Search Results for: Belgium

BY MARK ROWE

ACCORDING to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), today’s world aircraft fleet is about 65% more fuel-efficient than in 1970. Between 1990 and 2000, fuel efficiency improved by 17%. Furthermore, the clean technology of modern aircraft engines has almost eliminated emissions of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons.…

BY JULIAN RYALL

THE CONFIRMATION on Monday that Japan’s two largest drinks companies – Kirin and Suntory – are in discussions on merging their operations may have caught the industry by surprise, but the reasons for the move have quickly become apparent.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BELGIUM – the host of Europe’s de facto capital – has long been regarded as being flawed as regards corruption – but now the Council of Europe’s GRECO watchdog is on its case. Keith Nuthall reports.

GRECO – the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption – acts like its MONEYVAL committee does as regards money laundering.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UK government is being threatened with legal action by the European Commission for failing to comply with legislation forcing companies receiving public subsidies to account separately for that part of their work. The law is the transparency directive (2005/81/EC) – supposed to have been written into the Statute Book by December 2006.…

BY ALAN OSBORN, LUCY JONES, RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, JULIAN RYALL, and KARRYN MILLER

THERE are 108 recognised Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) throughout the world and more are being created every year as the fight against international money laundering becomes ever more global.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has opened nine case files as it attempts to force European Union (EU) member states to comply with EU accounting and auditing directives. Brussels is taking four briefs to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) regarding Austria, Ireland, Italy and Spain, which it accuses of failing to comply with the 2006 statutory audit directive (2006/43/EC).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Medicines Agency (EMEA) has recommended its first marketing authorisation for an advanced therapy medicinal product – ChondroCelect, developed by Belgium’s TiGenix NV. It is a cell-based medicine, used to repair defects in the cartilage of the femoral condyle.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

FACED with a global recession caused partly by commercial financial crime, governments have been pushed into taking action against tax evasion in recent months by ending the practice of banking secrecy. Is it the end of the road for tax havens as protected jurisdictions where illicit transactions can hide?…

By Leah Germain

Following his recent appointment, the new Secretary-General for the League of European Research Universities (LERU), Professor Kurt Deketelaere, has urged European governments and industries to continue investing into the research and development sectors of universities, despite the current global economy.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AS the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) begins its first coordinated enforcement checks of the REACH chemical control system, Europe’s top adhesives industry federation has stressed concerns about its potential uneven application country-to-country.

ECHA announced on April 30 it has launched ‘REACH-EN-FORCE-1’, a joint enforcement project with national inspectors checking pre-registrations, registrations and work on REACH safety data sheets.…