Search Results for: Netherlands

Keith Nuthall
EUROPEAN Union ministers have been asked to reimpose anti-dumping duties – albeit at a lower rate – against imports into the EU from Belarus of synthetic staple fibres of polyesters, not combed, carded or otherwise processed for spinning.

The move follows a review of the duties on polyester fibre from Belarus that were imposed in 1996 and 1997 at a rate of 43.5 per cent.…

Keith Nuthall
COMPANIES and sole traders that alter and mend household linen, clothing and shoes have been granted the option of having another year of reducing VAT on their services by the European Commission. Brussels has decided to extend an experimental scheme, which allows Belgium, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Britain to reduce VAT on specified labour-intensive services to boost jobs.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DISCOVERY this summer of the hormone MPA in treacle or glucose syrup used for pig feed in the Netherlands, originated in Ireland and were sold on via Belgium because of poor implementation of EU pharmaceutical waste laws and the carelessness of feed producers, the European Commission has claimed.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRANCE is storming ahead of the European Union’s league table for the export of electricity, supplying other EU Member States with 69,479 GWh in the latest year for which comparable figures are available (2000); Austria was the only other significant EU exporter, supplying 1,296 GWh, although outside the union, Norway recouped significant earnings from exporting 19,055 GWh.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Union’s drinks industry is one of the continent’s key earners according to a report from EU statistical agency Eurostat, which says its productivity is much higher than that of the food processing sector.

The top performing country in the latest pan-EU figures available (1999) in the drinks industry was France, at Euro 103,700 generated in terms of value added by the sector per person in employment.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
CYCLE repairers in the UK will have to wait another 12 months before finding out if the European Commission intends to expand a reduced rate of VAT scheme that is currently enjoyed by only a handful of Member States.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GOVERNMENTS and international organisations have highlighted tobacco smuggling as one of the largest illegal drains on their tax revenues. An international conference has brought law enforcement professionals together with health officials to fight this problem. Keith Nuthall reports.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
WE know that irresponsible sea-sand dredging can led to coastal erosion, threatening beaches and ecological balance and even the livelihoods of whole sea-side or fishing communities. Yet there is today an unprecedented demand for sand as a building material.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
The more new buildings that go up, the more demand there is for sand and gravel for use as aggregate. In theory there’s an almost inexhaustible supply of it on the sea-bed. But each ton taken away leaves a hole under the sea that fills with water.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
AN INTERNATIONAL team of scientists based at Galway, in Ireland, has made a surprising discovery that could have significant consequences for future climate change.

The EU-sponsored Parforce research project, led by the National University of Ireland, has found that iodine vapours released by marine algae can help thicken haze and cloud layers, blocking sunlight and thereby partially offsetting global warming from greenhouse gases.…