Archive

BY ALAN OSBORN, in London
THE EUROPEAN Commission has ordered a study of the merits of inter-specific vines, or hybrids, signalling the possible future acceptance of such vines in the European Union wine industry. Until now EU regulations have banned their use for

appellation wines, largely because of pressure from France and other countries anxious to preserve the “pure” traditional varieties grown in natural habitats.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A SIGNIFICANT easing of the regulations covering the use in the European Union (EU) of “traditional expressions” by wine producers from outside the EU has been announced by the European Commission, over the strong objections of Italy. In future the non-EU producers will be allowed to use traditional expressions that had been banned to them in the past, such as ‘vin jaun’, ‘amarone’, ‘amontillado’, ‘claret’ and ‘ruby’, provided they satisfy the Commission and Member States that a number of conditions have been met.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
A US Court of Appeals decision has dealt a serious blow to California wine producers by ruling that the state of New York may ban out-of-state wine producers from selling directly to local residents. The ruling says that New York could require that wineries establish a physical distributor (in the form of a shop or office) before being allowed to ship wine to consumers.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has begun a formal investigation into regional development assistance for the German wine marketing company Gesellschaft für Weinabsatz Pfalz (GfW) suspecting that the aid may breach EU rules for state aid.

Brussels said the Reconstruction Fund for the Rhineland-Palatinate winegrowing area (WAK) had decided to waive part of its outstanding claims on GfW exceeding Euro 5 million for 2001, did not claim interest on debts and had agreed to subordinate certain claims in favour of other creditors.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE
INDIAN energy giant Reliance Industries Ltd is expanding its retail outlets, setting up 350 petrol pumps and seven terminals across India by the end of March, adding another 150 pumps per month to reach a target of 1,500 retail outlets by 2006.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE KUWAIT, Yemen and United States governments have signed two trade and investment deals promoting oil commerce, notably Kuwaiti and Yemeni crude and petroleum product exports to the US and American oil extraction and transport equipment to Yemen and Kuwait.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE FIRST step towards admitting “interspecific” vines, or hybrids, to the top wine classifications in Europe has been taken by the European Commission, which has ordered a study to see if such vines can produce quality wines to rival Bordeaux, Graves or Chianti.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT will be several years before Canada’s trading partners admit Canadian live cattle, according to a report from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The document – written after BSE was detected Alberta, but before its discovery in the United States – suggests that effective diplomacy will be needed to convince countries, rather than more scientific measures.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
A COURT battle has been hearing claims from 30,000 American producers that meat giant Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. conducted price manipulation by refusing to buy from packers when prices are low. The producers claim that Tyson is abusing agreements where ranchers promise to ship set numbers of cattle to packers.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
A USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel has urged the American government to increase testing for mad cow disease in order to assess if the disease is still present in the country and if so, where. The US Department of Agriculture already plans to test 40,000 cows this year.…