Search Results for: Belgium

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission and allied European Union (EU) member states are pressing ahead with drafting reforms to the EU dairy market, which would strengthen producers negotiating with wholesalers and retailers. The Belgian government (holding the EU presidency) and the Commission have promised to proceed, after 22 out of 27 member states backed changing EU dairy market rules at an EU Council of Ministers meeting.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WHILE the European Union’s (EU) anti-fraud agency OLAF had a difficult birth in 1999, its childhood and developing adolescence have been easier, and this important organisation has become increasingly effective. It was never going to be an easy job investigating fraud in a polity as diverse as the EU, but given the unhealthy levels of fraud and financial mismanagement in EU budgets and its earmarked customs duty income, OLAF has to exist: someone has to investigate EU fraud.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission and allied European Union (EU) member states are pressing ahead with drafting reforms to the EU dairy market, which would strengthen producers negotiating with wholesalers and retailers. The Belgian government (holding the EU presidency) and the Commission have promised to proceed, after 22 out of 27 member states backed changing EU dairy market rules at an EU Council of Ministers meeting.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE SPECIAL properties of nanomaterials are a step closer to becoming controlled through a comprehensive European Union (EU) regulation, having been defined by the EU’s scientific committee on emerging and newly identified health risks. It has released an extensive report that specifies how nanomaterials can be identified, not just through their tiny scale, but by how they appear and behave within consumer products, including pharmaceuticals.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A CALL for creating specific nanomaterials register under the EU’s REACH chemical control system has come from the European Union’s (EU) current Belgian presidency. "Nanomaterials are increasingly present in consumer products and everyday items," noted Belgium environment minister Paul Magnette at a Brussels seminar on the EU’s nascent nanotechnology regulations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CANCER Research UK has criticised European Commission draft guidance for non-investigational medicinal products (NIMPs) in clinical trial authorisation (CTA) submissions, claiming it could make some tests "unworkable".

The research group warns in formal consultation documents that the guidance "does not make appropriate allowances for trials in high morbidity diseases where patients will inherently be receiving a vast array of treatments (established and experimental), often over a considerable period of time…"

It warns that the guidance is too inflexible on this point: "Our concern is that if this document is implemented and strictly interpreted, cancer trials will become unworkable," said Cancer Research UK.…

BY MARK ROWE

ENERGY production that uses renewable sources or drastically reduces the use of fossil fuels are of course increasingly entering the market place, and with such transformation, innovation is at a premium. Demand for novel thinking and processes is being inflated in Europe by the European Union’s EU2020 objectives for a 20% reduction in CO2, and for 20% of energy to be generated from renewable energy sources by 2020.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

THE POPULARITY of drinks made from organically grown ingredients is on the rise, fostered in part by increasingly comprehensive regulations designed to ensure organically labelled products are indeed organic. Yet obstacles and limitations to the growth of this niche drinks sector remain, and combined with the economic downturn the organic industry still needs a push to reach its full potential.…

BY MARK ROWE

INNOVATIVE packaging is transforming the drinks industry. Heavy tins and bottles are being replaced by lighter composite and biodegradeable materials; hi-tech cartons are being manufactured that tell consumers if the milk’s gone off; and RFID (radio frequency identification) tags are being embedded with temperature sensors.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

SUSTAINABILITY is becoming increasingly important in the beverage industry, and worldwide companies have been embracing environmentally conscious initiatives.

In the province of Ontario, in Canada, The Beer Store (TBS), a protected retailer under Canada’s highly regulated drinks sales system, collects empty packaging, and has boasted of a return rate of 94% between 2008 and 2009.…