Archive

BY ALAN OSBORN
FOLLOWING outrage over the explosion at the AZF fertiliser plant in Toulouse, France, which killed 29 people and injured 2,400, EU ministers have acted to tighten the so-called Seveso Two directive which forces companies to install safeguards to prevent industrial accidents and to minimise their effect.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the acquisition by US office supplies firm Staples of the office supplies distance-selling business of French company Guilbert. Brussels agreed that the take-over did not pose competition problems, because, although it would boost Staples’ position in Europe, the giant would still face strong rivals, notably the US-based Office Depot.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A POLITICAL agreement has been struck at the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers (environment) on reforming the EU packaging and packaging waste directive. Member States provisionally agreed increased minimum targets for the recycling of specific materials: 60 per cent for recycling paper and board, 15 per cent of wood and 22.5 per cent of plastics, recycled back into plastics.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a formal investigation procedure into British government plans to grant aid north Wales newsprint producer Shotton Euro 35 million (Pounds 23 million) to enable it produce newsprint from waste paper rather than virgin pulp.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EMERGENCY response networks that have been built up across the European Union (EU) in the wake of the September 11 disaster are being tested next week in Brussels’ first ever civil protection exercise.

Euratox 2002 will simulate a terror attack involving radiological and chemical fall-out and be staged at a French military camp at Canjuers, Var, Côte-d’Azur.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union is preparing to force its Member States to introduce a common system of public compensation for crimes against the person that are often covered by commercial personal accident injury policies and travel insurance packages.

A proposed directive on compensation to crime victims lays down a minimum standard of compensation for intentional violent crimes, including sexual, racist and xenophobic offences committed on a Member State’s territory.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EMPLOYER liability insurance policies will have to take account of changes to national workplace data protection regulations expected across the EU because of a wide-ranging and detailed public consultation launched by the European Commission.

Brussels has already concluded that there is a need to harmonise the widely divergent rules and practices amongst Member States, so legislation will inevitably be tabled.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
A FRENCH company is launching its car repair warranty service in Sri Lanka, claiming that it is the first of its kind in south Asia. SAGE Guarantee Automobile said that it is investing Euro 1 million in the scheme, which it would use as a springboard to attack the Indian market.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
EU environment ministers have broadened the scope of new legislation amending the present Seveso Two directive which imposes duties on industrial plants to protect against and prepare for accidents. Changes made by the EU’s Council of Environment Ministers will highlight the importance of ensuring “appropriate safety distances between industrial establishments and major transport routes,” the European Commission said.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is slowly moving towards the setting up of a compulsory insurance scheme that would support inventors and innovators in pursuing legal claims against patent infringers. At present many patents, especially those taken out by individuals and small companies, are openly violated by companies who gamble that the holder has neither the resources nor expertise to mount the necessary legal challenge.…