Archive

Keith Nuthall
CHINA has sought to allay fears that it is dragging its feet over the implementation of liberalisation commitments it made when it was admitted into the World Trade Organisation. It has released explanatory notes to the European Union and Canada, who have raised concerns over the opening of textile import quotas.…

BY RICHARD HURST, in Johannesburg
SOUTH African textile company Glodina has announced that it has retracted its proposed merger with competing company Zorbatex. The announcement follows allegations of “misrepresentations” about Zorbatex’s financial affairs.

Spokesman for Glodina, Paul Schouten, would not comment any further on the problems, only adding that concerns about Zorbatex’s performance had surfaced after the merger agreement had been concluded, but before the implementation date.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has ordered the repayment of Euro 7.83 million, (Pounds 4.8 million), of aid from the German textile company Neue Erba Lautex GmbH (NEL) and its parent company, the bankrupt Erba Lautex GmbH following a formal inquiry launched last summer.…

Keith Nuthall
THE VENEZUELAN government has notified the World Trade Organisation about how it intends to implement the third tranche of its liberalisation commitments under the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing. Caracas said its new quota-free list of goods would include additional products, accounting for at least 18 per cent of Venezuela’s 1990 textile and clothing imports.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to take Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Portugal to the European Court of Justice for allegedly failing to fully implement the EU Basic Safety Standards Directive on protecting the health of workers and the public against dangers from ionising radiation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CZECH Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria are cooperating in a project to harmonise their licensing procedures for fuel rods; the four countries are being encouraged to work together by the European Union, as they are the only eastern European countries wanting to join the EU who are operating Russian pressurised water reactors.…

KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union heads of government have decided that Member States should agree an energy taxation directive by the end of this year, ending discussions that have been staged since 1992. The legislation will probably impose minimum duty levels on fossil fuels, with rebates available for green energy sources and uses such as biofuels and co-generation.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank has lent Euro 190 million to Danish electricity supplier and distributor Eltra, money that will be especially targeted on boosting renewable energy production and consumption in this environment-friendly country.

Eltra is a non-profit co-operative society wholly owned by 47 municipal and consumer-owned electricity distribution companies in Denmark.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A BID by a group of district heating companies to overturn massive fines levied by the European Commission, which found they had been participating in an illegal cartel, has been thrown out by the European Court of Justice’ Court of First Instance.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A STRING of cases have been launched by the European Commission against Member States of the European Union to try and force them to comply with EU water legislation; under existing rules, failure to abide by the court’s rulings can see national governments being hit with huge daily recurring fines of up to Euro 100,000.…