Search Results for: Spanish

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Trade Organisation has launched a general round at its summit in Qatar, which will include negotiations on liberalising export and import regimes for so-called industrial goods such as fish.

These talks have a final deadline of 2005 and, said the meeting’s communiqué, will try “to reduce or as appropriate eliminate tariffs, including the reduction or elimination of tariff peaks, high tariffs, and tariff escalation, as well as non-tariff barriers, in particular on products of export interest to developing countries.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SYSTEM of tax exemptions allowing French companies to deduct liability for losses incurred by subsidiaries or branches abroad breaks the European Coal and Steel Community’s Steel Aid Code, the European Commission has ruled.

Following an investigation, it has concluded that none of the exemptions provided for, such as aid for research and development, environmental protection or closures, are applicable.…

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 launched an investigation into state aid paid by the Italian government to its shellfish producers; it fears they were overcompensated for problems caused by the spread of mucilage in the Adriatic last year.

Rome paid fish farmers Euro 775,000 to cover up to 30 per cent of their losses caused by this natural jelly hindering their operations.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE PAYMENT of Euro 18 million in grants by the Spanish government in support of a Renault factory at Valladolid is to be formally investigated by the European Commission. Brussels says it fears Spain fluted EU state aid rules.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SPAIN has lost two bids at the European Court of Justice to overturn the refusal by the European Commission to fully meet Spanish claims for European grants for meat subsidies, because of concerns about Madrid’s “weak” anti-fraud controls.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL AND ALAN OSBORN
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.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SPAIN has lost two cases at the European Court of Justice, where it had been seeking to overturn financial penalties imposed by the European Commission, which alleged that the anti-fraud checks and controls on agricultural subsidy programmes within the country were so weak, that the EU should not fully meet Spanish claims for European grants.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
HOLIDAYS and pregnancy leave are a serious business, both for the employees who take them and the employers who pay for them. Unfortunately for personnel departments who might want a little more flexibility over whether they should shell out or not, recent cases at the European Court of Justice have underlined the right of EU citizens to take paid leave, rather than erode them.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the injection of approved investment by the Spanish government into auto-maker Santana Motor SA, to improve efficiency and productivity at its Andalucia plant.

Santana Motor, a wholly owned by a subsidiary company of L’Instituto de Fomento de Andalucia, is involved in the manufacturing and sales of all terrain vehicles, some under a license with Suzuki.…