting rules that allow European Commission officials to stand for the parliament and make detailed election statements, van Buitenen’s manifesto is actually a German and Dutch language book ‘In the Trenches of Brussels’.…
NETHERLANDS WASTE-ENERGY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DUTCH government should be censured by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for excessively restricting hazardous waste exports from the Netherlands when it is earmarked for energy generation in another country via incineration, an ECJ advocate general has advised.…
TOBACCO SMUGGLING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CIGARETTE companies can reclaim customs debts created by the seizure in the European Union of smuggled tobacco products in operations involving undercover agents, the European Court of Justice has ruled. In a case brought by the Netherlands’ British American Tobacco Manufacturing BV (taking over from Rothmans in 2000), the court said the DM 1.4 million claimed by German customs on 11 million seized and destroyed Golden American cigarettes could be reclaimed “provided no deception or obvious negligence may be attributed” to Rothmans.…
SMILE/CIVITAS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
LOCAL authorities in Camden and Nottingham have been held up as good practice examples in the promotion of environmentally sustainable transport by the European Union’s (EU) SMILE project, which concluded last week at a conference in La Rochelle, France (27-28 May).…
LOWER PAY INCREASES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE RATE of pay increases across the European Union (EU), and Norway, fell between 2002 and 2003, although Britain bucked the EU trend, said a report from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.…
RAPID ALERT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission’s rapid alert system of food health scare notifications has warned of salmonella contamination in meat from four EU countries: boneless pork collar from Denmark, pigmeat and chicken from the Netherlands, and frozen chicken fillet from Poland.…
NETHERLANDS - ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EXEMPTIONS from mineral levies paid on phosphate and nitrogen fertilisers in the Netherlands for garden centres or glasshouses have been confirmed as breaking the European Union (EU) nitrates directive by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The Netherlands’ MINAS system is based on the assumption that glasshouse flowers and crops take up 460 kg phosphates and 800 kg nitrogen per hectare per year, “considerably higher than for outdoor crops”.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is bankrolling the development of Kazakhstan’s oil and gas reserves, a key alternative supply for the European Union (EU). It wants to lend Tasbulat Ltd Euro 60 million to help develop three medium-sized oil and gas fields in Mangistau region, western Kazakhstan, producing up to 8,000 barrels/day in 2006; Tasbulat is owned by SNP Petrom, Romania’s national oil company.…
USA MONEY LAUNDERING REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
NOBODY likes to be on a blacklist, especially one written by the American government. But every year, the US state department issues a comprehensive rogues gallery of countries involved in the narcotics trade and related criminal problems. One surprising entrant: the United States.…
PART-TIME WORK
Keith Nuthall
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) survey concluding that part-time workers are less likely to report job-related health problems and are more likely to achieve a positive work-life balance is good news for UK companies. Indeed, the European Working Conditions Observatory (EWCO) report says Britain has the EU’s second highest proportion of part-timers – 25 per cent of workers in 2002.…
EUROSTAT ACCIDENT STATS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE TRADES Union Congress (TUC) has called on the British government to spend more on the Heath and Safety Executive and local government workplace inspectors, following the release of a report from EU statistical agency Eurostat showing Britain suffering increasing rates of serious work accidents.…
WORK ACCIDENT STATS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
RELIABLE statistics are of course vital to any insurance company’s assessment of risk, and nationally produced figures in countries such as Britain and the USA can usually be counted upon in actuarial calculations. But what about comparing countries when managing international policy portfolios?…
VAN BUITENEN SLATE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
HIGH-PROFILE European Commission whistleblower Paul van Buitenen will reveal a litany of European Union (EU) scandals and corruption cases when he releases his programme this month for the oncoming European elections. Exploiting rules that allow European Commission officials to stand for the parliament and make detailed election statements, van Buitenen is publishing a book ‘In the Trenches of Brussels’ on April 28, which will officially be his election manifesto.…
PART-TIME WORK
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) survey concluding that part-time workers are less likely to report job-related health problems and are more likely to achieve a positive work-life balance is good news for UK companies. Indeed, the European Working Conditions Observatory (EWCO) report says Britain has the EU’s second highest proportion of part-timers – 25 per cent of workers in 2002.…
FLAVOURED CIGARS FEATURE
BY ALAN OSBORN
THEY’RE not to everybody’s taste, we quite agree, but there’s no doubt that flavoured cigars have a very devoted band of followers and can no longer be dismissed as a passing fancy. Indeed after speaking to a number of the big players it is easy to gain the impression that the flavoured, (or aromatic), segment has (along perhaps with filters) been the only one to buck the cigar sector’s trend of falling or stagnant sales in recent years.…
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN has been given a relatively clean bill of health in the latest Transparency International corruption rankings, being viewed as joint-11th least-corrupt country in the world, sharing its billing with Canada and Luxembourg. Finland was the most honest place in which to do business said the pressure group’s survey, followed by Iceland and the Denmark plus New Zealand at joint third.…
EUROSTAT - ILLNESS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BELGIUM is the European Union’s (EU) salmonellosis hotspot according the latest comparative figures collated by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency. In 2001, 104 cases were recorded in Belgium per 100,000 people, with other high figures being recorded in Germany (94 cases), Luxembourg (83) and Austria (81).…
EUROSTAT STUDY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AMONGST all European Union (EU) countries, Finland has the highest number of nurses and midwives per head of population, – 2,181 per 100,000 inhabitants – according to the recently released and latest available comparative figures. EU statistical agency Eurostat said that these 1998-2000 figures showed Portugal as having the least nurses and midwives (379 per 100,000) and Greece the second worst performer (391).…
BUITENAN SLATE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CELEBRATED European Commission whistleblower Paul Van Buitenen has launched his own slate of candidates for the June 10 European Parliament elections. Called Europa Transparant, and standing in his native Netherlands, the party had hoped to be boast the candidature of former Commission chief accountant Marta Andreason, although she has now pulled out citing family reasons.…
CARIBBEAN FEATURES
BY MARK WILSON
AWASH with recently-passed legislation and newly-established Financial Investigation Units, the small nations of the Caribbean have transformed their money laundering controls since the mid-1990s. In 2000, five Caribbean island jurisdictions made up one-third of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list of fifteen non-cooperative countries and territories, each of them with ‘serious systemic problems,’ in the words of a FATF review published on June 22 of that year.…
DUTCH STUDY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
GRANTS worth Euro 1.35 million have been awarded by the Dutch government to fund two new research centres carrying out multidisciplinary studies into the prevention, management and treatment of infectious diseases in the Netherlands and developing countries. The centres will be virtual institutions, recruiting researchers from around the country.…
NUCLEAR LIABILITY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
REVISIONS to a European nuclear energy liability convention will increase the total accident compensation available from operators in 15 countries to Euro 1.5 billion, up from Euro 350 million. Britain, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey have now signed the Protocols to amend the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy and the Brussels Convention Supplementary to the Paris Convention.…
SUBSTANCE ABUSE LEGISLATION: EU
BY ALAN OSBORN
ABUSE of drugs and alcohol in the workplace may be a growing concern in European Union (EU) countries but there seems little evidence that the relevant authorities are unduly alarmed by it. An informal survey by Occupational Health of organisations and government departments suggests that little attempt has been made so far to assess the scale of the problem, still less to devise legislation aimed at workers, as distinct from society in general.…
NUCLEAR LIABILITY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
REVISIONS to a European nuclear energy liability convention will increase the total accident compensation available from operators in 15 countries to Euro 1.5 billion, up from Euro 350 million. Britain, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey have now signed the Protocols to amend the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy and the Brussels Convention Supplementary to the Paris Convention.…
PETTEN PROGRAMME
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has approved a three-year supplementary research programme at the EU’s joint research centre high flux reactor, at Petten, the Netherlands. Funded largely by the Dutch government, the Euro 30.6 million studies should improve reactor safety, waste management and develop nuclear fuel unable to be transformed into weapon grade plutonium.…
EASTERN EMIGRATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NETHERLANDS has restricted to 22,000 the number of working migrants it will accept from the 10 eastern and southern European countries joining the European Union (EU) this May. The announcement is the latest in a string of such caps imposed by existing EU Member States, (made by Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Spain), ahead of the expansion of the union.…
EU FOOD CAMPAIGNS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to spend Euro 29.25 million on schemes promoting the consumption of fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy products in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Britain.…
THE HAGUE - WATER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has drawn up plans to lend up to Euro 125 million to water authority Hoogheemraadschap van Delfland for building and operating a new wastewater treatment plant and upgrading an existing plant in the Netherlands’ the Hague region.…
UNRELIABLE POWER SYSTEMS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THERE is a significant risk that Europe’s summer of blackouts could be repeated after 2008, unless effective investments are made in power generation and distribution plant, the Union for the Co-ordination of Transmission of Electricity (UCTE), has warned.…
LARGE COMBUSTION CASES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is taking six national governments to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) because of allegations that they have failed to implement the large combustion plants directive that seeks to cut air pollution through strict limits on sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions.…
ACCIDENT ALERT TECH
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN research consortium is testing an automatic accident alert system helping drivers motoring in a foreign country raise emergency services following an accident, reducing the risk they might die or suffer serious harm. The system would help motorists who may not know where to call for assistance and may not speak the language used by nearby police, ambulance services and fire fighters.…
DUTCH ECJ CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DUTCH poultry company has created an important legal precedent forcing national authorities in the European Union (EU) to reconsider administrative decisions if they are subsequently shown to break EU law. Kühne & Heitz had gone to court to secure contested export refunds from the Netherlands Commodity Board for Poultry and Eggs.…
PETTEN PROGRAMME
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have been asked to approve a research programme stretching over the next three year at the EU’s joint research centre high flux reactor, at Petten, in the Netherlands. Funded largely by the Dutch government, the Euro 30.6 million series of projects includes studies on improving reactor safety, the development of medical isotopes, fusion, waste management and developing nuclear fuel helping to eliminate weapon grade plutonium, plus basic research and training work.…
