Search Results for: France

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PRODUCERS of wine in Belarus can heave a sigh of relief; if they import wine must from France to ferment, they can still brand it as French wine, under a global rule of origin proposed by a special World Trade Organisation committee.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
RESTRICTIONS imposed by the French government on personal imports of standard and homeopathic medicines via the post, from other European Union Member States, are to be challenged at the European Court of Justice. The European Commission is bringing a case against Paris, claiming that the rules “constitute a disproportionate obstacle to free movement of medicinal products in the internal (EU) market.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has struck a fishing access deal with the west African island republic of Sao Tome and Principe, lasting from this summer until May 31, 2005. Assuming it is confirmed by EU ministers, access will be granted to Sao Tome waters for 36 freezer tuna seiners, (from France and Spain), two pole-and-line tuna vessels (from Portugal) and 25 surface longliners (from Spain and Portugal).…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has filed an appeal against the dismissal of its cigarette smuggling action in the US against three tobacco companies: Philip Morris, R. J. Reynolds and Japan Tobacco. Notably, it has received formal support in the proceedings from the US Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association for its action, along with the World Health Organisation, the US Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.…

BY ALAN OSBORN AND PHILIP FINE

THE EUROPEAN Commission’s competition authority has cleared the purchase

by General Motors of a series of production and sales outlets of the South

Korean car manufacturer Daewoo.

GM is to acquire some of Daewoo’s production facilities for passenger cars

and light commercial vehicles in Korea and Vietnam together with sales

subsidiaries in Austria, the Benelux region, (Belgium, Netherlands and

Luxembourg), France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DECLINE in the European Union’s use and production of coal over the past 50 years has been documented in a detailed paper by EU statistical agency Eurostat to mark the end of the European Coal and Steel Community.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission is investigating whether the French government has oversubsidised its aviation sector since last year’s September 11 attacks. Brussels had approved grants of Euro 54.9 million to cover additional costs created by the disaster’s four-day disruption to air traffic, but says France also spent the money on costs arising after flights were resumed.…

BY MARK ROWE
THERE is clearly something wrong with a law that allows a rare snake from Costa Rica to be sold in a church hall or for a reptile to be kept in a garage on a housing estate. But Britain’s animal welfare laws are, by the common agreement of just about every interested party, out-dated, confusing and, crucially, can actually cause more harm than good to animals.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
FIVE YEARS since it was first proposed, the End-of-Life (ELV) Vehicle Directive has just about made it to the statute books of a handful of EU member states. A directive both controversial and complex, it was maybe surprising, if a little disappointing, that the deadline of April 21, 2002 for transposition went by without a single EU country passing legislation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has underlined its optimism about European beef production, predicting in its report on “Prospects for Agricultural Markets: 2002-2009 that it was set to return to “more normal” levels. The Commission says that this will result from increased prices and the end of livestock destruction schemes by March 2002 (except in the UK).…