Search Results for: Austrian

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IMPORTS of books into European Union Member States with fixed-price regimes should also be subject to the same controls as locally published books under a comprehensive, but very flexible, EU directive on book-pricing, the European Parliament’s legal committee has said.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE CREATION of a hydro electricity joint venture by German electricity giant E.ON and Austrian electricity producer Verbund has been approved by the European Commission; European Hydro Power will produce electricity for its parents, which will continue to sell the power separately to their customers in Germany and Austria.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL AND ALAN OSBORN
A CHILD of divorced parents is entitled to receive an advance on maintenance payments from a foreign government in the European Union if one separated parent lives in its country, the European Supreme court has ruled.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRANZ Fischler has been making a lot of speeches recently. It is not because he has time on his hands, he is in charge of the European Commission’s largest two budgets, agriculture and fisheries after all. Rather it is because he is cross with the Americans, whom he accuses of playing Janus at the WTO.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s environment committee has called for the European Union to have a comprehensive water pricing policy, with meters being installed on farms, industry and private households across its territory.

A report adopted by its MEP’s says that such a move is crucial, if the threat of acute water shortages over the coming decades is to be averted.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WATER pricing reform is on its way in the European Union. The water framework directive passed last year imposes a commitment on Member States by the year 2010 to ensure that their pricing policies “provide adequate incentives for users to use water resources efficiently.”…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has called for swift political agreement on a range of draft proposals promoting the safety of both road tunnels and hauliers themselves, as a response to the latest trans-Alpine disaster at St Gothard, Switzerland.

EU transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio has called for “concerted action” between the EU and the Swiss government, implementing initiatives “with vigour and as rapidly as possible.”…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has blocked the planned takeover by London-based CVC Capital Partners Group Ltd, (CVC), of Austrian man-made fibres manufacturer Lenzing AG. Because CVC already controls Acordis, Lenzing’s principal rival in Europe, and only rival in the United States, Brussels has ruled that a merged company would have a dominant position in a number of fibres markets, that could “reduce choice and lead to higher prices for customers and end consumers.”…

KEITH NUTHALL
TOURISTS have the right under European law to claim damages for the loss of enjoyment in a holiday marred by negligence from travel companies, in addition to the compensation due for the non-performance of a package travel contract, an advocate general to the European Court of Justice has stated.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THREATS of delays to the distribution of ecopoints permits, allowing hauliers to cross ecologically sensitive Austrian Alpine passes, have been lifted, with the European Commission abandoning plans to cut back allocations. The move had been opposed by the EU Council of Ministers, leading to concerns about an political stand-off.…