Search Results for: European Parliament⊂mit=Search

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE BRITISH government’s decision to exempt coke, (when it is used as a chemical reductant in steel production), and some other fuels with non-energy “dual-uses” from its Climate Change Levy has been approved by the European Commission. Brussels said it was giving a go-ahead following a “revised notification” by the UK addressing the Commission’s concerns about competition and the environment.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Agency for Reconstruction, the EU organisation funding the rehabilitation of former war zones in the Balkans, is spending Euro 550,000 on rebuilding five traditional stone tower houses in Kosovo. Called kullas, they were constructed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and are all in a state of disrepair because of war damage and lack of maintenance.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PRINTING equipment and supplies imported from the United States are to be a focus of retaliatory tariffs imposed by the European Union following the erection of controversial ‘safeguard’ duties by Washington to protect its steel industry.

The European Commission has announced that it is asking EU ministers to approve a selected range of products, where the levying of duty will cause the most pain to US exporters, in a bid to try and force the Bush administration to lift its tariffs.…

Keith Nuthall
THE VOLUNTARY strategy on pedestrian safety design standards for motor vehicles adopted by the European Commission with the European, Japanese and South Korean auto manufacturers has been undermined by a key European Parliament committee, which has called for EU legislation on the subject.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON
THE USA dominates the world’s soft-drinks markets with its Coca Cola, Pepsi and affiliated brands, so can the big players in the European bottled mineral water industry achieve a similar success with brands such as Evian, Volvic and Perrier?…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A LAPSED double-checking system for imports of Romanian steel products into the European Union is to be reinstated from July, assuming EU ministers approve a proposal from the European Commission. The system was established when Romania and the EU signed an association agreement, (a broad trade and political relations deal), in 1996, but its legal authority lapsed last December.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONCERN has been sparked by new proposals from the European Commission to abolish the European Union’s dedicated architectural committee, which rules on whether qualifications awarded to architects in a Member States should be recognised across the EU.

Under proposals to streamline the complex legislation governing the mutual recognition of European qualifications, the Commission is proposing that a central committee should be established to make rulings about the quality of all EU professional diplomas and degrees.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
SOME sensible words were spoken recently by the EU’s agriculture commissioner Franz Fischler on the way forward for farmers. His starting point was the quality of farm produce. Noone is going to say that quality has ever been far from farmers’ minds, but until recently it wasn’t really the first consideration.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has called for EU legislation that would insist that passenger ferry companies take out compulsory insurance, which would cover them for no-fault strict liability claims of up to Euro 250,000 per passenger.

In a Communication, (discussion paper), “on the enhanced safety of passenger ships,” Brussels also suggests that if a carrier is at fault, unlimited liability should apply.…

Keith Nuthall
FINAL agreement has been secured on the shape of an updated European Union directive on employees’ safety from exposure to mechanical vibrations, with the European Parliament cutting the latest deadline companies have to introduce technical changes reducing exposure from 2011 to 2010.…