Search Results for: European Union

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DETAILS of the trade agreements struck earlier this year between the European Union and South Africa have been published by the European Commission, in two legal texts submitted to the EU Council of Ministers for formal approval.

Assuming this is granted, EU import quotas for South African wine will rise to 353,000 in the New Year, increasing gradually every 12 months to 420,200 hectolitres in December 2011.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
TIGHTER noise restrictions on commercial aircraft visiting European Union airports have been proposed by the European Commission; it has tabled a new directive that would allow the worst affected airports to ban aircraft that marginally comply with the existing Chapter 3 standard accepted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Labour Organisation has claimed that a probe of working conditions in Cambodian textile factories found no evidence of child labour, forced working or sexual harassment, but revealed problems related to overtime payments, working hours and union discrimination.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed that the Spanish government should be authorised to levy a special 25 per cent tax on imports of tobacco into the Canary Islands, to help protect its dwindling tobacco industry; a Brussels report claimed that between 1985 and 2000, the sector shed 67 per cent of its jobs.…

Keith Nuthall
BANK fees for moving money from country to country within the Eurozone will match those for making payments within one EU Member State in the future, because of a new European regulation agreed by the EU Council of Ministers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union is likely to miss its New Years Day deadline for establishing a European Community patent, which would allow innovators to patent intellectual property far more swiftly and easily than they can at present. Unlike the existing European Patent, the European Commission has proposed that the Community Patent should be effective if translated into only one language out of English, French or German.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE NEW European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has now virtually completed its legislative journey through the EU institutions and is set to begin operations in the first half of next year though we’re still not sure where. Helsinki was the favourite for the seat until the Italian prime minister signor Berlusconi rudely pushed the claims of Parma, dismissing the Finns as “people who don’t know what prosciutto is.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission’s plan to establish the satellite-based global positioning system Galileo has been dealt a heavy blow by the EU Council of Ministers (transport), which has blocked finance for the crucial development stage of the programme. The Euro 3.6 billion, (Pounds 2.2 billion), Galileo scheme is designed to allow transport operators such as air traffic control services pinpoint navigational positions and reduce dependence on the American GPS system.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE JOINT European Torus (JET), the world’s largest nuclear fusion machine, is to restart operations after eight months of improvements by the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to upgrade its power as a research tool. It is the only machine capable of using the fuel mixture which will power a commercial fusion station.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A new report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on conditions in the world shipping and shipbuilding industries makes grim reading. Clearly things were bad well before the attack on the World Trade Centre and the fundamentals have worsened since.…