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.
EU ROUND UP
BY MARK ROWE
THE EUROPEAN Union has been very active in recent weeks, regarding legislation that affects accountants and auditors.
Earlier this month (May) the Commission issued a recommendation on statutory auditors’ independence within the EU, indicating that auditors who have a relationship with their client that might compromise the auditor’s independence should be prohibited from carrying out statutory audits.…
PALESTINE SPENDING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Parliament probe into allegations that European Union budgetary aid for the Palestinian Authority (PA) was misused – maybe being funnelled into the hands of terrorist groups – has held its first meeting in Strasbourg.
The working group will draw up a report by the end of this year.…
EASTERN EUROPE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CREATION of an “audit culture” in the public administrations of the 10 eastern and southern European countries planning to join the European Union next May would help ease growing concerns in Brussels that would-be Member States are failing to meet EU financial probity standards, MEPs have heard.…
MICROBREWERIES STRUGGLE
BY MONICA DOBIE, in Montreal
MICRO-BREWERIES in Quebec, Canada, are to launch an advertising campaign to inform consumers of alleged unfair practices big beer companies use to make their products less accessible to the public, after they lost a legal complaint over the issue.…
FRANCE REPAYMENTS
BY ALAN OSBORN
FRANCE has been order to pay back Euro 23.15 million of EU expenditure on
wine, which the European Commission says has been “misspent.” An Brussels wine
spokesman said France had granted aid for “ineligible rectified concentrated must prepared from grape must produced in the Charentes region” which had been used to enrich certain wine products.…
ALCOHOL TRANSPORT
from Alan Osborn
The EU is to introduce a new real time computerised system to fight
fraud arising from the transport of alcoholic drinks and other excise goods
between the 15 member countries in bond under duty-suspension
arrangements. The European Commission says the new scheme agreed by the EU
Council will eliminate the present “cumbersome” paper-based system which
cannot cope with rising levels of tax fraud.…
MACKENZIE DELTA
BY MONICA DOBIE
CANADIAN aboriginal groups and other oil companies are imminent in striking a deal with other oil firms on the CDN$4 billion Mackenzie Delta pipeline project according to the federal Minister of Indian Affairs Robert Nault. “I believe we are within days of arriving at an agreement between the Aboriginal Pipeline Group and the producers,” he said, speaking before the Petroleum Review went to press.…
EU CHEMICALS PAPER
BY ALAN OSBORN
PETROCHEMICALS will in many cases be subject to more relaxed regulations under new draft chemicals legislation proposed by the European Commission. Brussels has agreed that petrochemicals of a similar composition can be grouped together where feasible and registered under one heading.…
SHELL CANADA
BY MONICA DOBIE
SHELL Canada Ltd. has reported it has doubled its first-quarter 2003-4 profits (to May 31) from the year before to CDN$216 million compared to CDN$93million during the same time last year. The company said last year’s heavy investment into an Albertan oil sands project led to a surge in costs.…
SAWTOOTH - CANADA
BY MONICA DOBIE
CALGARY-based Sawtooth International Resources Inc. has announced that it has increased its oil production from 238 barrels per day in 2002 to 325 barrels per day effective April of this year. This is a jump of 36 per cent in total production.…