Search Results for: France

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has been asked to negotiate away restrictions maintained by European Union (EU) Member States that prevent non-EU companies from providing “services incidental to energy distribution” within the EU. The call has come from countries involved in the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) three years old services talks, which were rolled into the WTO’s general Doha Development Round at its Qatar summit last year.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A TIE-UP between the EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the French space agency, could have important consequences for industrial insurance in the context of risk management and disaster control throughout Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union is considering a range of requests to liberalise its insurance sector under commitments it will make in a future World Trade Organisation (WTO) deal, following the ongoing so-called Doha Development Round.

These include calls for it to eliminate existing restrictions in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Portugal on the cross-border supply of maritime and air transport insurance.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
HALF-HEARTED efforts by European Union Member States to impose controls on shabby shipping have been blamed for the disastrous sinking of the ill-named Prestige oil tanker, off Galicia, Spain. Placing on record their disgust at the environmental tragedy, the Council of Europe’s environment committee deplored “the negligence of governments and their lack of any real determination to provide themselves with the means of preventing such disasters – or at least minimising their impact.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have formally approved the creation of an EU Solidarity Fund, helping Member States deal quickly with the effects of natural and man-made disasters; its funds will be mobilised immediately to assist regions affected by the floods of August and September 2002, which should help reduce the burden that has to be met by insurance companies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have formally approved the creation of an EU Solidarity Fund, helping Member States deal quickly with the effects of natural and man-made disasters; its funds will be mobilised immediately to assist regions affected by the floods of August and September 2002.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
TEN of the 15 European Union (EU) Member States have so far failed to bring in national legislation putting into effect the end-of-life vehicles directive agreed in 2000 and could face legal action in the European Court of Justice, the Europe Commission announced today (Monday).…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
A FRENCH company is launching its car repair warranty service in Sri Lanka, claiming that it is the first of its kind in south Asia. SAGE Guarantee Automobile said that it is investing Euro 1 million in the scheme, which it would use as a springboard to attack the Indian market.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the acquisition by US office supplies firm Staples of the office supplies distance-selling business of French company Guilbert. Brussels agreed that the take-over did not pose competition problems, because, although it would boost Staples’ position in Europe, the giant would still face strong rivals, notably the US-based Office Depot.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
FOLLOWING outrage over the explosion at the AZF fertiliser plant in Toulouse, France, which killed 29 people and injured 2,400, EU ministers have acted to tighten the so-called Seveso Two directive which forces companies to install safeguards to prevent industrial accidents and to minimise their effect.…