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.
MAIN PIECE
BY ALAN OSBORN
SLOWLY but surely, the world is becoming a little more open and honest in its business transactions. Bribery and corruption have existed as long as people have traded with each other and in some parts of the world remain as matter-of-fact as ever.…
CORRUPTION AND BRIBERY: FACT BOX
BY ALAN OSBORN
*Finland is the world’s most “honest” country according to Transparency International;
*New British laws will ban payments made to people just for performing their official duties;
*In countries where bribery of foreign officials is a crime, penalties range from a one-year jail sentence (Norway) to life imprisonment (South Africa);
*Half the countries replying to the UN said their legal systems did not make it impossible to obtain tax benefits for foreign payments that would constitute bribery;
*Under American law companies can make payments for “routine government action” such as obtaining licences and permits abroad.…
SERBIA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN OVERHAUL of the judicial system in Serbia is being funded by the European Union, which is spending Euro 3 million on improving caseload management, in a bid to “offer every citizen a trustworthy, accessible and efficient justice apparatus.”…
JUDICIAL COOPERATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SPANISH Presidency of the European Union has been given a mandate to negotiate a wide-ranging judicial cooperation deal with the United States that would lead to the mutual exchange of relevant data and the establishment of joint investigation teams.…
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LONG awaited International Criminal Court is poised to become reality next year, with the statute underpinning its legality coming into force on July 1.
This follows the anticipated ratification of the court’s Rome treaty by at least 60 counties who signed the agreement, which was struck in 1998.…
COMMUNITY PATENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MEP’s are trying to water down a strongly centralised European Union “Community Patent” system, that would grant jurisdiction over disputes to a new EU intellectual property court; instead, the European Parliament’s legal affairs committee is calling for national courts to be given the job.…
ECJ COMPUTER
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has begun a “vast computer project” designed to shorten the time spent on translating judgements and other legal documents into each of the European Union’s 11 official languages.
At present an author’s judicial text is analysed by a lawyer linguist who identifies terminological or legal references and inserts them in all the languages as hyperlinks.…
CONTRACT LAW
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ENGLISH lawyers would firmly oppose the establishment of EU legislation harmonising European contract law practice, claims the European Commission.
Releasing the results of wide-ranging consultation on four options for potential reform, Brussels said that the keenest opposition to EU legislation came from English lawyers, who “fear that the global significance of English common law would suffer.”…
PRE-PACKAGING
Keith Nuthall
THE DRINKS industry is being asked by the European Commission whether it would like the EU rules governing the size of bottles for wines and spirits to be liberalised. At present, wines may only be sold in the EU in 25, 37.5, 50, 75 cl bottles and a few more units of one litre or more.…
PRE-PACKAGING
Keith Nuthall
THE DRINKS industry is being asked by the European Commission whether it would like the EU rules governing the size of bottles for wines and spirits to be liberalised. At present, wines may only be sold in the EU in 25, 37.5, 50, 75 cl bottles and a few more units of one litre or more.…