FLAX & HEMP
KEITH NUTHALL
THE REFORM of the European Union’s (EU) hemp and flax fibre sector in 2000 has led to an end of growing short flax and hemp, purely to gain EU production subsidies that were previously available, a European Commission report has claimed.…
EMERGENCY ALERT
BY JONATHAN THOMSON
AN EMERGENCY alert system that can immediately display critical messages on workers’ computer terminals has undergone successful trials at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. Netherlands-based Netpresenter said its ‘Emergency Alert Server’ product, which can quickly inform both travellers and airport staff in the event of a security problem, fire or other disaster, would now be made more widely available.…
LOW VAT RATES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has performed a U-turn and has asked European Union (EU) ministers to extend for two years a pilot scheme allowing Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Greece to continue levying reduced VAT rates (of six per cent and eight per cent for Greece) on small services for repairing and altering household linen, and clothing.…
OLAF REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) anti-fraud unit OLAF has told of the uncovering of a Baltic State centred cigarette smuggling ring. OLAF’s 2002-3 annual report said this May police arrested 10 people and seized millions of counterfeit cigarettes. The ring was selling fake British brands, made and packaged by an illicit tobacco production plant.…
MAIL ORDER CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that any national ban on the Internet sale of non-prescription medicines would break European Union freedom of business laws. It has intervened in a bid by German pharmacies association Deutsche Apothekerverband to stop the operation of Dutch pharmacy DocMorris, which from June 2000 has sold medicines on the web to customers in Germany and the Netherlands.…
FRAUD REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRAUD is centre stage again in European Union (EU) news, following a series of high profile scandals, for instance in Eurostat. Now OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud agency has produced an annual report showing that it is detecting more irregularities.…
ADIDAS ECJ CASE
KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has said that Adidas can only prevent rivals using variations of its vertical stripes symbol by proving that consumers associate its mark with those used by other companies. If consumers view rival symbols “purely as an embellishment”, Adidas cannot use its trademark rights to suppress them, the ECJ said, intervening in a Netherlands case involving Fitnessworld Trading Ltd.…
ITU RANKING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SCANDINAVIA dominates the top rankings of a new International Telecommunication Union (ITU) global index on information and communication technology (ICT) access, with Sweden, Denmark and Iceland scoring the highest marks. The ITU says that the league table distinguishes itself from other indices by including new variables, such as education and affordability.…
NETHERLANDS CARBON FUND
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NETHERLANDS has secured the help of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to reduce its greenhouse gas emission targets by investing in eastern European projects aimed at fighting global warming. The bank and the Dutch government are creating a carbon fund, which will draw on Euro 32 million of Netherlands’ funds.…
EU COMPANY MERGERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is trying to clear legal logjams preventing companies with share capital from different European Union (EU) Member States from merging, transactions that are illegal in the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Greece, Germany, Finland, Denmark and Austria.…
EU-US MARITIME DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN AGREEMENT has been negotiated between the European Commission and the United States that should create common pre-shipment clearance shipments for goods shipped between the European Union (EU) and the US. If EU ministers agree, it would tell European and American exporters to provide sufficient information about goods to allow “sophisticated targeting” of security checks, prior to shipping.…
EU-US MARITIME DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN AGREEMENT has been negotiated between the European Commission and the United States that should create common pre-shipment clearance shipments for goods shipped between the European Union (EU) and the US. If EU ministers agree, it would tell European and American exporters to provide sufficient information about goods to allow “sophisticated targeting” of security checks, prior to shipping.…
ITU RANKING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SCANDINAVIA dominates the top rankings of a new International Telecommunication Union (ITU) global index on information and communication technology (ICT) access, with Sweden, Denmark and Iceland scoring the highest marks. The ITU says that the league table distinguishes itself from other indices by including new variables, such as education and affordability.…
ADIDAS CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has said that Adidas can only prevent rivals using variations of its vertical stripes symbol by proving that consumers associate its mark with those used by other companies. If consumers view rival symbols “purely as an embellishment”, Adidas cannot use its trademark rights to suppress them, the ECJ said, intervening in a Netherlands case involving Fitnessworld Trading Ltd.…
COMMS INVESTMENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report says that the Netherlands, out of all EU countries, has received the largest economic boost from investment in communications and information technology. Much of the resulting labour productivity growth has been concentrated in knowledge intensive activities, notably high technology and medium high technology manufacturing, said the developed world think tank.…
VW/PON DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has given competition clearance to the takeover by Volkswagen’s financial arm of a stake in the Dutch car leasing company Pon Financial Services. The deal will lead to the joint control of Pon with VW importer in the Netherlands Pon Holdings BV.…
VAN BUITENAN BACK
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CELEBRATED European Union (EU) whistleblower Paul van Buitenen is back working at the European Commission, after one year of personal leave, being posted on the same floor as his new boss and old political sparring partner, internal affairs Commissioner Neil Kinnock.…
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT - EU
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A THREAT is emerging of European legal action against countries that allow public procurement tenders to stipulate that Intel processors must be used in computers bought by public sector purchasers. The European Commission has warned France, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden of possible action, saying such conditions could break European free trade laws.…
ELECTRONIC PAPER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
PHILIPS scientists in the Netherlands say they have developed a way of overcoming problems of low brightness and slow movement of images (via pixels) in electronic paper (e-paper). Their breakthrough, involving an ‘electro-wetting’ technique using oil, water and electric currents “could ease the development of wireless, animated newspapers and books” said the European Commission.…
COPPER PAINT - BOATS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A KEY European Union scientific committee has opposed a ban imposed by the Dutch government on copper-based anti-fouling coatings being applied to pleasure boats sailed in the Netherlands, opening the way for possible legal action by the European Commission.…
BOLKESTEIN REGULATION CALL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Commissioner has broken a Brussels taboo akin to the Pope calling for quickie divorces and free contraception, he has called on the European Commission to propose fewer regulations. Frits Bolkestein, the Dutch internal market Commissioner told a Netherlands newspaper NRC Handelsblad that tougher safeguards should be written into the new European Union (EU) constitution to curb his own institution’s “tendency to over regulate”.…
WINDING UP DIECTIVE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
LEGAL final warning letters have been sent by the European Commission to Britain, Belgium, Germany, Greece, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Finland, Spain and Sweden, calling on them to swiftly implement a directive guaranteeing consumer protection when insurance companies are wound up.…
TELECOM INFRINGEMENT PROCEDINGS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched infringement proceedings against Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal for failing to implement the package of measures approved last year to liberalise the European Union (EU) telecommunications sector.
Brussels noted that only Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Finland, and Sweden had implemented the EU’s framework, authorisations, access and universal service directives into their national legislation by this month (NOTE: OCTOBER).…
COPPER PAINT - BOATS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A KEY European Union scientific committee has opposed a ban imposed by the Dutch government on copper-based anti-fouling coatings being applied to pleasure boats sailed in the Netherlands, opening the way for possible legal action by the European Commission.…
EUROSTAT - CONSUMPTION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE GREEKS are the European Union’s highest spenders on footwear and clothing, taking into account the proportion of annual household income spent on these items, according to figures released by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical agency. Greek consumers devoted 11 per cent of their spending on shoes and clothes in 2001 and 2000 – the latest available comparative statistics covering the EU.…
NETHERLANDS CHICKEN FLU
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is paying an advance of Euro 10 million to the Netherlands government, to compensate poultry producers for losses from this year’s avian influenza epidemic. Brussels will meet half the costs, which cover slaughtering chickens, destroying eggs and carcasses, disposing of contaminated feed and equipment, plus disinfecting poultry holdings.…
GROUND LEVEL OZONE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS environmental health officers assess a hot summer that created high pollution concentrations and heat exhaustion, a new European Union directive on ground level ozone has come into force. The legislation requires EU Member States to assess ground ozone concentrations throughout their whole national territory and to inform the public of any readings above 180 ?g/m3.…
NORTH SEA SMALL FISH
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE NUMBER of fish in the North Sea has increased but the average size of them has got smaller according to a study by the Institute for Fisheries Research of the Netherlands. This does not mean that fish of a particular species have shrunk in size but rather that there are now relatively fewer large fish species and a greater number of fish smaller than 30 cm, such as sprats and whitebait.…
EU NUCLEAR SAFETY MEETING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FUTURE cooperation over the safe operation of Europe’s ageing complement of nuclear power stations has been discussed by a key meeting of specialists from existing European Union (EU) Member States and eastern European countries applying for membership or will join next May.…
TELECOMS GROWTH - EU
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN ACTION plan designed to further spur growth in the key broadband and third-generation (3G) mobile sectors has been unveiled by the European Commission and will be presented to the European Union’s (EU) spring summit in Brussels next month.…
EUROSTAT STUDY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE IRISH are the European Union’s keenest purchasers of alcohol and tobacco, considering annual household spending, according to European Union statistical agency Eurostat. Ireland’s consumers devoted six per cent of their spending on alcohol and tobacco in 2001 and 2000 – the latest available comparative statistics.…
ELECTRONIC PAPER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SCIENTISTS in the Netherlands say they have developed a way of overcoming problems of low brightness and slow movement of images (via pixels) in electronic paper (e-paper). Their breakthrough, says the European Commission’s research directorate “could ease the development of wireless, animated newspapers and books.”…
INK CORROSION
BY ALAN OSBORN
A SOLUTION to the problem of ink corrosion, one of the most serious and persistent of those facing museum and library curators charged with the preservation of old drawings and documents, may at last be in sight.
