Archive

BY ALAN OSBORN
A CALL by the European Commission to step up and harmonise Internet security throughout the 15 member countries has generally been welcomed by British business as a useful input to the growing debate on the subject.

“It’s a wake-up call that tells us that the EU is going to be taking information security very seriously and that businesses will face challenges over the next two to three years on how to deal with it,” said Nigel Hickson, head of e-business at the Confederation of British Industry.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
WORKERS in companies with 50 employees or more will have sweeping rights to be informed and consulted about management decisions affecting their future following agreement by EU employment ministers on a new work directive.

Britain had held out against the legislation but gave in when it became clear that other Member States would out-vote it on the matter.…

BY MONICA DOBIE, in Montreal, Canada
CREDIT card fraudsters in the US and Canada are inserting new kinds of skimming bugs which steal credit and charge card numbers into electronic terminals used by most north American retailers and restaurants.

Cardweb, a Maryland-based payment card information network, has claimed that tiny pieces of hardware are being planted by fraudsters working under-cover in a restaurant or shop.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
COMPANIES sending personal data to countries outside the European

Union will be able to ensure their legal compliance with the EU’s data protection directive by incorporating a set of new standard clauses in their contracts under proposals announced by the European Commission.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CRIMINALS are still fleecing the European Union’s budget of hundreds-of-millions of Euro, according to the latest European Commission fraud report. But Brussels is refusing to throw in the towel, unveiling more anti-fraud proposals, Keith Nuthall reports.

THE ANNUAL report on the Protection of the Communities’ (EU’s) Financial Interests and the Fight Against Fraud always seems to have been misnamed, in that it usually focuses on how much money the European Union has been losing to fraudsters, rather than saving.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has greeted with anger the decision by the European Parliament to reject a proposed directive on harmonising financial procedures for takeover bids that take place within the European Union.

The proposal was formally tabled six years ago and has been the centre of intense debate, leading to what was supposed to be a final compromise, struck between the parliament and the EU Council of Ministers, meeting in a conciliation committee.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PHARMACEUTICAL industry has been urged to embrace differential pricing policies in the developed and developing worlds, as a means of earning enough money to cover research costs, (in richer countries), whilst keeping drugs affordable in poorer countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DIPLOMATS are working hard to lay the groundwork for the launch of a new general round of trade talks at the World Trade Organisation, when the international commerce body holds its biennial ruling ministerial meeting this November.

By the time trade ministers congregate in Doha, Qatar, it is hoped that the bulk of a deal will have been stitched up behind the scenes, allowing governments to rubber stamp a move into negotiations mirroring the depth and breadth of the Uruguay Round that set up the WTO in 1994.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
CREDIT card fraudsters in the US and Canada are placing new kinds of skimming bugs to steal credit and charge card numbers from terminals used by north American retailers and restaurants.

These tiny pieces of hardware are planted by a fraudster working in a restaurant or shop.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
OFFICIALS at the World Trade Organisation have been asked to draw up a detailed report on how the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, (TRIPs), should be amended to take account of e-commerce.

The proposal was tabled by the Switzerland at last week’s meeting of the WTO’s TRIPs Council.…