Archive

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MEAT importing countries around the world are unjustifiably restricting EU meat imports citing old outbreaks of BSE, foot and mouth disease and classical swine fever that are now under control, Brussels diplomats told the WTO sanitary and phytosanitary committee.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SUGGESTIONS from the European Commission that the EU beef origin labelling scheme should allow made-in-the-EU rather than just national declarations have been rejected by the EU Council of Ministers. Proposals to mix meat from more than one Member State at production plants were also blocked.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AUSTRIA should allow women to work in its mines, an advocate general of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has concluded. Francis Jacobs said the court should order Austria to change its laws, as they break the European Union (EU) equal treatment directive.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
USINOR subsidiary and inactive iron ore mine company Lormines has failed to summon protection from the European Commission against “discriminatory” charges by the French government for future safety works at its closed Lorraine iron ore mines. The Commission said civil liability and safety are a national concern and the European Court of Justice has now refused to intervene.…

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.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has imposed a definitive 14.1% countervailing duty on imports of stainless steel wire with a diameter of 1mm or more exported by Indian producer VSL Wires, of Boisar, Maharashtra. The company had asked to be exempt from the 48.8% general duties as a new exporter, but ministers imposed them, at a lower rate.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) member states have until October 2005 to implement new rules insisting on hazard labelling for products containing the fungicide carbendazim. The rule has been incorporated into the EU’s dangerous substances directive, which also imposes concentration limits on certain substances used in the paints industry, although these will not be set for carbendazim.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NEW global technical standards have been agreed advising manufacturers how to design vehicles so that plastics used in their interior construction are less prone to catch fire. They were agreed by the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations, part of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NEW global technical standards have been agreed advising manufacturers how to design vehicles so that plastics used in their interior construction are less prone to catch fire. They were agreed by the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations, part of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A NEW process for polystyrene production that sharply reduces the use of volatile organic compounds (VOC), including pentane, is to be developed commercially by the Dutch company Nova Chemicals and the German firm Teubert Maschinenbau. Stephen Long, Nova marketing manager, said it was “too early yet” to say what kind of investment would be required by manufacturers of polystyrene foam products, which include insulation and packaging materials, drinking cups and children’s toys.…