Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
CAP REFORM - HOPS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
HOP growing subsidies in the European Union (EU) will from 2006 be de-linked from production – mostly paid as single direct payments to growers – the EU Council of Ministers has decided at a special meeting on Common Agricultural Policy reform.…
COUNTERFEIT DRINKS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission says the drinks industry is an exposed sector that should particularly benefit from a newly approved directive on fighting counterfeit goods. The legislation widens powers available to EU customs and trading officials to seize fake goods and also for rights holders to secure the destruction and recall of illegal goods, financial compensation, injunctions and damages.…
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
Keith Nuthall
UNUSUAL frank pessimism has been voiced by diplomats about securing an agreement at the long-running World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks on creating a multilateral register for geographical indications on wines and spirits. Officials have said that the supporters of legal powers protecting traditional terms, (led by the EU), “remain far apart” from those calling for a voluntary ‘guidance’ register, (headed by the USA).…
SMALL MOLSON CAN
BY MONICA DOBIE
CANADA’s Molson Inc. has recently a slim 250-millilitre beer can. The company hopes consumers will view the new packaging as “cool” and a “conversation-starter”. Eight of the skinnier cans, containing Molson Canadian, Dry or the new low-carb Ultra brand, are priced the same as a six-pack of standard 355-ml cans.…
EU EXCISE REFORM
by Alan Osborn
A significant liberalisation of the rules for the movement of alcohol
between EU member states have been made by the European Commission which
says the present system is cumbersome and hard to understand. The new rules
will have the effect of abolishing the present “indicative” limits of 10
litres of spirits, 90 litres of wine and 110 litres of beer on which excise
duty has been paid in the country of purchase and which are then taken
home by the individual purchaser for his or her own use.…
COTTON CLAY
BY MONICA DOBIE
AMERICAN scientists have developed a new hybrid material made of cotton and clay, with strong heat resistance, durability and suppleness. Researchers mixed microscopic montmorillonite clay particles, the same type used in cat litter, into cotton fibres dissolved by a solvent that was later removed.…
ITCB ANGER
KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Textile and Clothing Bureau (ITCB) council of representatives has attacked the European Union for unilaterally widening the scope of its import quota restrictions to the 10 southern and eastern Europe countries joining the EU this weekend. The textile-exporting bloc claimed such a unilateral extension of quotas had already been ruled illegal by the World Trade Organisation, with the ITCB noting this infringement came months before the abolition of all such quotas.…
GAS TRANSMISSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DOMINANT gas companies and network authorities should be bound by the same proposed duties to free up pipeline capacity for foreign competitors to offer cross-border supplies, say European Parliament amendments to a new gas transmission regulation. MEPs were concerned that a monopolistic gas supplier could use its control of capacity slots in a pipeline network nominally run by a transmission regulator to circumvent the regulation, stifling the trade in gas between neighbouring European Union (EU) networks.…
LOCATIONAL SIGNALS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) electricity federation Eurelectric has called for greater harmonisation of EU power tariff and network access charges, should governments wish to introduce ‘locational signals”, varying such fees to encourage power operators to build capacity in areas close to consumers and avoid potential transmission bottlenecks.…
SECURITY OF SUPPLY ROW
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has surrendered in its row with the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers over whether MEPs can veto pared-back legislation to help guarantee gas supplies during a European energy crisis. Proposals last year by the European Commission to be granted reserve powers to direct gas around Europe during serious supply shortages were successfully resisted by the parliament.…