Search Results for: Belgium

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN nuclear regulators have been alerted about a release of Iodine-131 gas from the Institut National de Radio-éléments (IRE) in Fleurus, Belgium. As a result of environmental sampling of grass, the Belgian Federal Agency for Nuclear Control restricted the consumption of vegetables and milk produced within 5 km of the plant, near the south Belgium city Charleroi.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is threatening further legal action against the British government in a long-running case involving Marks & Spencer trying to reduce its tax bill because of losses incurred in continental Europe. M&S retreated from France, Belgium and Germany in 2001, following losses made by its subsidiaries in these countries, and sought reductions to its main UK tax bill as a result.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Union (EU) and Balkans ministerial council has approved the rules of a dispute settlement mechanism for countries participating within the southeast Europe Energy Community. This links Balkans’ gas (and electricity) regulation with that of EU member states and ensures EU energy legislation is adopted in participating countries.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

FRITS Vranken, senior vice president for business development at Japan Tobacco International (JTI), has recently seen his role expanded since his 2006 appointment at JTI’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Mr Vranken’s role changed at the start of 2008 to include corporate strategy, tobacco taxation and internal communications.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE TEMPORARY right of European Union (EU) member states to levy reduced rates of VAT on clothing and footwear repair services could become permanent. The European Commission has proposed governments henceforth always can reduce VAT on such services by up to 5% from their standard rate.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has moved to protect four traditionally made European food products from being copied by food manufacturers based outside the regions where they have historically been made. Brussels has added these products to its protected geographical indication lists preventing such copies being sold in the European Union (EU):

*Slovenská parenica, a steamed, lightly smoked Slovak sheep milk cheese wound into two rolls 6-8 cm in diameter and 5-8 cm high, connected in an ‘S’-shape;

*Vlaams-Brabantse tafeldruif (Belgium’s Flemish-Brabant table grape) – both white and black varieties;

*An Italian onion Cipollotto Nocerino, grown near Naples; and

*A Czech camomile Chamomilla Bohemica.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

FEW people would challenge the European Commission’s assertion earlier this year that, in practice, market integration in the gas market in the European Union (EU) "is still far from a success."

In its report Progress in Creating the Internal Gas and Electricity Market published in April, Brussels said that major barriers to the efficient functioning of the market still existed largely because of "insufficient implementation of European legislation."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FORMAL negotiations between the European Union (EU) and Russia over renewing the 1997 partnership and cooperation agreement between them are under way at last: formal talks started in Brussels on July 4, following a successful EU-Russia summit at the Siberian oil town of Khanty-Mansiysk..…

By Alan Osborn

The 27 EU member states will have to speed up their educational progress if they are to meet a range of self-imposed targets deemed necessary if the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs is to be successful by 2010.…

By Keith Nuthall

It is almost a truism that women have a tougher time in most professions than men, and academia is no different. But it is worth considering the absurdity of this statement: that in the 21st century, it is still quite normal to assume that the success of an academic or student is likely to be affected by their gender.…