Search Results for: Finland

Keith Nuthall
FINLAND’S tough levy on non-reusable beverage packaging is under attack from the European Commission, which is claiming that the charge could be a disguised and illegal trade restriction. Brussels is threatening to take the Finnish government to the European Court of Justice over the matter, which could order it to reform the system.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GOVERNMENTS and international organisations have highlighted tobacco smuggling as one of the largest illegal drains on their tax revenues. An international conference has brought law enforcement professionals together with health officials to fight this problem. Keith Nuthall reports.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL initiative to cleanse the polluted Barents Sea of nuclear waste has been launched, with Euro 110 million being pledged by Russia, the European Commission, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The Barents clean-up will be the first priority project of this Support Fund of the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership; the sea, to the north of Russia and Norway, is commonly known as the largest repository of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste in the world.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
NOT many items of legislation from Brussels have provoked quite such anger among farmers over the years as the nitrates directive, which seeks to protect water from nitrate pollution caused by the application of organic and inorganic fertilisers to agricultural land.…

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
AN INTERNATIONAL team of scientists based at Galway, in Ireland, has made a surprising discovery that could have significant consequences for future climate change.

The EU-sponsored Parforce research project, led by the National University of Ireland, has found that iodine vapours released by marine algae can help thicken haze and cloud layers, blocking sunlight and thereby partially offsetting global warming from greenhouse gases.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN ICELANDIC drinks importer could win compensation from the Iceland government, after the European Free Trade Area Court found that Reykjavik had broken the rules of the European Economic Area, (of which Iceland is a part), by maintaining its alcohol importation monopoly until December 1995.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EMEA’s Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products has given a positive opinion on a range of insulin medicines, namely Actrapid, Actraphane, Insulatard, Mixtard, Monotard, Protophane, Ultratard and Velosulin. The committee also began risk-benefit reviews of gatifloxacin, (containing Bonoq, Crispin, Urobonoq, Urocrispin and associated product names) and nimesulide containing medicinal products (Aulin, Mesulide, Nimed and associated product names).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
STONE discards stored by a quarry for future sales, should be classified as waste under European Union regulations, even if they do not “pose any real risk to human health or the environment” the European Court of Justice has ruled.…

Keith Nuthall
NOONE should ever accuse the European Commission of fighting shy of regulation, and given that proposals on promoting shipping safety are generally framed with good intentions, it would be fair to say that Brussels at least tries to improve standards.…