The InkCor project, backed by museums, research institutes and universities in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Slovenia, and largely funded by the European Union’s (EU) Fifth Framework Programme for research, is developing a treatment that will at the very least stabilise the present situation and slow down the corrosion.…
COAL FIRED POWER PLANTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A CONSORTIUM including pollution reduction experts from France, Spain, Greece and the Netherlands is promoting what it says are “affordable” technologies that should enable coal fired power plant operators to comply with incoming European Union legislation limiting nitrogen oxide emissions.…
VAN BUITENAN BACK
Keith Nuthall
CELEBRATED European Union (EU) whistleblower Paul van Buitenen is back working at the European Commission, after one year of personal leave, being posted in the same floor as his new boss, internal affairs Commissioner Neil Kinnock. The posting has raised a few eyebrows at Brussels, given that Mr Kinnock has had an unhappy relationship with the Dutchman, over a dossier of corruption allegations.…
EU NUCLEAR SAFETY MEETING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FUTURE cooperation over the safe operation of Europe’s ageing nuclear power stations has been discussed by a key meeting of specialists from existing European Union (EU) Member States and eastern European countries applying for membership. Staged by the EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) at its Institute for Energy, Petten, the Netherlands, the meeting examined “future networking opportunities for nuclear plant life management.”…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THERE has been a lot of talk about water in international meetings and organisations this year. Report after report has spelt out that we are all using too much water and if reforms do not make systems more sustainable, then a thirsty future beckons.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COMPREHENSIVE deal over third party access to gas pipelines has been agreed between German joint venture BEB and the European Commission, leading to Brussels closing its competition investigation into the company’s refusal to allow Norway’s Marathon to pump gas into its infrastructure.…
LOW VAT RATES
KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission wants to scrap the experiment allowing shoe and leather repairers in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to charge lower rates to their customers. Its aim was to promote labour intensive industries such as shoe repairing, but following an analysis of the pilot project, the Commission has concluded that “the reduced rate had very little, if any, impact on prices or job creation.”…
GM CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is taking France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Austria and Finland to the European Court of Justice for failing to adopt an older (and looser) directive on GM food. This includes rules on post-marketing monitoring, public information, plus labelling and traceability.…
ICC CASES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MASSACRES in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) civil war and the murky business dealings that have fuelled the conflict are to be the first focus of the International Criminal Court (ICC), its chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has said.…
SPACE DRILL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GERMAN tunnelling company has developed a boring machine drawing on space technology to include a sophisticated sensor enabling operators to assess oncoming rock conditions whilst drilling continues. Herrenknecht AG, which drilled the Elbe tunnel, has been trialling its new sensor on a 9.8m-diameter TBM shield excavating the Pannerdensch Kanaal twin tunnel near Arnhem, the Netherlands.…
EU WASTE PIECE
BY ALAN OSBORN
NOBODY likes nuclear waste but nobody has yet thought up a universally-acceptable way of disposing of it. This is as true in Europe as anywhere else. It may be fair to say, however, that some European countries have gone further than the rest of the world in drawing conclusions about the future of nuclear energy as a result of the problems caused by radioactive waste.…
INTEGRATED POLLUTION CONTROL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SIGNIFICANT problems have been detected by a European Commission study into the implementation of the European Union’s integrated pollution prevention and control directive in seven EU Member States, with Britain being the only country so far found complying.…
GM CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is taking France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Austria and Finland to the European Court of Justice for failing to adopt an older (and looser) directive on GM food. This includes rules on post-marketing monitoring, public information, plus labelling and traceability.…
THAI POULTRY
BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
THAILAND’S agriculture officials are predicting that their country’s chicken exporters will eat into key Asian and European markets, because of bans imposed on Chinese exports following its recent outbreaks of bird flu. Japan imposed a temporary ban after detecting the virus in Chinese duck products and the Netherlands’ chicken flu outbreak will also boost Thai exports, Bangkok officials say.…
SEVESO II ROW
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament could be heading for a political collision with the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers over the scope of a reformed Seveso II directive, which imposes commitments on industry to avoid serious accidents.
At the heart of the looming struggle is the insistence of MEPs that the updated legislation covers all forms of mining activity, notably the chemical and thermal processing of dangerous substances within mines.…
KYOTO FAILURES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) may like to pose as the globe’s environmental crusader, setting a good example to the bad old dirty United States, but the latest figures from the European Environment Agency (EEA) – for 2001 – have shown that for a second year running, EU greenhouse gas emissions have risen.…
PRODUCTIVITY REPORT
KEITH NUTHALL
BRITISH travel agencies are amongst the most productive in the European Union (EU), according to a report on labour productivity written by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency. Its study assessed the added value created by each worker in a given year for a range of industries, Britain’s travel agencies were the second most productive in the holiday industry.…
GERMANY ASIAN FLU
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FEARS that avian flu may have spread from the Netherlands to poultry in Germany have sparked movement controls on live poultry, hatching eggs and fresh, unprocessed and non-heat-treated poultry manure or litter. They cannot be moved within the Lander of North Rhine-Westphalia because of an unconfirmed outbreak amongst chickens in Schwalmtal, near the Dutch border.…
COUNTERFEIT ARRESTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
INVESTIGATIONS coordinated by EU anti-fraud agency OLAF led to arrests of seven smugglers for illicitly shipping tobacco from the Baltic States to the Netherlands, where 10.35 million black-market cigarettes were seized. Three Latvian smugglers were also arrested – in Germany – and 4 million smuggled cigarettes were found in Belgium, near 35 tonnes of illicit hand-rolling tobacco.…
EUROSTAT PRODUCTIVITY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SWEDEN has the highest European Union unit labour costs in the combined tobacco, food and drinks industries, according to a report from Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency; its average for the latest available comparable figures (year 2000) was Euro 38,000.…
COUNTERFEIT ARRESTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
INVESTIGATIONS coordinated by EU anti-fraud agency OLAF led to arrests of seven smugglers for illicitly shipping tobacco from the Baltic States to the Netherlands, where 10.35 million black-market cigarettes were seized. Three Latvian smugglers were also arrested – in Germany – and 4 million smuggled cigarettes were found in Belgium, near 35 tonnes of illicit hand-rolling tobacco.…
EUROSTAT PRODUCTIVITY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SWEDEN has the highest European Union unit labour costs in the combined tobacco, food and drinks industries, according to a report from Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency; its average for the latest available comparable figures (year 2000) was Euro 38,000.…
PRECISION LIVESTOCK FARMING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EVEN the most ill-informed layman knows that modern farming is often a technically advanced and scientific business, but the extent to which new technologies are being used to maximise production is not so-widely known, even within the industry itself.…
GASUNIE ACCESS
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission’s competition directorate-general has decided to close its probe into the alleged refusal by Dutch gas company Gasunie to grant access to its pipeline network to the Norwegian subsidiary of US oil and gas producer Marathon in the 1990’s.…
WTO SERVICES OFFER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has released its detailed offer for improving the access of non-European Union accountants into the EU market, as part of the ongoing Doha Development Round at the World Trade Organisation.
If its trading partners offer concessions in return, Brussels says it is prepared to allow “foreign accountants will be allowed to review and compile financial statements and other accounting information for European clients.”…
LIBERALISATION SURVEY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITISH architects are among the most lightly regulated in the European Union (EU), with their Danish, Irish, Dutch and Swedish colleagues enjoying a similarly light regulatory burden, according to a European Commission-funded survey, promoting liberalisation in Europe’s professions.…
KYOTO FIGURES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) may pose as the globe’s environmental crusader, but the latest figures from the European Environment Agency (EEA) – for 2001 – have shown that for a second year running, EU greenhouse gas emissions have risen.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AGREEMENT in principle over the proposed reforms to the European Union’s gas liberalisation directives has been secured at the European Parliament’s key industry committee, although it is proposing important changes. MEP’s called for amendments insisting upon close cooperation between the European Commission and national regulators regarding security of supply.…
LIBERALISATION SURVEY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITISH accountants are the second most lightly regulated in the European Union (EU), with their Danish colleagues having the most freedom according to a European Commission-funded survey, promoting liberalisation in Europe’s professions. Belgium, Austria and Germany – where heavy regulation is often favoured – have the union’s most tightly restricted accountancy professions.…
WTO SERVICES ROUND
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has offered to open up the European Union’s market in IT 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 preventing non-EU computing companies from offering services in Europe.…
ECJ COMPENSATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CARIBBEAN sugar processing companies in the Caribbean have lost a bid for damages at the European Court of Justice, over claims they were wrongfully penalised by safeguard duties imposed on their exports into the European Union. Rica Foods, Free Trade Foods and Suproco, of the (non-EU) Netherlands Antilles and Aruba were ordered to pay costs.…
ELECTRONIC TAGGING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SUCCESSFUL trial of electronic tags for livestock has been announced by the European Commission, which has inspired a proposed regulation that would create a unified system for accurately monitoring farm animals across the European Union (EU).
Brussels officials have unveiled in Italy the results of the IDEA project (Electronic IDentification of Animals), a one million animal trial spanning France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.…
ELECTRONIC TAGS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SUCCESSFUL trial of electronic tags for livestock has been announced by the European Commission, which has inspired a proposed regulation that would create a unified system for accurately monitoring farm animals across the European Union.
