Search Results for: Germany

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE FIVE major European suppliers of chemicals to the cosmetics industry have been raided by the European Commission, which suspects them of price-fixing. Brussels says that its inspectors, along with national competition officials, carried out “simultaneous and unannounced inspections at the premises of the major European producers of the bleaching agent hydrogen peroxide, as well as softening agents, solvents and methacrylates.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
COMPARED with the years of tortuous wrangling that slowed the adoption of the first – and legally abortive – European Union (EU) tobacco advertising directive, the EU Council of Ministers has speedily approved its replacement.

The council has accepted amendments tabled by the European Parliament and approved the legislation on its first reading, with Germany and Britain voting against.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITISH accountants are the second most lightly regulated in the European Union (EU), with their Danish colleagues having the most freedom according to a European Commission-funded survey, promoting liberalisation in Europe’s professions. Belgium, Austria and Germany – where heavy regulation is often favoured – have the union’s most tightly restricted accountancy professions.…

Keith Nuthall
A MODEL tax system for construction projects that cross national borders within Europe has been devised by the European Commission for work on a new bridge spanning the Rhine between Germany and Switzerland. The Commission has proposed that standard EU VAT laws are suspended, suggesting that all relevant good and services should attract German VAT and no Swiss VAT.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SUCCESSFUL trial of electronic tags for livestock has been announced by the European Commission, which has inspired a proposed regulation that would create a unified system for accurately monitoring farm animals across the European Union.

Brussels officials have unveiled in Italy the results of the IDEA project (Electronic IDentification of Animals), a one million animal trial spanning France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has given the go-ahead for the acquisition by Gaz de France (GDF) of the German oil and gas activities of Preussag Energie. Brussels has been examining the potential effect on competition in Germany’s upstream energy market and concluded that these were “only small.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is formally threatening France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Austria and Finland with legal action at the European Court of Justice over claims that they have failed to implement new EU regulations on the release of genetically modified organisms.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITISH architects are among the most lightly regulated in the European Union (EU), with their Danish, Irish, Dutch and Swedish colleagues enjoying a similarly light regulatory burden, according to a European Commission-funded survey, promoting liberalisation in Europe’s professions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
TECHNICAL and administrative units devoted to the development of the European Union’s EGNOS and GALILEO global positioning initiatives are to be merged. EGNOS – the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service – should be fully operational by next year and Brussels has asked EU ministers to approve placing it under the supervision of the GALILEO Joint Undertaking, which includes both the Commission and the European Space Agency.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
AN UNUDUAL and significant announcement was made by the European Commission earlier this month (April 2nd) and it should be required reading for any-one who thinks that Brussels is frightened of France when it comes to farming matters.…