Search Results for: European Union

Keith Nuthall
THE SWIFT referral of merger cases from the European Commission to national authorities in Member States where the deal will have an overwhelming impact, has been suggested in a green paper has been issued by Brussels. The Commission currently has jurisdiction over some larger merger cases, even where participants are from the same Member State and Brussels wants these quickly transferred to national competition tribunals.…

Keith Nuthall
AN INTERNET legal advice service for companies wishing to learn about European Union legislation affecting e-commerce, has been launched. The site, eLexPortal.com, will provide updated information on EU and national laws and regulations on the subject; it is free of charge, and allows users to e-mail queries to its online experts.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE USE of azocolourants for dyeing leather and textile goods is to be banned throughout the European Union following acceptance by EU ministers of scientific evidence that they present a cancer risk. Some EU countries already ban the nitrogen-based chemicals and the European Commission wants to harmonise the situation in the interests of free trade.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Intellectual Property Organisation’s digital copyright treaty is to come into force on March 6, next year, after Gabon became the 30th country to ratify its provisions, the minimum number required to make it international law.

This convention safeguards the rights of authors whose works are published on the Internet and in other digital media, protecting literary and artistic works, including online books, computer programs, music, art, and films.…

Keith Nuthall
TEXTILE designs are to receive uniform legal protection across the European Union in the future because of the agreement by the EU Council of Ministers of a new Regulation on the subject; it accords designers legal protection from the theft of their ideas, short of patent or copyright protection, but significant enough to deter plagiarists.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has produced cross-border action plans to conserve eight species of birds whose survival is threatened in the European Union. Working with BirdLife International, Brussels’ guidelines will help shape Member States’ conservation policies, encouraging them to work together to save the bittern, the ferruginous duck, Steller’s eider, the lammergeier, the greater spotted eagle, the lesser spotted eagle, Bonelli’s eagle and the little bustard.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has again voted for a name change for the proposed European Food Authority, which will henceforth be known as the European Food Safety Authority, unless the EU Council of Ministers overturns the move. MEP’s also voted to streamline its management board and boost its democratic accountability, regarding public meetings and documents.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has again voted for a name change for the proposed European Food Authority, which will henceforth be known as the European Food Safety Authority, unless ministers overturn the move. MEP’s also voted to streamline its management board and boost its democratic accountability, regarding public meetings and documents.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
The European Commission is now re-thinking its strategy over ship-building following rejection of its favoured approach by the EU Council of Industry Ministers on Wednesday.

Mr Heinz Mico, a spokesman for the trade commissioner Pascal Lamy, said the extension of the EU’s case at the WTO to include LNG carriers would only be realistic if there were “good reasons” for it that went beyond the complaint of one country.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN ITALIAN state aid scheme designed to help the European Union achieve one of its key post-Erika disaster objectives – the phasing out of old single hull oil tankers – could be blocked by the European Commission, on the grounds that it is too generous.…