Search Results for: european union

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FARMERS and food industry cooperatives have been encouraged by the European Commission to use the Internet as a way of improving communications with fellow producers, processors, distributors and customers.

Speaking to the Praesidium of EU cooperative movement COGECA, information society commissioner Erkki Liikanen urged these rural industries not to miss out on the opportunities offered by the development of e-commerce technologies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
The Gothenberg summit of EU leaders, ending Saturday, nodded through an initiative on Internet security from the European Commission that has not been universally acclaimed by industry. Purpose of the Communication from Brussels is to set up “a more collaborative approach to tackle problems like viruses, hacking, denial of service, interception and natural disasters.”…

BY ALAN OSBORN
WORKERS in companies with 50 employees or more will have sweeping rights to be informed and consulted about management decisions affecting their future following agreement by EU employment ministers on a new work directive.

Britain had held out against the legislation but gave in when it became clear that other Member States would out-vote it on the matter.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
COMPANIES with manual labour using heavy plant will have to check their guidelines regarding employees’ safety from exposure to mechanical vibrations, because of a proposed EU directive.

The Council of Ministers, (general affairs), last week gave the proposal its formal approval.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has unveiled for the first time principles that it will apply when deciding whether schemes for the collection and recovery of household packaging waste break EU competition laws.

This follows approval by Brussels of new contracts offered by the French company Eco-Emballages SA and is a clear sign that Brussels would approve similar systems, were they to be introduced in the UK.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A RESEARCH study is being staged by the European Commission this year into developing a noise modelling tool for the road transport sector, looking at the effectiveness of technical adaptations to tyres, engines and road surfaces and examining the scope for making further noise improvements in these fields.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL fund to support the decommissioning of Bulgaria’s Kozloduy nuclear power station will be able to call on Euro 100 million, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has said. It will act as the fund administrator and has said that contributions had been received from Britain, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has tried to make up for its failure to strike fishing access deal with Morocco by forging an improved agreement with its north African neighbour Mauritania which Brussels claims its “the most important with a third country” that it has made.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FRENCH government has been told to bring its statistical systems for measuring the environmental quality of its bathing water into line with EU standards. The European Court of Justice has supported a bid by the European Commission to declare the French system illegal, ordering Paris to pay costs.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union has called on the World Trade Organisation to arbitrate in a dispute with Argentina over the time that it has to implement an earlier ruling opposing Argentine tanning industry controls on the export of raw and semi-tanned bovine hides.…