Search Results for: Belgium

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has dropped long-running legal action against the UK government, after it abandoned a get-tough policy against so-called ‘booze cruise’ travellers importing cheap alcohol from low duty France and Belgium. Because this fuelled a black market in alcohol, damaging legitimate retailers not only had UK customs demanded proof that their cargo was for personal use, but in its absence their alcohol and sometimes their vehicles were confiscated.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN UNPRECEDENTED joint paper from the European Commission and European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Javier Solana calls for the EU to diversify its energy sources beyond Russia. In particular, the paper suggests the EU looks closer to home: at Algeria and Turkey.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved a subsidy regime for EU short flax fibre and hemp producers in the old fashioned way – paying money per tonne of fibre. Ministers agreed to extend until the end of the 2007/2008 marketing year processing aid of Euro 90/tonne for short flax fibre and hemp fibre and Euro 160/tonne for long flax fibre until 2007/2008, and Euro 200/tonne for 2008/2009 and thereafter.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

THE FINNISH government is to challenge the European Commission’s proposals for a broad definition of vodka under the proposed new European Union (EU) spirit labelling regulations, exploiting its oncoming strong position as EU president. Finland will use its control over EU Council of Ministers business to try and secure agreement that only drinks made from cereals or potatoes can be labelled ‘vodka’.…

BY MARK ROWE, in Xian, China

THE FACE that China’s museum sector presents to the world might have looked very different had a farm labourer chosen another part of a remote field near the city of Xian in 1974 to dig a well.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

SUPERMARKETS should not make selected price comparisons with rivals in advertising, if consumers henceforth believe all their products are cheaper, a European Court of Justice (ECJ) advocate general has concluded. Antonio Tizzano found Belgian food supermarket chain Colruyt may have breached European Union directive 84/450/EEC on misleading advertising in advertisements by favourably comparing some of its prices with those of rivals Carrefour, Cora, Delhaize, Aldi, Lidl, Makro.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) political leaders have agreed medium-term (2007-13) budgets for crucial spending projects for the energy sector: Trans European Networks (TENs) and the EU seventh framework programme (FP7) for research. On TENs, the European Parliament, Commission, and EU Council of Ministers have agreed a Euro 7.2 billion budget, Euro 500 million above previous drafts, although this will have to be split with TENs transport projects.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

RETAILERS should not make selected price comparisons with rivals in advertising, if consumers henceforth believe all their products are cheaper, a European Court of Justice (ECJ) advocate general has concluded. Antonio Tizzano found Belgian food chain Colruyt may have breached European Union directive 84/450/EEC on misleading advertising by favourably comparing prices with rivals Carrefour, Cora, Delhaize, Aldi, Lidl, Makro.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRAZEN political manoeuvres to duck increased pollution clean-up costs imposed by the revised European Union (EU) bathing water directive have sparked 11 separate legal actions by the European Commission. It has reacted promptly to a massive delisting of 7,000 official bathing water sites by 11 EU governments, to avoid having to comply with new cleanliness standards.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

ATTEMPTS to duck increased pollution clean-up costs imposed by the revised European Union (EU) bathing water directive have sparked 11 separate legal actions by the European Commission. It has reacted promptly to a massive delisting of 7,000 official bathing water sites by 11 EU governments, to avoid having to comply with new cleanliness standards.…