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.
ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A LIST of environmental subjects that are to be the subject of European Union-wide statistical analysis, to enable Brussels institutions to make better informed decisions about green issues, has been agreed by the EU Council of Ministers.
This data is to be drawn up every year, for discussion by the spring meeting of the two European Union summits held annually.…
CAR EMISSIONS DATA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched legal action against Austria, Greece, Finland, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Sweden for failing to comply with a commitment under EU law to monitor average emissions of CO2 from new passenger cars.…
IRELAND
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is taking Ireland to the European Court of Justice, accusing its government of flouting the EU Waste Framework Directive, notably by allowing uncontrolled waste disposal operations in County Louth, Dublin, Co Waterford, Co Laois and Co Cork.…
RENEWABLES REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT is a curious fact that whilst Britain has a lot more wind than Germany, it has significantly less wind power electricity generation. Also, why has a country blessed with as much sun as Greece, failed to develop solar panels as quickly as its fellow southern Mediterranean EU Member State Spain?…
WASTE AND CLIMATE CHANGE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WITH the rulebook of the Kyoto Protocol all but written, the European Commission has been considering innovative ways in which it can help reduce the EU’s production of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
Much emphasis has been made in the past on reducing industrial pollution or emissions from cars and lorries, but Brussels has now turned its attention to a source of the gases that is very much under the control of local authorities: waste disposal.…
FOOD SAFETY
BY KEITH NUTHALL AND ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Parliament this week (on December 11th) cleared the way for a European Food Safety Authority early next year with powers to set and monitor safety standards for the entire food chain “from farm to fork.”…
UNEP ACTION PLAN
BY MIKE FOX
ENVIRONMENT officials and ministers from more than one hundred countries meeting at a United Nations conference in Montreal have renewed their commitment to trying to protect the world’s oceans from land-based pollution.
They framed a comprehensive communiqué, after hearing from an environmental body representing more than 400 local governments, which outlined how its members can play a major role in protecting the oceans.…
E COMMERCE LEGAL SERVICE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNET legal advice service, providing information about European Union legislation affecting e-commerce, has been launched. The site, eLexPortal.com, will provide updated information on EU and national laws and regulations on the subject; it is free of charge, and allows users to e-mail queries to its online experts.…
VAT INVOICES
Keith Nuthall
POLITICAL difficulties blocking the agreement of common European Union invoicing rules, that would sanction the legitimacy of electronic billing for VAT purposes across the EU, have been cleared.
The EU Council of Ministers, (finance), has unanimously agreed in principle the proposed new invoicing directive.…
DIGITAL VAT
Keith Nuthall
THE US government is likely to be upset by the decision of the European Union Council of Ministers (finance) to approve its proposed new VAT regime for digital products downloaded from the Internet; this system allows EU exporters to sell their goods without charging sales tax, but penalises importers, notably American companies.…