Archive

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission announced today (Wednesday) that under the EU Merger Regulation it has approved the acquisition of the whole of the insurance business of the Deutsche Bank of Germany by the Zurich Financial Services Group of Switzerland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT is common knowledge that deepening concern about terrorism following the September 11 attacks has led to tighter security in the civil aviation industry, but there have also been important implications for the shipping sector. Keith Nuthall reports.…

BY MARK ROWE
OIJ Paper Co, Japan’s largest paper producer and the world’s second largest producer, is to launch a US$1billion expansion in production capacity in south-east Asia and China over the next five years. The company aims to raise production from its current rate of 60,000 tonnes a year of pulp and paper to a total of one million tonnes during that period.…

BY RICHARD HURST
SOUTH Africa’s Anglo American has announced that it has acquired a controlling share in Russian pulp and paper company Syktyvkar for US$252 million, with the company’s subsidiary Mondi Europe buying a 68 per cent stake, leaving Anglo with 87.9 per cent of Syktyvkar’s stock.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
AUSTRALIA is breaking new ground in anti-crime public-private partnerships with plans for a crackdown on on-line credit card fraud. The country’s Internet Industry Association is establishing a cybercrime code with local law enforcement agencies that will see Internet service providers working hand in hand with police.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SPECIALISTS will reconvene in Vienna from June 17-28 to finish considering the United Nations’ draft Convention against Corruption. The first session of the committee charged with the work agreed the treaty should be “flexible and balanced, taking into account the legal, social, cultural, economic and political differences of countries, (and) different levels of development,” balancing preventive and law enforcement measures and boosting international cooperation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission wants to extend its fight against tax fraud by extending the existing Fiscalis co-operative programme covering VAT and excise duties to direct taxation. Ministers are discussing Brussels’ plans to spend Euro 56 million, (Pounds 34 million), on the plan over he next five years, funding improved electronic information exchanges, co-operation in investigations between national authorities, training seminars for customs and tax officials and exchanges of national officials.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
INDIAN customs officers have been urged to take action against a fraud being carried out by importers of refined vegetable oil, who are declaring it as unrefined, to avail themselves of the lower duties that apply for this product.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
“SERIOUS concern” has been expressed by the European Commission over the failure of a number of Member States to set up telecommunications and IT networks to establish a New Computerised Transit System, which should seal an administrative loophole bleeding millions of Euro’s in defrauded revenue.…

Keith Nuthall
PROPOSALS that could streamline applications by foreign accountants to work in Britain must take account of their need to have sufficient English skills and knowledge of local taxes and law, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants has said.

Director Mike Walsh told Accountancy Age said that proposals from the European Commission on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications needed careful scrutiny, so that standards are protected.…