Brussels officials have unveiled in Italy the results of the IDEA project (Electronic IDentification of Animals), a one million animal trial spanning France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.…
FRANCE CASE THINK PIECE
BY ALAN OSBORN
AN UNUDUAL and significant announcement was made by the European Commission earlier this month (April 2nd) and it should be required reading for any-one who thinks that Brussels is frightened of France when it comes to farming matters.…
GMO CASES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is formally threatening France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Austria and Finland with legal action at the European Court of Justice over claims that they have failed to implement new EU regulations on the release of genetically modified organisms.…
DE RUITER INTERVIEW
BY ALAN OSBORN
Mr Willem de Ruiter (51), a Dutchman with a degree in civil engineering, has been appointed the first executive director of the European Maritime Safety Agency, which was created by EU governments last year and is in the process of being set up.…
COMMERCIAL MOTOR
BY KEITH NUTHALL and ALAN OSBORN
THE FREIGHT Transport Association has called on continental European Union Member States to make use of new powers to screen the qualifications and experience non-EU lorry drivers, weeding out competing companies who may employ cheap unskilled labour from eastern Europe and Turkey.…
RUSSIA CULL
BY MARK ROWE
RUSSIA has ordered its farmers to destroy almost 90,000 chicks it fears comes from the Netherlands because of the avian-flu outbreak in that country. The virus was founding in imported Dutch hatching eggs in two towns south of Moscow and the Russian agriculture ministry has asked European veterinary services to provide additional safety guarantees about egg and chick exports.…
DUTCH CHICKEN FLU
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has banned the movement of live poultry and hatching eggs from the Netherlands to other European Union countries, following an outbreak of the highly contagious avian influenza amongst chickens in the eastern province of Gelderland.…
REGULATION ASSESSMENT
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.…
DUTCH CHICKEN FLU
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has banned the movement of live poultry and hatching eggs from the Netherlands to other European Union countries, following an outbreak of the highly contagious avian influenza amongst chickens in the eastern province of Gelderland.…
ICC LAUNCH
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITISH High Court judge Sir Adrian Fulford was among 18 judges sworn in this week (11/03) to serve on the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal, the International Criminal Court (ICC), which will sit at The Hague, the Netherlands.…
US PRECURSORS
BY PHILIP FINE and KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States is calling for countries to offer up more information on their legal pharmaceutical and bulk chemical industries so as to better catch those who are using them for illegal purposes.
In its comprehensive annual report on worldwide drugs activities, the US State Department places some of the blame for many legal chemicals ending up in the hands of illicit drug manufacturers, on government political structures.…
WATER INSTITUTE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NEW international water college has been founded in the Netherlands, with the particular aim of developing new techniques and technologies to secure future water supplies in arid areas. The UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, is a joint venture between the UN scientific body and the Dutch government, which had run a purely national water institute on the college’s site.…
WATER INSTITUTE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NEW international water college has been founded in the Netherlands, with the particular aim of developing new techniques and technologies to secure future water supplies in arid areas. The UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, is a joint venture between the UN scientific body and the Dutch government, which had run a purely national water institute on the college’s site.…
RSI CONFERENCE
BY ALAN OSBORN, in Nottingham
INTRODUCTION
REPETITIVE Strain Injury (RSI) is still by and large an unacknowledged problem for many employers. The complaint is formally defined as “work-related upper limb disorders” and its most common symptoms are pain, fatigue and weakness, most often associated these days with sitting a long time in front of a computer screen.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s anti-fraud office OLAF has been called in to investigate financial corruption at the EU’s Committee of the Regions, the Brussels body representing local governments across Europe.
Its investigators are checking allegations made by Dutch socialist MEP Michiel van Hulten to the European Parliament that the record of financial probity at the CoR “can only be described as alarming.”…
DUTCH CHICKEN FLU
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has banned the movement of live poultry and hatching eggs from the Netherlands to other European Union countries, following an outbreak of the highly contagious avian influenza amongst chickens in the eastern province of Gelderland.…
BELGIUM CHICKEN FLU
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has banned the export of live poultry and hatching eggs from Belgium and halted their transportation within the country. This follows reports of a possible outbreak in the province of Antwerp of avian influenza – a highly contagious poultry disease that Brussels says can cause severe economic damage to the industry and which has already recently broken out in the neighbouring Netherlands.…
ECJ ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
STREAMLINING, multi-tasking and flexible posting of employees may be important weapons in the arsenal of a personnel team looking at getting the most efficiency out of their company, but managers had better make sure that their policies are legal, not only under national laws, but European law too.…
PACKAGING WASTE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved in principle tightening the EU packaging and packaging waste directive so that by 2008, Member States should recycle at least 50 per cent of metals found in packaging waste.…
WASTE REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Environment Agency has released a comprehensive report promoting good practice within Europe’s waste industry, in a bid to ease governments’ reliance on landfilling, which it considers too dominant. Case Studies on Waste Minimisation Practices in Europe focuses on 10 initiatives undertaken in Europe during the 1990’s to promote and encourage waste minimisation.…
WASTE REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Environment Agency has released a comprehensive report promoting good practice within Europe’s waste industry, in a bid to ease governments’ reliance on landfilling, which it considers too dominant. Case Studies on Waste Minimisation Practices in Europe focuses on 10 initiatives undertaken in Europe during the 1990’s to promote and encourage waste minimisation.…
CARBON FACILITY DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRAZILIAN steel producer V&M do Brazil has struck the largest deal to date under the Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism. It will see the steel maker selling five million tonnes of greenhouse gas reductions for Euro 15 million to an International Finance Corporation/Dutch government fund, the IFC-Netherlands Carbon Facility.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has been laying preparations for possible fuel shortages associated with a possible war in the Middle East, summoning its special group on petroleum provisions to analyse existing European Union (EU) fuel stocks and supplies. The Commission wants every Member State to stockpile enough fuel to last for 40 days of standard consumption.…
TAX REGIMES - EU
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) Competition Commissioner Mario Monti is to ask his colleagues on the European Commission to ban two special tax regimes – in Netherlands and Belgium – while allowing a threatened taxation system in Ireland to continue.…
OECD TAX REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
IF accountants want to give really useful advice to their clients that applies almost anywhere in the developed world, they should tell them to get married and have kids.
That would be the most logical conclusion that could be drawn from the latest Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) publication on tax, “Taxing Wages.”…
EU ROUND UP
KEITH NUTHALL
THE MOST important driver of reform in the institutions of the European Union today is the impending enlargement of the EU eastwards, to take in (Greek) Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.…
JANES AIRPORT REVIEW
BY KEITH NUTHALL
Europe’s ambitious Galileo programme to establish a global satellite navigation system is clearly a project that likes to keep its supporters in a state of fairly constant nervous tension. At a cost of 3.2 billion euros, Galileo was never a sure-fire runner to begin with.…
FLOODS PIECE
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE FLOODS in central Europe last August and September took a tragic toll of lives, disrupted local economies and devastated numerous museums with the irretrievable loss of cultural artefacts. In Dresden, the worst hit city, thousands of artworks had to be moved when both the Zwinger Palace, site of one of Europe’s great art museums, and the Albertinum Museum became victims of rising floodwater.…
FISH FEATURE
BY ALAN OSBORN and MARK ROWE, in London, MONICA DOBIE and PHILIP FINE in Montreal, MATTHEW BRACE in Brisbane, and RICHARD HURST in Johannesburg
Introduction
Europe
Cuts to EU catch quotas
New sources of fish
Affect on fish producers
Wild alternatives to cod
Farmed cod
North America
USA – Healthier local stocks
USA – Demand up
USA – Fish imports
Canada – Farmed fish exports
Canada – GM issues
Australasia
Australia – New wild sources
Australia – Aquaculture
Australia – Wild fish innovation
Australia and New Zealand – sustainability
South Africa – Export increase and conservation
Japan – Local and regional supply
Japan – Maintaining quality
Japan – Non-Asian sources
Introduction
ONCE it was said, cod was so abundant that fishermen in some parts of the world boasted they could walk on the backs of the fish to find their catch.…
WATER WARS
BY MARK ROWE
WARS are usually fought over coveted resources, such as oil, diamonds or fertile land. Now water, the most indispensable of mankind’s needs, is seen as the resource which may spark the armed conflicts of the 21st century.
Indeed, United Nations (UN) cultural and scientific organisation UNESCO is stepping up efforts to calm tension in some of the world’s most water-stressed areas.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WATER privatisation has certainly had its critics, but it has a new supporter in the shape of the European Commission. It has publicly backed the growing privatisation of Europe’s water utilities, with its internal market commissioner praising British government moves to inject competition into its national sector.…
STRESS AT WORK AWARDS
BY DENMARK FINCH AND FRITZ BRETT
INTRO
REDUCING stress amongst employees at work can make a major improvement to the bottom line of companies; indeed, so expensive is the problem, says the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, it is thought to cost the EU at least Euro 20 billion a year in lost time and health costs and affect more than 40 million of its employees.…
BOLKESTEIN SPEECH
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) commissioner has called on EU governments to reconsider the phasing out of nuclear energy, which he says has been approved on the basis of “the moral high ground and….of often unjustified emotions.”
