Search Results for: Belgium

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a detailed investigation into the planned merger between Germany’s Südzucker AG and France’s Saint Louis Sucre S.A., because of concerns that the deal will harm competition in the sugar sector. A preliminary inquiry concluded there were serious concerns linked to Südzucker’s strong position in Belgium and southern Germany, where it commands a sugar market share of 70-90 per cent.…

Alan Osborne
THE EUROPEAN Agency for Safety and Health at Work has published a series of good practice case studies from around the continent, in a bid to advise companies how to improve their record in protecting employees from harm.

Called Quality of Work: New Approaches and Strategies in Occupational Safety and Health, the report is available for free and focuses on initiatives in Britain, Spain, Ireland, France, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has decided to come out fighting in its row with Member States over the liberalisation of energy markets. Calling on EU Ministers and the European Parliament to “rapidly adopt” its March 2001 proposals to completely liberalise gas and electricity markets by 2005, the Commission threatened to use exceptional powers granted to it under EU treaties to pass directives and decisions on market fairness, bypassing opposition from national governments and MEPs.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
FINNISH steel companies Rautaruukki and Outokumpu are set to benefit from European Commission funding of Euro 600,000 granted to support the distribution of steel across Europe using alternatives to road transport.

The funded transport project is part of the EU’s PACT programme, which aims to move containers and similar units away from roads to rail, sea and inland waterways.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FINLAND is the world’s most technologically advanced country, according to a United Nations Development Programme, (UNDP), report, which puts the UK at number seven in its league table, also behind the USA, Sweden, Japan, South Korea and the Netherlands.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is threatening six EU Member States with legal action at the European Court of Justice for failing to implement a directive harmonising the imposition of road charges for heavy goods vehicles.

It has ordered Belgium, Germany, Spain, Greece, Ireland and Portugal to explain within two months how they intend to incorporate the European rules in their own legislation, or maybe face a case at the ECJ, which can order compliance and levy huge fines on governments refusing to obey.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WASTEWATER

The European Commission has decided to take France and Belgium to the court for flouting the EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. France, alleges the Commission, has failed to identify enough sensitive areas bodies of water that are eutrophic, or are otherwise seriously polluted by wastewater.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission and European Court of Justice are shaping up for a conflict over the rights of national governments to hold golden shares in privatised utilities that given them special rights to intervene in shaping their policies, even when they do not own them.…

BY ALAN OSBORN AND KEITH NUTHALL
A COMPREHENSIVE review of contract law in the 15 Member States of the European Union has been launched by the European Commission, which is concerned that the existing contrasts between national legal systems could be obstruct the functioning of the European Union’s single internal market.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has run out of patience with France and Belgium over their flouting of the EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive and has decided to launch legal cases against the two countries at the European Court of Justice.…