Search Results for: German

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE FIVE major European suppliers of chemicals to the cosmetics industry have been raided by the European Commission, which suspects them of price-fixing. Brussels says that its inspectors, along with national competition officials, carried out “simultaneous and unannounced inspections at the premises of the major European producers of the bleaching agent hydrogen peroxide, as well as softening agents, solvents and methacrylates.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
HAMBURG’S ageing and crumbling sewerage network is to be upgraded by a Euro 420 injection of funding, with the European Union’s (EU) European Investment Bank (EIB) planning to provide Euro 180 million of this money. The scheme involves a large number of small repair projects to improve the north German port’s waste water services, including the modernisation of its sewage treatment system and the reconstruction and upgrading of its sewerage networks.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AGREEMENT in principle over the proposed reforms to the European Union’s gas and electricity liberalisation directives has been secured at the European Parliament’s key industry committee, although it is also holding out for some important changes. MEP’s backed a report from Luxembourg member Claude Turmes which called for amendments insisting upon close cooperation between the European Commission and national regulators to ensure a level playing field regarding security of supply.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has given the go-ahead for the acquisition by Gaz de France (GDF) of the German oil and gas activities of Preussag Energie. Brussels has been examining the potential effect on competition in Germany’s upstream energy market and concluded that these were “only small.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
LONG awaited European Union legislation promoting the co-generation of heat and power (CHP) has been attacked in the European Parliament, where MEP’s have accused it of “lacking ambition.” Indeed, the parliament’s industry committee has supported a critical report by German socialist MEP Norbert Glante which lamented the absence in the proposals of future targets for cogeneration and EU rules on financial support.…

BY PHILIP FINE

TEAMS of microbiologists have concluded that it is not just unsafe to swim in sewage infiltrated waters, but that the amount of sickness caused by such pollution is actually far more predictable than previously thought. The findings have prompted them to call for global health-based legislation on the quality of the world’s bathing waters.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE PREMISES of five major European chemical companies have been raided by the European Commission’s antitrust services in a search for evidence of price-fixing in solvents, and a small list of other products. Brussels said the investigation was at a “preliminary stage” and could lead to no evidence of wrong-doing.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has drawn up plans to lend US$6 million to an Azerbaijan company, which is to apply coatings to the Middle East country’s growing oil and gas pipeline network.

Baku-based EUPEC PipeCoatings Azerbaijan will receive this revolving loan facility; it is an Azeri-German joint venture between EUPEC PipeCoatings GmbH, of Germany, and Azertrans Ltd and Azinvest, of Azerbaijan.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has drawn up plans to finance renewable energy projects in Germany, marking a change in mood towards supporting such green schemes. Up to Euro 200 million would be invested, mainly in wind power plants, and to a lesser extent geothermal, small-scale hydro power, solar energy and biomass based energy projects.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
STREAMLINING, multi-tasking and flexible posting of employees may be important weapons in the arsenal of a personnel team looking at getting the most efficiency out of their company, but managers had better make sure that their policies are legal, not only under national laws, but European law too.…