Internal market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein (CORRECT SPELLING) said that technological advances were tackling the environmental difficulties surrounding nuclear energy and although problems still exist, “they do not justify the total phasing out of nuclear energy now carried out by a number of Member States.”…
HEINEKEN-CARLSBERG CASE
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has – somewhat grudgingly it appears – called off its investigation into alleged market sharing agreements between the large international brewers Carlsberg of Denmark and Heineken of the Netherlands. Brussels said it found no evidence that the suspected infringement continued after May 1995 and noted that under EU rules it had no power to fine companies where abuses could not be proved in the five years preceding the start of an investigation – in this case 2000.…
LOW VAT RATE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission wants to extend for 12 months an experiment allowing shoe and leather repairers in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to charge lower rates to their customers. The idea is to promote labour intensive industries such as shoe repairing and the Commission is considering making the scheme permanent.…
MONEY LAUNDERING CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has sued RJ Reynolds in New York, seeking damages against allegations that it illegally laundered the proceeds of cigarette smuggling. The case – which also involves Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland and Luxembourg – also seeks an injunction stopping future alleged laundering.…
WATER LIBERALISATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has publicly backed the growing privatisation of Europe’s water utilities, with its internal market commissioner backing British government moves to inject competition into its national sector.
Indeed, Frits Bolkestein defended the much-maligned record of privatised water services in the UK, blaming the price rises in the 1990’s on a failure to ensure private water companies could compete and previous government neglect.…
STRESS CASE STUDIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AWARDS have been made to 20 companies across Europe by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work for groundbreaking schemes that have effectively reduced workplace stress, reducing the risk of psychological problems developing in employees. Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, the agency’s director, said the schemes were examples of good practice that should be followed across the European Union.…
GREEN AUTO INSURANCE
BY ALAN OSBORN
A DUTCH company has won a European Business Award for the Environment for developing a green car insurance policy that it claims will help the environment, prolong the life of cars and reduce insurance premiums by five to 10 per cent.…
UNESCO FUND
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRANCE’S Suez and the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) have launched a joint drinking water improvements programme that will provide around Euro 300,000 in its first three years and will initially concentrate on the Volga-Caspian region.…
EEA REPORT
KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Environment Agency has reached a negative conclusion about the environmental impact of aquaculture in European Union (EU) lakes and seas, saying that the “dramatic increase” in the size of the industry since 1970 had created “an increased pressure on water and ecological quality in those waters affected.”…
RUSSIA EBRD
BY KEITH NUTHALL
RUSSIAN sugar refineries will be able to draw on a US$286 million short-term working capital finance programme run by the Netherlands’ Rabobank in 2002-3, which will be bolstered with US$100 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).…
AFRICA PROJECT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ORNAMENTAL plant buyers will be given a new research tool to expand their range of knowledge about African tropical plants via a new European Commission and the Netherlands government funded research project PROTA, where African and European experts will review and document existing knowledge on around 7,000 species.…
NOISE LEGISLATION
BY ALAN OSBORN
NEW LEGISLATION limiting the amount of noise that employees may be exposed to at their place of work has been agreed by government ministers of the EU nations and the European Parliament and is likely to become European law before the end of the year.…
FIGARO LAUNCH
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COORDINATING centre for European digital publishers of academic texts has been launched with a public blitz on the traditional publishing sector, accusing it of being lethargic and vulnerable to unscrupulous reviewer academics who may exploit their contents prior to publication.…
EU ROUND UP
KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has taken an important step towards giving EU water legislation more teeth, by moving against Belgium’s system of “tacit approvals” of pollution. Belgian law allows companies to assume that they have a right to pollute if they make an application to regulators and then receive no reply.…
MID-TERM CAP REVIEW
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRANZ Fischler has given himself a tough job; trying to persuade dairy farmers it is time to expose themselves to unfettered world markets when prices are at rock bottom, while facing hostility to further CAP reform from some European Union governments, notably France.…
BELARUS POLYESTER
Keith Nuthall
EUROPEAN Union ministers have been asked to reimpose anti-dumping duties – albeit at a lower rate – against imports into the EU from Belarus of synthetic staple fibres of polyesters, not combed, carded or otherwise processed for spinning.
The move follows a review of the duties on polyester fibre from Belarus that were imposed in 1996 and 1997 at a rate of 43.5 per cent.…
VAT REDUCTIONS
Keith Nuthall
COMPANIES and sole traders that alter and mend household linen, clothing and shoes have been granted the option of having another year of reducing VAT on their services by the European Commission. Brussels has decided to extend an experimental scheme, which allows Belgium, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Britain to reduce VAT on specified labour-intensive services to boost jobs.…
IRISH WASTE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DISCOVERY this summer of the hormone MPA in treacle or glucose syrup used for pig feed in the Netherlands, originated in Ireland and were sold on via Belgium because of poor implementation of EU pharmaceutical waste laws and the carelessness of feed producers, the European Commission has claimed.…
EUROSTAT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRANCE is storming ahead of the European Union’s league table for the export of electricity, supplying other EU Member States with 69,479 GWh in the latest year for which comparable figures are available (2000); Austria was the only other significant EU exporter, supplying 1,296 GWh, although outside the union, Norway recouped significant earnings from exporting 19,055 GWh.…
EUROSTAT FIGURES
Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Union’s drinks industry is one of the continent’s key earners according to a report from EU statistical agency Eurostat, which says its productivity is much higher than that of the food processing sector.
The top performing country in the latest pan-EU figures available (1999) in the drinks industry was France, at Euro 103,700 generated in terms of value added by the sector per person in employment.…
VAT RATES
BY JONATHAN THOMSON
CYCLE repairers in the UK will have to wait another 12 months before finding out if the European Commission intends to expand a reduced rate of VAT scheme that is currently enjoyed by only a handful of Member States.…
ILLICIT TOBACCO TRADING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
GOVERNMENTS and international organisations have highlighted tobacco smuggling as one of the largest illegal drains on their tax revenues. An international conference has brought law enforcement professionals together with health officials to fight this problem. Keith Nuthall reports.…
SAND DREDGING
BY ALAN OSBORN
WE know that irresponsible sea-sand dredging can led to coastal erosion, threatening beaches and ecological balance and even the livelihoods of whole sea-side or fishing communities. Yet there is today an unprecedented demand for sand as a building material.…
BY ALAN OSBORN
The more new buildings that go up, the more demand there is for sand and gravel for use as aggregate. In theory there’s an almost inexhaustible supply of it on the sea-bed. But each ton taken away leaves a hole under the sea that fills with water.…
SUPER ALGAE
BY ALAN OSBORN
AN INTERNATIONAL team of scientists based at Galway, in Ireland, has made a surprising discovery that could have significant consequences for future climate change.
The EU-sponsored Parforce research project, led by the National University of Ireland, has found that iodine vapours released by marine algae can help thicken haze and cloud layers, blocking sunlight and thereby partially offsetting global warming from greenhouse gases.…
EU APPEAL
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has filed an appeal against the dismissal of its cigarette smuggling action in the US against three tobacco companies: Philip Morris, R. J. Reynolds and Japan Tobacco. Notably, it has received formal support in the proceedings from the US Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association for its action, along with the World Health Organisation, the US Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.…
BARENTS SEA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL initiative to cleanse the polluted Barents Sea of nuclear waste has been launched, with Euro 110 million being pledged by Russia, the European Commission, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The Barents clean-up will be the first priority project of this Support Fund of the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership; the sea, to the north of Russia and Norway, is commonly known as the largest repository of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste in the world.…
NITRATE ZONES
BY ALAN OSBORN
NOT many items of legislation from Brussels have provoked quite such anger among farmers over the years as the nitrates directive, which seeks to protect water from nitrate pollution caused by the application of organic and inorganic fertilisers to agricultural land.…
DAEWOO - GM
BY ALAN OSBORN AND PHILIP FINE
THE EUROPEAN Commission’s competition authority has cleared the purchase
by General Motors of a series of production and sales outlets of the South
Korean car manufacturer Daewoo.
GM is to acquire some of Daewoo’s production facilities for passenger cars
and light commercial vehicles in Korea and Vietnam together with sales
subsidiaries in Austria, the Benelux region, (Belgium, Netherlands and
Luxembourg), France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.…
NETHERLANDS STATE AID
Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has ordered the Dutch government recover maritime transport aid it has paid out since 1996 to port and inland waterway towage operations, ruling that these payments broke EU state aid rules. Brussels approved subsidies from the Netherlands to towage operators, but had assumed that this money was for limited to ships working on the open seas.…
TENS DECISION
BY ALAN OSBORN
MINISTERS of the 15 European Union countries have reached agreement on the Trans-European Energy Networks directive. The ministers have essentially supported the Commission proposal of last year and Brussels officials predicted that the European Parliament will do likewise later this year.…
CADMIUM CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
TOUGH restrictions applied by the Austrian and Swedish governments on the use of cadmium in their territories are likely to be scrapped, after the European Court of Justice ruled that amendments to EU legislation permitting them to retain these rules were actually illegal.…
ECSC STATISTICS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DECLINE in the European Union’s use and production of coal over the past 50 years has been documented in a detailed paper by EU statistical agency Eurostat to mark the end of the European Coal and Steel Community.…
SAFETY REFORMS
BY MARK ROWE
PEDESTRIANS and cyclists involved in an accident with a car would be covered by the insurance of the vehicle, even if they caused the incident, if proposed amendments to European law are agreed. Changes tabled to the EU’s Fifth Motor Insurance Directive by Erkki Liikanen, EU Commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society – will go before European Parliament for first reading this autumn.…
HEMP GRANT
Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has ruled that by allowing hemp fibre crops to be harvested before its seeds are fully mature, (enabling the them to produce cannabis), the Netherlands government broke European Union subsidy rules, which are strict on the age of hemp that attracts Brussels subsidies.…
CYCLE SAFETY
BY MARK ROWE
CYCLISTS involved in a road accidents will automatically be deemed to be the wronged party, under planned road safety changes to European Union insurance legislation. A directive from Brussels has ruled that cyclists and pedestrians who are hit by a car will always be covered by the insurance of the motor vehicle involved, irrespective of whether or not they are to blame.…
PLANT VARIETY OFFICE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
IN an increasingly borderless world, the power of international intellectual property conventions is growing ever stronger and the garden trade is being affected by this trend as much as mining and IT.
