Search Results for: european union

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed that EU ministers approve an application from France to extend for another seven years the right to reduce the rate of excise duty applied in mainland France to traditional rum from the French overseas departments of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion and Guyane.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed a change in the organisation of the EU wine market aimed at encouraging young people into wine growing. Brussels said that some Member States had been pursuing active policies of generational replacement and these had proved their worth, “particularly in the wine sector where there is a great need to attract younger growers.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU Council of Ministers has approved a European public health programme for the years 2001-2006, which is likely to lead to further efforts by Brussels to dissuade people from smoking. Ministers agreed that Euro 280 million should be spent on the plan, which will include the creation of a comprehensive data bank on habits affecting health, such as smoking.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has complied with a ruling from the European Ombudsman, who backed the right of Friends of the Earth to read environmental studies regarding the compliance of the UK and Gibraltar with directives on waste, hazardous waste and habitats.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has granted competition clearance to a new joint venture that will design, develop, manufacture and sell devices to route Internet and other electronic communications to homes and offices in Europe and the USA, via existing electrical wires, without laying any additional cables.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SWEDEN has been told by the European Commission to end its favourable tax treatment of beer compared to wine or face legal action at the European Court of Justice.

Under the Swedish alcohol tax regime, wine in the 8.5 per cent to 15 per cent abv band bears tax at about four times the rate for beer in the three per cent to five per cent range, even though it has only three times as much alcohol.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON
WITHIN a few years, the UK could be required to recycle or reuse up to 72 per cent of recoverable material from the industrial waste stream and up to 64 per cent from the domestic stream. At a minimum, the figures would be 56 per cent and 39 per cent respectively.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed that EU legislation be amended to make the installation of speed limiters compulsory for all large vans, vehicles that have so far been exempt from such regulations. Thus far, only lorries registered since 1988 of more than 12 tonnes in weight have had to be fitted with this technology, but the Commission has now concluded that this rule should be extended to all commercial vehicles of 3.5 tonnes or more.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development is to lend Euro 21.5 million to Balkanpharma, Bulgaria’s leading producer of pharmaceuticals, to support the modernisation of three production sites. It is hoped that the reforms will enable the recently privatised company to raise its standards to meet European Union and Bulgarian official good manufacturing practice levels, allowing it to maintain traditional export and domestic markets and increase its access to the EU.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EU Council of Ministers (environment) has approved the expansion of the European directive setting emission limits for vehicles undertaking cold starts, to include certain classes of light commercial vehicles and domestic vans that have hitherto been exempt from the law.…