Archive

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SCIENTISTS from 17 European countries and Australia are cooperating in a research project using the latest genetic knowledge to improve the quality of vegetable-based animal feed. The Grain Legumes project will focus on peas, beans, lentils and others to create protein-rich alternatives to meat-based feed, which carries health risks, such as BSE.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN ATTEMPTED first successful privatisation of a brewery in Belarus has attracted investment from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC). It is sinking US$3 million in equity funding into the US-owned Detroit Belarus Brewing Company (DBBC) and lending US$7 million to its local subsidiary CJSC Belarus Brewing Company, which will handle brewery operations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN has been formally threatened with legal action at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) by the European Commission for being over-zealous in frontier checks regarding private imports of alcohol (and tobacco). Brussels claims UK customs should not confiscate beer, wine and spirits plus even the vehicles of travellers importing more excisable goods than they can consume themselves.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SWEDEN is being taken to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) because of the long-running dispute over Swedish restrictions on travellers personally importing alcohol from other European Union (EU) member countries. The European Commission wants Sweden to remove a ban on Swedish consumers using independent intermediaries to import alcoholic drinks for their private use into Sweden.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Free Trade Area (EFTA) Court has been asked to rule whether Norway’s alcohol advertising ban (regarding wine) is legal under the European Economic Area (EEA) agreement. This imposes much European Union (EU) legislation onto signatory countries Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, including that guaranteeing free trade between EEA and EU member countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that bans imposed by France on the broadcast of alcoholic drinks advertising, especially those on hoardings at foreign international sports events, are legal under European Union (EU) law. Backing an ECJ advocate general opinion, the full court said EU treaty commitments on freed trade “do not preclude” such health-based restrictions.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
AN INCREASE in alcohol advertising has been identified in a recent American study as causing recent increases in drinking alcohol in female teenagers. Georgetown University Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth’s paper in the US Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine – said these young female drinkers are significantly more exposed to alcohol advertising.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BULGARIA will be allowed to increase the size of its land under viticulture by 1.5 per cent from the current 156,000 hectares when it joins the European Union (EU), probably in January 2007, European Commission officials have said.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN EU research project designed to examine human health damage caused by endocrine-disrupting trace chemicals in food, is now operational. The CASCADE (chemicals as contaminants in the food chain) network hopes to increase public awareness and promote better decision.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PROPOSALS to reform the EU’s sugar common market system have been proposed by the European Commission. They include decoupling subsidies to sugar beet farmers from production, with the price trigger for EU market intervention dropping from Euro 632 a tonne to Euro 421, in two phases over three years, with the minimum guaranteed price for beet producers falling from Euro 43.6 per tonne to Euro 27.4.…