Archive

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has returned to the political fray over tobacco advertising. Bloodied from its experience at the European Court of Justice, yet apparently unbowed, it has proposed a fresh directive which seeks to ban companies from buying publicity in the print media, radio and the Internet.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CASE brought by the European Commission against the Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds corporations for their alleged involvement in cigarette smuggling has opened at the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The Commission has now been formally joined in the case by Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Luxembourg, who have given mandate Commission lawyers to represent them.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE DOMESTIC tobacco subsidiary of Philip Morris has announced that the Engle class judgement, which levied punitive damages of $74 billion (US), will now remain stayed throughout the tobacco firms appeal process.

The tobacco company has posted a bond of $100 million (US), which prevented plaintiffs from demanding full payment during the appeal.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
CANADA’S smokers are losing their right to light up in public places across the country, because of the introduction of a series of smoke-free environment bylaws and bans.

The capital city of Ottawa has recently launched the country’s toughest by-law, prohibiting smoking in restaurants, bars, private clubs and legion halls.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has ducked making a potentially controversial ruling on the legality under EU freedom of trade rules of the Swedish laws banning alcohol advertising.

Judges had heard a case referred by the Stockholm district court, which had been brought by Sweden’s consumer ombudsman against a food and drink magazine Gourmet, which had carried ads for red wine and whisky.…

BY RICHARD HURST
THE SALDHANA Fishing Group of South Africa has announced that it has sold its open sea fishing interests to the new Slipper Bay Fishing Co for R60 million. The new firm will be a partnership between the Silverman family – long involved in the country’s fishing industry – and two black empowerment groups, Bluefin Holdings and Ntshonalonga Fishing; these companies have been sponsored by the ANC government to promote the involvement of black Africans in the country’s economy.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE REVIEW of the Common Fisheries Policy is likely to create the largest overhaul in European Union fishing policy in years, matching the crisis in stock levels in European waters. At its heart is the integration of environmental and conservation concerns into the organisation of the EU fishing market, a principle that – judging by conclusions agreed by the Council of Ministers – will have significant consequences when changes are put in place next year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation, (FAO), has handed over 290 new fishing boats, canoes and nets to Mozambican fishermen, whose equipment was destroyed when flooding and a cyclone struck the country last year.

Its donation – funded by the Italian government – was the final stage of an FAO rehabilitation project for Inhambane, Sofala and Gaza Provinces.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
A CANADIAN government advisory group has called for increased numbers of seals to be hunted, to help recovering Atlantic fish stocks, which are estimated to be at 10 per cent of what they were 20 years ago.

The Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (FRCC) said that the seal population has over-expanded and that its numbers must be controlled.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Union has voiced “disappointment and concern” at a decision by the US Department of Commerce to impose provisional countervailing duties on imports of low enriched uranium from the EU.

European Commission officials said that the case concerned uranium that had been processed for use in electricity generation.…