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.
EUROSTAT REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SIGNIFICANT trend towards the consolidation in the European Union’s insurance sector has been highlighted by a report from the EU’s statistical agency Eurostat, which has released detailed data about 1999.
In that year, said the study, the number of EU insurance businesses decreased by 8.4 per cent between 1996 and 1999, with a particularly sharp decline in Britain, where numbers fell by 23.7 per cent.…
LLOYD'S PETITION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ABILITY of the European Commission to effectively monitor the European Union insurance sector has been called into question by MEP’s, who have admitted being “astonished” after receiving official complaints about irregularities at Lloyd’s of London dating back 20 years.…
ICE WINE CANADA
Keith Nuthall
CANADA’S ice-wine industry has suffered a serious blow because of unseasonably mild winter weather. Most wineries in the Niagara on the Lake region in Ontario will see a decline of 50 per cent or more in their ice-wine grape yields.…
EU 1999 REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has released a report on “Investment in the Community (EU) coal and steel industries” that tracks the sector’s performance in the European Union during 1999. The report predicts that “all the coal-consuming sectors except the steel industry see their requirements declining over the coming years,” faced with the competition of natural gas.…
CONGO LATEST
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MORATORIUM in the trade of illegally exploited Congolese minerals has been proposed by a panel of experts, which has examined how the stripping of resources by foreign military forces has prolonged the ongoing war in the country.…
GERMANY AID
KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has ordered the repayment of part of an investment tax premium worth Euro 2 million, made out by the German government to sawmill company Klausner Nordic Timber GmbH, claiming that the subsidy broke EU state aid rules.…
TRACTORS
KEITH NUTHALL
A NEW European Union directive has been proposed that would harmonise technical standards for the manufacture of forestry tractors and trailers, establishing a type approval procedure enabling these vehicles to be sold anywhere in the EU. Ministers have also been asked by the European Commission to extend similar technical harmonisation regulations to components.…
CARTEL FINE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has fined Britain’s Britannia Alloys & Chemicals Ltd, James Brown Ltd and Trident Alloys Ltd, plus Germany’s Heubach GmbH & Co. KG, France’s Société Nouvelle des Couleurs Zinciques S.A., and Norway’s Waardals Kjemiske Fabrikker A/S a total of Euro 11.95 million for participating in a price-fixing and market-sharing cartel in zinc phosphate.…
DUTY FLOOR
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FLEXIBILITY is required in the regime setting the European Union’s minimum excise duty rates for tobacco, says the European Parliament, which has voted for changes to a proposed duty floor of 57 per cent of the retail sale price and Euro 70 for 1000 cigarettes tabled by the European Commission.…
INDONESIA
BY MARK ROWE
THE TEXTILE industry in Indonesia is to be boosted by a government led campaign aimed to increase its competitiveness. Jakarta wants to expand the sector via its programme from employing 250,000 people to 340,000 nationwide. The move, which is expected to be funded by government start-up grants and loans from major banks, is part of a general policy to counter rising unemployment and slowing exports, which focuses on sectors in which Indonesia has strength.…