Search Results for: European Court of Justice

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has failed in its bid to force the French government to abandon its tough line over the right of driving instructors to deduct tax VAT for vehicles bought for their jobs; Paris insists that they can claim a rebate, only where automobiles are used “exclusively” for teaching.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has opened consultations on how the EU’s detergents legislation can be tightened. In particular it seeks better ways to control the biodegradability of surfactants, (materials reducing surface tension), which can create foam in water supplies, and wants mandatory information for consumers on the content of detergent and cleaning products.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
EUROPE’S direct marketing organisations have expressed delight at a vote in a European Parliament committee to agree an opt-out system for electronic messaging in the EU Member States.

What the MEP’s are saying is that companies should not have to seek permission from consumers before sending them unsolicited commercial e-mails, or “spam,” (the so-called “opt-in” approach), but can operate on the basis that if the messages are unwanted the recipients can opt out.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE JAPANESE Automobile Manufacturers Association, (JAMA), has reached agreement with the European Commission that all new vehicles sold in the EU from 2003 will carry daytime running lights and anti-lock brake systems, as part of a voluntary package to improve pedestrian safety.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SPECIALIST monitoring unit in the EU’s Joint Research Centre, has been using the latest satellite radar technology to track deliberate and accidental discharges of oil and other pollutants from shipping, encouraging the European Commission to take a stronger line in its maritime pollution policies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has published an online directory of dangerous substances in construction products. The database includes country guides for each Member State, outlining the relevant national regulations controlling what kind of substances are banned or permitted and in what circumstances.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE IRISH government could be ordered to be massive daily recurring fines, because of its failure to implement EU directive 1999/47/EC on transport of dangerous goods by road, which sets safety rules for this kind of haulage work.

Ireland has already been censured by the European Court of Justice for not writing its contents into national Irish legislation and now the European Commission has asked the European Court of Justice to consider using exceptional powers to levy fines.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has published guidelines that encourage local and national public authorities to use EU legislation on public procurement to promote the purchase of environmentally friendly goods and services. Brussels’ “interpretive communication” on the subject does not advise local and national governments adapt procurement practices so that environmental good practice automatically becomes a sales condition.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BELGIAN government has committed its July-December presidency of the European Union to securing formal approval for the creation of a new research fund that will pump millions of Euro’s into coal industry research, replacing the work carried out via the budgets of the soon-to-be-defunct European Coal and Steel Community.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FORMAL disputes proceedings at the World Trade Organisation between Chile and Peru over a new Peruvian tax regime for cigarettes have been shelved, following the striking down of the tax by the Constitutional Court of Peru.

In a ruling with no appeal, Peruvian judges backed an application by the British American Tobacco Co, which claimed that the tax “granted preferential treatment to a category of cigarettes.”…