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.
ECOEMBALLAGES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has unveiled for the first time principles that it will apply when deciding whether schemes for the collection and recovery of household packaging waste break EU competition laws.
This follows approval by Brussels of new contracts offered by the French company Eco-Emballages SA and is a clear sign that Brussels would approve similar systems, were they to be introduced in the UK.…
EUROSTAT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ENVIRONMENTAL statistics are usually harbingers of bad news, so it is refreshing to hear of some positive numbers in the field via the EU’s statistical agency Eurostat’s recent report ‘gaining better knowledge of the pressures on our environment.’…
FAO/WHO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GLOBAL Forum on Food Safety Regulators is to be staged by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation and the World Health Organisation in October, reflecting concern about recent food safety incidents, such as BSE, that the FAO claims have “caused serious turmoil in the world food markets and raised concern among consumers.”…
SOIL PAPER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is drafting a policy paper, (Communication), on the conservation of soil quality within the European Union and the prevention of its degradation. Brussels has launched public consultation on its contents, before releasing a final version.…
BELGIUM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ADMINISTRATIVE reforms made by the Belgian government in the wake of the dioxin contamination crisis have been judged so effective by the European Commission, that it has decided to drop a European Court of Justice case against alleging that Belgium had broken EU food safety laws.…
KYOTO PRE-WRITE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A TOP level EU delegation will fly to Tokyo next week, (July 9), in a desperate bid to salvage the Kyoto Protocol from being wrecked by the intransigence of the Bush administration in Washington. Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom, and ministers from Belgium and Sweden, (representing the current and next EU presidencies), planned their mission after reports emerged from a summit meeting between Bush and Japan’s PM Junichiro Koizumi, that Tokyo would abandon the global warming treaty, if the US refused to sign.…
EU WASTE REPORT
BY DEIRDRE MASON
WITHIN a few years, the UK could be required to recycle or reuse up to 72 per cent of recoverable material from the industrial waste stream and up to 64 per cent from the domestic stream. At a minimum, the figures would be 56 per cent and 39 per cent respectively.…
ANIMAL TESTING LATEST
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE European Union’s Council of Ministers has failed to agree the latest proposals from the European Commission to tighten Europe’s cosmetics animal testing regulations, while abiding by free trade commitments at the World Trade Organisation. Ministers have referred the proposal to the Council’s permanent representatives committee of officials, who have been asked to draw up an alternative compromise.…
WAP GAP
BY MONICA DOBIE
HACKERS and online criminals keen to crack codes and cause cyber-havoc have their eyes set on a new target through the future use of mobile telephone commerce via WAP phone technology, an expert has claimed.
What is known as the “WAP gap” or “white spot” – the fraction of a second when WAP traffic has to be translated to HTTP format to reach content servers on the web – makes hacking possible.…
MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS
BY MONICA DOBIE
COMPANIES with manual labour using heavy plant will have to check their guidelines regarding employees’ safety from exposure to mechanical vibrations, because of a proposed EU directive.
The Council of Ministers, (general affairs), last week gave the proposal its formal approval.…