Take new plant varieties. In the EU, since 1995 Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) has been established.…
AIR INSURANCE
BY MARK ROWE
THE EUROPEAN Union has given itself until the end of this month (May) to make a crunch decision over whether to further subsidise the future insurance of the continent’s airlines in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre, in New York last September.…
EU LATEST
Keith Nuthall
NOONE should ever accuse the European Commission of fighting shy of regulation, and given that proposals on promoting shipping safety are generally framed with good intentions, it would be fair to say that Brussels at least tries to improve standards.…
CONTRACT FARMING
BY ALAN OSBORN
SOME sensible words were spoken recently by the EU’s agriculture commissioner Franz Fischler on the way forward for farmers. His starting point was the quality of farm produce. Noone is going to say that quality has ever been far from farmers’ minds, but until recently it wasn’t really the first consideration.…
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LONG awaited International Criminal Court is poised to become reality next year, with the statute underpinning its legality coming into force on July 1.
This follows the anticipated ratification of the court’s Rome treaty by at least 60 counties who signed the agreement, which was struck in 1998.…
EU DRUG REPPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN’S health authorities provide fewer drug addicts with substitution treatment than do a majority of other European Union Member States, a statistical review by an EU drug-use agency has claimed.
The proportion of “problem drug users” given alternative medicines to wean them off their addiction ranges between six and 22 per cent in the UK, taking into account available data, estimates the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.…
GEEL REACTOR
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU Joint Research Centre’s reactor at Geel, the Netherlands, was to be restarted in March, following its shutdown in February for IAEA-led safety assessments. These have led to improved training and monitoring procedures.…
IAEA SECURITY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A FINANCED global action plan to improve safety in the nuclear energy sector has been approved in principle by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. A number of countries have pledged around US$4.6 million to fund its programmes, although this falls far short of the US$12 million price tag claimed by the IAEA, which also wants a fund of US$20 million established to handle security emergencies.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
“SERIOUS concern” has been expressed by the European Commission over the failure of a number of Member States to set up telecommunications and IT networks to establish a New Computerised Transit System, which should seal an administrative loophole bleeding millions of Euro’s in defrauded revenue.…
METALIX
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared a scheme to set up a new company specialising in the processing of hot-rolled flat steel products in the Netherlands.
The new venture to be know as Metalix, has been formed by IHC (a subsidiary of the IHC Caland Group) and ODS (a subsidiary of Klöckner & Co.…
DISTRICT HEATING CARTEL
KEITH NUTHALL
A BID by a group of district heating companies to overturn massive fines levied by the European Commission, which found they had been participating in an illegal cartel, has been thrown out by the European Court of Justice’ Court of First Instance.…
FOOD SAFETY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FOOD safety and quality need to be improved in all European countries because of the increase in food-borne diseases in the past decade, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have said.…
EUROPEAN RESEARCH AREA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NETHERLANDS Shipbuilding Industry Association (VNSI) has welcomed the oncoming agreement of the Euro 16.2 billion EU Sixth Framework Programme for research as giving the European industry a chance to compete effectively against far East suppliers, such as those from South Korea.…
SPANISH TONNAGE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved a special Tonnage Tax in Spain, where the country’s maritime shipping companies pay tax on the capacity of their ships rather than the profit or loss that they generate.
Brussels approved the plan under its EU internal market powers, because it matches policies stated in the 1997 Commission guidelines on state aid to maritime transport and its new transport white paper.…
GALILEO - BARCELONA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s ambitious Galileo satellite navigation project was strongly backed by EU government leaders at their summit meeting in Barcelona and a decision to go ahead is now fairly certain to be taken by EU transport ministers at their Council on March 26th.…
PLANT VARIETY OFFICE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
IN an increasingly borderless world, the power of international intellectual property conventions is growing ever stronger and agriculture is being affected by this trend as much as mining and IT.
Take new crop varieties. In the EU, since 1995 Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) has been established.…
CARLSBERG/HEINEKEN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FIRST stage of legal proceedings that could lead to Carlsberg and Heineken being fined heavily by the European Commission because of allegations of market fixing have been launched in Brussels.
Formal statements of objections were sent to both drinks giants by the Commission, claiming that they have been in breach of EU competition rules, notably Article 81 of the EU treaty, which bans cartels and other “damaging” concerted business practices.…
ECJ CASES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to take Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Portugal to the European Court of Justice for allegedly failing to fully implement the EU Basic Safety Standards Directive on protecting the health of workers and the public against dangers from ionising radiation.…
NORTH SEA GRANTS
BY MARK ROWE
SHIPPING companies and their related organisations are being invited to submit bids for funding under a new Euro 280 million North Sea initiative launched by the European Union.
Grants will be made available for projects that will promote efficient and integrated transport and maritime systems in the North Sea and its adjacent coastal regions.…
NETHERLANDS CASE
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has ruled that the Netherlands, and by precedent other Member States, has the right to prevent lawyers entering into multi-disciplinary partnerships with accountants, even though it accepts that this may restrict competition in legal services.…
UNDERSEA WRECKS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE MARITIME Museum of Finland and Britain’s Mary Rose Trust have teamed up with four other archeological groups to explore four important European shipwrecks, creating what will be a virtual exhibition of their findings.
Internet sites will publish pictures and information about the sites, which include:
*A late 13th Century cog, (small, trade vessel), off Mecklenburg, Germany;
*The Vrouw Maria, a Dutch sailing ship that sank off Finland in 1771, carrying artworks and treasures from Amsterdam to St Petersburg for Catherine the Great.…
ENLARGEMENT THINK PIECE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS acts of international largesse go, the expansion of the European Union eastwards and southwards must rank as being one of the most generous in history. With research estimates claiming that the size of the EU budget will soar to accommodate the needs of the former communist republics, (plus Cyprus and Malta), we are talking Marshall Plan here; billions of Euro’s being transferred from national coffers in western Europe to the east, via Brussels.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A HEALTHY market in the use of waste oil as a fuel to generate electricity is being promoted in the European Union through excise duty exemptions, erected in the face of official EU environmental policy, a new European Commission report says.…
WASTE OILS
KEITH NUTHALL
THE CO-GENERATION of electricity from waste oil is being promoted in the European Union through excise duty exemptions, which have been erected in the face of official EU environmental policy, a new European Commission report says.
Its “Critical Review of Existing Studies and Life Cycle Analysis on the Regeneration and Incineration of Waste Oils” points out that Council Directive 75/439/EC on Waste Oils tries to make Member States prioritise regeneration over burning.…
SUBSIDIES SPLIT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SPLIT has emerged in the European Union Council of Ministers over the possible scrapping of subsidies to tobacco producers under a possible review the common market regime, which should happen this year. On one side in a debate at a recent agriculture council were a group including many of the EU’s tobacco growing countries, (Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, France, Greece, Spain and Portugal), who are opposed to cuts, whilst other Member States, (notably Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden), backed a recital to a current proposal to adjust subsidies over the next two years that calls on the EU to review the regime this year “to allow the progressive deletion of subsidies.”…
VAT REFORM
KEITH NUTHALL
A COMPREHENSIVE reform of the European Union’s VAT package for travel agents has been proposed by the European Commission, which would change the special rules that apply for the sector. Because their services are often consumed in a foreign Member States where different sales tax rates can apply, travel agents are allowed to pay VAT on the profits that they make rather than handing over the VAT charged directly on services that they supply, minus the VAT they paid when incurring allowable business expenses.…
DRUG ACCESS ORGANISATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL organisation is to be set up later this year to help developing country governments negotiate better deals for drug access, as well as helping local researchers to protect their ideas from being poached. The MIHR, (Management of Intellectual property in Health Research and development), will be set up by public health and intellectual property experts from Britain and the Netherlands, with the assistance of experts from Asia, Africa, south America and north America.…
INTERREG LATEST
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced a new Euro 149.2 million financing scheme under its Interreg programme, which can help local and regional authorities deal with problems in border areas. In this case, the Commission has identified the North Sea as a frontier zone, with money being made available until 2006 for transnational co-operation between coastal areas in Britain, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.…
DUTCH GAS TAX
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NETHERLANDS government has been authorised to grant its national horticulture industry another six years of breaks from its energy tax on natural gas. The European Commission – which must approve special subsidies of this kind in the EU – has allowed the scheme to run until 2007.…
EEA REPORT
KEITH NUTHALL
A NEW report from the European Environment Agency has tried to explain why there is indeed a wide gulf between Member States’ performance on renewables; for instance, Britain has more wind than Germany, but significantly less wind power electricity generation and Greece has failed to develop solar panels as quickly as fellow southern Mediterranean EU Member State Spain.…
EUROSTAT REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SIGNIFICANT trend towards the consolidation in the European Union’s insurance sector has been highlighted by a report from the EU’s statistical agency Eurostat, which has released detailed data about 1999.
