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.
TRIESTE CENTRE
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has ordered Italy to scrap a tax break regime for insurance and other financial companies wanting to trade in eastern Europe, claiming that it breaks EU state aid rules. It wants the Italian government to close its Trieste Financial Services and Insurance Centre; this special registration system was one of a number of similar arrangements initially approved by the Commission in 1995, which saw them as offering a way to enhance the development of financial markets in east European countries and the former Soviet Union.…
MERGER CONTROL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has moved to shore up the increasingly shaky reputation of its merger control regime, by proposing a comprehensive package of reforms designed to streamline its regulation European competition law, focusing its efforts on real problem cases.…
ANALYSIS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BETS are off over whether the new code on maritime safety and security agreed by the International Maritime Organisation this month will actually allow insurance companies to reduce the premiums that they charge shipping companies and ports.…
SHIP SECURITY CODE
BY KEITH NUTHALL and ALAN OSBORN
THE NEW International Code for the Security of Ships and Port Facilities, agreed by an International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Diplomatic Conference, held in London, aims at reducing the industry’s exposure to terrorist attacks and resulting damage.…
EUROSTAT REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WHILE the number of companies in the European Union’s (EU) insurance sector has been dwindling, the amount of business that it has been writing collectively has been booming, according to the latest comparative figures from EU statistical agency Eurostat.…
CYBER-BANK SCAM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Chamber of Commerce has warned investors to beware of a new twist on the Nigerian 419 Advance Fee Fraud after a number of fictitious banking websites were discovered to be falsely aligning themselves with legitimate offshore financial institutions.…
FRANCE - AVIATION INSURANCE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a formal review of compensation offered by the French government to its air industry following last year’s September 11 attacks, claiming that Paris had extended the aid beyond that which had been authorised by Brussels.…
MARITIME SAFETY AGENCY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has speeded up its establishment of a European Maritime Safety Agency, which has been delayed because of disagreements within the EU Council of Ministers over the seat of its secretariat. As a result, the Commission has convened the inaugural meeting of the agency’s administrative board in its own Brussels offices, without waiting for a decision on where the organisation will be houses.…
MARITIME SECURITY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Maritime Organisation will next week (9-13 Dec) stage a Diplomatic Conference that should agree a new International Code for the Security of Ships and Port Facilities. This is to be attached as an annexe to this United Nations (UN) agency’s International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), and should come into force by next June, assuming there are no significant objections from any of the 146 IMO member countries which have already accepted SOLAS.…
HIV/AIDS - IFC
BY KEITH NUTHALL
GOOD practice guidelines of how to reduce a company’s exposure to HIV/AIDS in the workplace have been released by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank. Its note provides companies with advice on designing and implementing HIV/AIDS prevention and care programmes for employees.…