Search Results for: European Parliament

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EU ministers have given the European Commission a mandate to negotiate further liberalisation of trade between the existing EU and eastern and southern European countries wanting to become Member States.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union internal market ministers have agreed to ban the use of azocolourants in the dyeing of a range of textile and leather goods. Azocolourants are dyes made from nitrogen-based compounds, which could cause cancer. Some EU countries have already banned them and the European Commission says this should be extended to all Member States.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL AND MARK ROWE
THE EUROPEAN Union has agreed a suspension of Chinese imports of molluscs, crustaceans, frozen shrimps and prawns because of concerns about contamination; it follows the discovery of “serious deficiencies” in China’s medical residue control system and “problems related to the use of banned substances in the veterinary field.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union has launched the first stage of disputes proceedings at the World Trade Organisation over provisional safeguard duties imposed by the Philippines government on imports of glazed and unglazed ceramic wall and floor tiles. The European Commission has called for formal talks on the matter with the Filipino government; if these fail, then Brussels could ask a WTO panel to arbitrate on the matter.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CERAMICS 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 Union Council of Ministers has voted to impose definitive 22.5 per cent anti-dumping duties on imports of ferro molybdenum from China. Sweden opposed the move, with Germany, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Britain abstaining. The European Commission investigation leading to the decision was sparked by a complaint by EU producers association Ferro-alliages.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission is drawing up detailed guidelines informing its staff when they can talk to the media and the public, without breaching their contracts, following criticism from the European Ombudsman Jacob Söderman that existing rules were “insufficiently clear.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers (general affairs) has approved an intensive double-checking system regarding the trade in steel products between Macedonia and the European Union. Its aim is to boost openness and transparency in the export of Macedonian steel, under the trade agreement Skopje has signed with Brussels, preventing the system being abused.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is taking the French government to the European Court of Justice for failing to implement directive 1999/51/EC, which tightens restrictions on the marketing and use of certain dangerous substances, namely pentachlorophenol (PCP) and other organostannic compounds which can be used as anti-fouling agents on ships.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission may threaten legal action against national governments in the European Union, after 12 out of 16 Member States failed to meet the January 16 deadline for implementing the EU e-commerce directive. A statement from Brussels has revealed that only Luxembourg, Austria and Germany approved laws based on the directive by that date.…