In that year, said the study, the number of EU insurance businesses decreased by 8.4 per cent between 1996 and 1999, with a particularly sharp decline in Britain, where numbers fell by 23.7 per cent.…
EU 1999 REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has released a report on “Investment in the Community (EU) coal and steel industries” that tracks the sector’s performance in the European Union during 1999. The report predicts that “all the coal-consuming sectors except the steel industry see their requirements declining over the coming years,” faced with the competition of natural gas.…
FERRO MOLYBDENUM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has voted to impose definitive 22.5 per cent anti-dumping duties on imports of ferro molybdenum from China. Sweden opposed the move, with Germany, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Britain abstaining. The European Commission investigation leading to the decision was sparked by a complaint by EU producers association Ferro-alliages.…
TAKEOVERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PANEL of company law specialists has made recommendations to the European Commission about a possible future EU takeover directive, which Brussels is to propose this Spring. The revamped legislation will draw on their ideas and follows the rejection by the European Parliament of a six-year-old takeovers proposal last summer.…
CONGO LATEST
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MORATORIUM in the trade of illegally exploited Congolese minerals has been proposed by a panel of experts, which has examined how the stripping of resources by foreign military forces has prolonged the ongoing war in the country.…
GALILEO FUND IN GREFUSAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
European Union transport ministers have dealt a heavy, and possibly fatal, blow to the EU’s Galileo global positioning project by refusing to provide finance for the crucial development stage of the programme. The 3.6 billion euro (pounds 2.2 billion) Galileo scheme is designed to establish a satellite-based tracking system that, when operative in 2008, will allow transport operators and others to pinpoint positions on earth and reduce dependence on the American GPS navigation system which is shared with military users and where signals to civilian operators cannot be guaranteed.…
GALILEO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission’s plan to establish the satellite-based global positioning system Galileo has been dealt a heavy blow by the EU Council of Ministers (transport), which has blocked finance for the crucial development stage of the programme. The Euro 3.6 billion, (Pounds 2.2 billion), Galileo scheme is designed to allow transport operators such as air traffic control services pinpoint navigational positions and reduce dependence on the American GPS system.…
GALILEO
KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission’s plan to establish the satellite-based global positioning system Galileo has been dealt a heavy – and potentially fatal – blow by the EU Council of Ministers (transport), which has blocked finance for the crucial development stage of the programme.…
ECO-CRIME REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE TRAFFICKING of endangered species, and other environmental crimes such as smuggling pollutants, is a billion dollar business says the Milan-based United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, (UNICRI), which has published a study on these modern scourges.…
SEVESO II LATEST
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has acted upon its public warning that it was considering an extension of the Seveso II industrial safety directive, as result of the fireworks explosion in Enschede, the Netherlands, and the cyanide spill at the Baia Mare mine in Romania.…
SECRET ACCOUNTS
BY ALAN OSBORN
BRITAIN and the Netherlands have been authorised by the EU council of finance ministers to begin negotiations with associated territories – in the UK’s case the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Caribbean dependent territories – for the elimination of secret savings accounts.…
VITAMIN CARTEL
BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
THE EUROPEAN Commission has fined eight companies a total of Euro 855.22 million for participating in secret market-sharing and price-fixing cartels affecting the production of vitamins including those sold to the confectionary industry to make nutrient enriched products.…
GALILEO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission’s plan to establish the satellite-based global positioning system Galileo has been dealt a heavy – and potentially fatal – blow by the EU Council of Ministers (transport), which has blocked finance for the crucial development stage of the programme.…
SLOVAKIA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development is to administer the closure of a third nuclear power station in eastern Europe; it will manage the decommissioning of Bohunice, in Slovakia, having signed similar agreements earlier this year for the plants in Kozloduy, Bulgaria and Ignalina, in Lithuania.…
VITAMIN CARTEL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has fined eight companies Euro 855.22 million for participating in cartels inflating prices of vitamins they produced between 1989 and 1999. Companies involved included Switzerland’s Hoffman-La Roche, BASF, of (Germany), AG Aventis SA, (France), Solvay Pharmaceuticals BV, (Netherlands), Merck KgaA, (Germany), Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, (Japan), Eisai Co Ltd, (Japan), and Takeda Chemical Industries Ltd, (Japan).…
RENEWABLES REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT is a curious fact that whilst Britain has a lot more wind than Germany, it has significantly less wind power electricity generation. Also, why has a country blessed with as much sun as Greece, failed to develop solar panels as quickly as its fellow southern Mediterranean EU Member State Spain?…
DUTCH PRIMARY SCHOOLS
BY ALAN OSBORN
A STUDY of 8,000 primary schools in the Netherlands has revealed “dirty, cramped and unsafe” conditions that have affected the morale of teaching staff and pupils. The report, drawn up by the Dutch research institute TNO on behalf of the country’s Ministry of Education, concludes that the schools themselves are partly to blame by diverting money from health and safety budgets to new educational programmes but says there is also a shortage of funding necessary for schools to comply with the Dutch Occupational Health and Safety and Building Acts.…
UNECE TUNNEL SAFETY
KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is about to complete its own recommendations on safety improvements in long road tunnels. Its proposals include roadside checks on lorries to detect overheating and also rules on the amount of fuel carried through tunnels.…
NEW ATC TOOLS
BY JONATHAN THOMSON
PERHAPS the greatest dilemma facing air transport in the new millennium is the need to balance the demand for airspace from passenger and cargo carriers, with the expectation of ever-improving safety in our skies.
Through its Safety Regulation Commission (SRC), Eurocontrol coordinates efforts to achieve consistent high levels of safety in air traffic management within the European Civil Aviation Conference, (ECAC), area.…
INTEGRATION
BY MIKE FOX
THE HISTORIC political changes, which swept across Europe in the previous decade, have also brought huge changes to the world of aviation; the European Civil Aviation Conference, (ECAC), has welcomed 16 countries from the region as members since 1990.…
TERROR MONEY LAUNDERING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT was telling that the first step taken by President Bush against Islamic terror groups following the World Trade Centre disaster was to freeze bank accounts. The international community has now responded by agreeing common controls to stop terror groups laundering funds.…
FACILITATION
BY JONATHAN THOMSON
HANDLING the needs and issues surrounding the 550 million passengers and billions of tonnes of cargo moving through the airports and terminals of the 38 European Civil Aviation Conference countries is a task of immense scope.
No wonder then that ECAC’s Working Group on Facilitation, (FAL), is comprised of a multi-disciplined team of delegates and observers from areas including customs, immigration, security, public health, drug control as well as of course, air transport users and civil aviation representatives.…
OPEN SKIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRANCE has been added to a European Commission blacklist of Member States who have concluded so-called ‘Open Skies’ agreements with the United States, which grants relevant national airlines additional landing writes in America. Brussels opposes the deals, because they discriminate against carriers from EU countries which have not made similar agreements and also because they help US airlines compete with those based in Europe: the deals allow planes to fly onto a third country, a mixed blessing for EU carriers flying to the US, given its size.…
ECAC OVERVIEW
BY KEITH NUTHALL
LOOKING ahead, the work programme of the European Civil Aviation Conference, (ECAC), for 2001 to 2003, seems to have been prepared with a degree of foresight.
Taking account of its general aim of promoting the safe and orderly development of civil aviation on routes to, from and within Europe, its director generals, (representing its member countries), have agreed a comprehensive set of projects focused on security.…
SMART HOUSES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DEVELOPMENT of so-called smart houses, specially designed for the elderly and disabled, is being promoted by the European Commission, notably through schemes to finance adapted electronic devices built into these homes.
Speaking to a conference on Vitality in the Age of the Information Society, in Tilburg, the Netherlands, EU information society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen said that the concept of promoting products and services for householders with impaired mobility was central to Brussels’ high-tech strategies.…
OECD REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
HEALTH experts have been discussing a report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, (OECD), which has shown Britain performs poorly against its competitors in western Europe and north America, regarding the number of nurses employed per head of population in the late 1990’s.…
CARTEL FINES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has fined eight companies a total of Euro 855.22 million for participating in secret market-sharing and price-fixing cartels affecting the production of vitamins including those sold to the cosmetics industry. There were eight cartels, said the Commission, operating between 1989 and 1999.…
WTO SUMMIT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Trade Organisation has launched a review of its anti-dumping and countervailing rules, as part of the agreement to embark on a new general round of negotiations.
Ministers agreed at their summit in Qatar, for talks “aimed at clarifying and improving disciplines,” on these protective duty regimes.…
NETHERLANDS CAR WRECKS
Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared a Dutch waste disposal system for car wrecks, following an investigation into whether it was illegal state aid. It is a voluntary agreement among companies, later declared binding by the Dutch government. It has set a levy for 2001-2003 of Euro 45 per car registered in the Netherlands, paid by car producers and importers.…
TOULOUSE EXPLOSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A REVIEW of European safety laws designed to prevent industrial explosions – such as that which recently ripped through the Atofina fertiliser plant in Toulouse, France, killing 29 people – is to be launched by a specialist EU committee.…
TAX REGIMES
Keith Nuthall
EUROPEAN Union competition Commissioner Mario Monti has announced that Brussels is to clamp down on special tax regimes affecting financial services in 11 Member States, which it claims are probably so lax, they constitute illegal state aid payments that could unfairly favour local companies.…
TOULOUSE EXPLOSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A REVIEW of European safety laws designed to prevent industrial explosions – such as that which recently ripped through the Atofina fertiliser plant in Toulouse, France, killing 29 people and injuring 2,400 – is to be launched by a specialist EU committee.…
ECJ CASES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
HOLIDAYS and pregnancy leave are a serious business, both for the employees who take them and the employers who pay for them. Unfortunately for personnel departments who might want a little more flexibility over whether they should shell out or not, recent cases at the European Court of Justice have underlined the right of EU citizens to take paid leave, rather than erode them.…
TOULOUSE EXPLOSION
Keith Nuthall
A REVIEW of European safety laws designed to prevent industrial explosions – such as that which recently ripped through the Atofina fertiliser plant in Toulouse, France, killing 29 people and injuring 2,400 – is to be launched by a specialist EU committee.…
CHEMICAL COMPANIES FINED OVER MARKET SHARING ALLEGATIONS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
Six chemical companies have been fined a total of 57.53 million euros (about pounds 34.5 million) by the European Commission for price-fixing and market-sharing in respect of sodium gluconate, a chemical mainly used to clean metal and glass.…
TOULOUSE EXPLOSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A REVIEW of European safety laws designed to prevent industrial explosions – such as that which recently ripped through the Atofina fertiliser plant in Toulouse, France, killing 29 people – is to be launched by a specialist EU committee.…
SSM/RHEINBRAUN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the proposed takeover of SSM Coal BV, of the Netherlands, by Germany’s Rheinbraun Brennstoff GmbH, concluding after an inquiry that the deal would not create competition problems in the EU petcoke market.
Rheinbraun, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the German RWE Group, distributes coal and other solid fuels.…
PLASTIC FILM RAID
BY ALAN OSBORN
SIX European producers of plastic film are being investigated for possible price-fixing, the European Commission announced today Friday. “Dawn raids” on companies in Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden and the UK, were carried out by competition officials from Brussels, and the national governments on August 22nd announced a spokesman for Mario Monti, EU competition commissioner.…
FINLAND
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FINLAND is the world’s most technologically advanced country, according to a United Nations Development Programme, (UNDP), report, which puts the UK at number seven in its league table, also behind the USA, Sweden, Japan, South Korea and the Netherlands.…
IRAN V USA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL legal dispute between the United States and Iran over the destruction of Iranian oil platforms in the Gulf in 1987 and 1988 by US military forces is about to enter its 10th year, with International Court of Justice judges trying to decide whether the attack was a breach of a 1955 treaty.…
TECHNOLOGY INDEX
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FINLAND is the world’s most technologically advanced country, according to a United Nations Development Programme, (UNDP), report, which puts the UK at number seven in its league table, also behind the USA, Sweden, Japan, South Korea and the Netherlands.…
FLOOD REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
PRACTICAL advice on how local authorities can cope with the growing threats posed by floods and droughts have been included in a new report from the European Environment Agency, which claims that flooding is “the most common and most costly type of natural disaster in Europe.”…
COMMISSION V PHILIP MORRIS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has re-launched its civil case against Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds, teaming up from the start with Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland and Luxembourg, to scupper any further defence that the EU had no substantive complaint against the tobacco firms.…
EU ROUND UP
Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has decided to come out fighting in its row with Member States over the liberalisation of energy markets. Calling on EU Ministers and the European Parliament to “rapidly adopt” its March 2001 proposals to completely liberalise gas and electricity markets by 2005, the Commission threatened to use exceptional powers granted to it under EU treaties to pass directives and decisions on market fairness, bypassing opposition from national governments and MEPs.…
TAKEOVER DIRECTIVE
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission is preparing a new EU corporate take-over directive by setting up a high level group of company law experts and asking for preliminary recommendations by the end of the year. Brussels will propose a new directive to replace legislation that was scrapped in July when the European Parliament failed to approve it.…
HEALTH & SAFETY INITIAITIVE
Alan Osborne
THE EUROPEAN Agency for Safety and Health at Work has published a series of good practice case studies from around the continent, in a bid to advise companies how to improve their record in protecting employees from harm.
Called Quality of Work: New Approaches and Strategies in Occupational Safety and Health, the report is available for free and focuses on initiatives in Britain, Spain, Ireland, France, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland.…
COMMISSION V PHILIP MORRIS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has re-launched its civil case against Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds, teaming up from the start with Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland and Luxembourg, to scupper any further defence that the EU had no substantive complaint against the tobacco firms.…
CAR PRICE REPORT
BY ALAN OSBORN
NEW car prices still vary significantly between the 15 European Union countries, the European Commission said today (Monday) with continuing evidence that manufacturers were engaging in restrictive practices to prevent citizens buying vehicles more cheaply in another
Member State.…
FMD ECJ CASE
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has come down heavily on the side of the European Commission over the issue of vaccination against foot and mouth disease. Brussels is well within its legal rights to ban the practice throughout the 15 Member States, the court says.…
ECJ: ACCOUNTANT-LAWYER VENTURES
BY ALAN OSBORN
GOVERNMENTS may prevent the formation of multi-disciplinary partnerships combining accountants and lawyers under EU law, an Advocate General of the European Court of Justice has suggested. In a formal opinion to the full ECJ, Philippe Léger said that there is a “certain incompatibility” between the two activities, and a law that prohibits collaboration “may be justified.”…
EU HEATLHCARE
BY ALAN OSBORN
WILL there come a day when a genuine European market in health care takes its place among the other landmark achievements of the European Union?
In terms of economic efficiency and the functioning of the internal market, does it make much sense for a million patients in Britain, say, to have to wait sometimes for a year or more for important operations while people in France or Luxembourg can book them for the next day and some German hospitals have barely half their beds filled?…
STRANDED COSTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has finally given EU Member States the green light to help their electricity producers meet expensive ‘stranded costs’ that were incurred before the power market was liberalised in the late 1990’s, although Eurelectric has attacked Brussels for acting too slowly.…
SOLAR POWER
KEITH NUTHALL
A CONSORTIUM of key European Union players in the solar energy market has launched an ambitious scheme to install 15 million square meters of solar collectors in Europe by 2004, a project for which it hopes to get support from the European Commission.…
EUROSTAT
Keith Nuthall
ALTHOUGH petrol and diesel consumption rose by 45 per cent in the European Union between 1985 and 1998, technological improvements meant pollution by emissions such as nitrogen oxide actually fell during this time, a study from Eurostat, the EU statistical agency has claimed.…
MOTOR INSURANCE
BY ALAN OSBORN
SWEEPING changes to EU motor insurance laws have been proposed by a committee of the European Parliament, with the aim of improving the legal protection of accident victims. A report drawn up by the EP’s legal affairs committee has called on the EU national governments to compel insurers to provide either an offer or a refusal of compensation within three months of receiving a claim and sets an EU-wide minimum of Euro 2 million, (about Pounds 1.2 million), as the sum insured.…
DUTCH POLLUTION
BY ALAN OSBORN
A DUTCH government aid scheme to help reduce CO2 emissions in inland waterway, road and rail transport in the Netherlands has been approved by the European Commission.
The budget for the scheme, which is part of the Dutch effort to meet its EU objectives under the Kyoto protocol, is put at Euro 36 million and will run until the end of 2007.…
EURO CHANGEOVER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
LOCAL authorities in the European Union are unprepared for the introduction of single European currency notes and coins next January, even though they have a crucial role in spreading information among small businesses and community groups, the European Commission has claimed.…
BULGARIA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL fund to support the decommissioning of Bulgaria’s Kozloduy nuclear power station will be able to call on Euro 100 million, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has said. It will act as the fund administrator and has said that contributions had been received from Britain, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the EU.…
E LEARNING CONFERENCES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NUMBER of international conferences on delivering education via the Internet are being staged over the next few weeks. They include:
*CONNECT/I*EARN Conference, Capetown, South Africa, hosted by Western Cape Schools’ Network and SchoolNet SA. E mail Anne-Marie Ducker at a.ducker@uel.ac.uk.…
UNEMPLOYMENT CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EMPLOYEES working abroad within the European Union, who require benefits after being forced into a part-time job by their employer, should claim social security from the country of their employment, not their home residence, the European Court of Justice has ruled.…
URANIUM DUTIES
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Union has voiced “disappointment and concern” at a decision by the US Department of Commerce to impose provisional countervailing duties on imports of low enriched uranium from the EU.
European Commission officials said that the case concerned uranium that had been processed for use in electricity generation.…
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE REVIEW of the Common Fisheries Policy is likely to create the largest overhaul in European Union fishing policy in years, matching the crisis in stock levels in European waters. At its heart is the integration of environmental and conservation concerns into the organisation of the EU fishing market, a principle that – judging by conclusions agreed by the Council of Ministers – will have significant consequences when changes are put in place next year.…
PHILIP MORRIS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CASE brought by the European Commission against the Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds corporations for their alleged involvement in cigarette smuggling has opened at the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The Commission has now been formally joined in the case by Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Luxembourg, who have given mandate Commission lawyers to represent them.…
TRAINING DIRECTIVE
KEITH NUTHALL
GIVEN the difficulty that the British haulage industry has in recruiting new drivers, the last thing that it needs – some might say – would be to make it harder for would-be haulers to get behind the steering wheel and drive.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE IMPORTANCE of European Union employment within the UK and other EU Member States is widely accepted and its authority is only going to grow over the next 10 years. This is because of the planned accession of eastern European countries to the European Union, meaning that EU employment directives will shape the law of their lands and that their national courts will become subject to the rulings and case law of the European Court of Justice, a key guardian of EU legislation.…
GALILEO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s Euro 2.5 billion Galileo programme to set up a global positioning system by 2008 is firmly back on track in spite of concerns expressed by Britain, Germany and others about the cost.
Telecom ministers of the 15 EU countries have now pledged finance of up to Euro 100 million, (Pounds 60 million), for 2001 and have agreed to take a decision on a further Euro 450 million, (Pounds 270 million) at the end of the year.…
DUTCH CAR WRECKS
Keith Nuthall
A PREMIUM paid to companies stripping car wrecks in the Netherlands, so that their parts can be re-used or recycled, is being investigated by the European Commission, which claims that the rates could be so high, that they would be an illegal subsidy, outlawed by European Union law.…