Search Results for: Belgium

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SMUGGLERS are liable for customs duties on goods they present to excise officials in the European Union, used to conceal more valuable undeclared cargo, the European Court of Justice has ruled. Captured smugglers – allowed into the country in a controlled delivery operation – had tried to sneak into Belgium 7 million cigarettes behind 29 cases of cooking utensils.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has accused nine European Union (EU) governments of dragging their feet over promoting biofuels in their countries. It has sent critical formal notices to Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland and Slovenia accusing them of failing to submit national reports framing 2005 targets for biofuel consumption, as required under the Biofuels Directive.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ITALIAN and Luxembourg governments will face legal action at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) aimed at forcing them to authorised royalties to authors when their books are borrowed from libraries. The European Commission alleges by not doing so, such payments break the 1992 European Union (EU) directive on rental rights and copyright.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) governments must make a clear ruling within 180 days of a manufacturers’ application for a medicine to eligible for refunds under a state health insurance scheme, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. In a case involving the Belgian government and Merck, the ECJ added that where a government missed this deadline, a company could not assume a positive decision.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PRESSURE on oil companies to continue cleansing their fuels of potential pollutants continues to be applied within the European Union (EU), with the European Commission preparing for the introduction of a new standard ‘Euro 5’ in 2010. It has advised EU member states to harmonise any tax concessions encouraging the use of diesel cars cleaner than the ‘Euro 4’ emissions standard, (which became compulsory on January 1).…

KEITH NUTHALL
ITALY, Finland, Belgium and Greece are being taken to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) by the European Commission, which says these governments have failed to properly establish the European Union (EU) emissions trading regime in their countries. This came into force on January 1, but has to be written into national statute books in a uniform way.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) internal market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has signalled that the European Commission will delay making any decisions on whether US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) can be formally recognised within the EU. He told a Brussels festive cocktail, of the Association of Corporate Treasurers in Belgium, that the Commission was continuing to consider whether GAAP "might be considered equivalent with IFRS", the international financial reporting standards now compulsory for EU listed companies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has refused to reduce or scrap a Euro 270,000 fine ordered by the European Commission against Belgian brewer Brouwerij Haacht NV, of Boortmeerbeek, for participating in a beer cartel with Alken-Maes, Interbrew and Martens.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

THE EUROPEAN automotive industry is gearing up for tighter pollution emission limits, possibly by mid-2008, under the European Union’s (EU) Euro 5 program, due to be announced by the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium on 21 December. Also expected to be announced in parallel to these restrictions on engine performance and fuel cleanliness is a carrot to encourage use of new technologies and to create a market for clean vehicles through an EU Environmental Technologies Action Plan.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WHILE discussions continue over how to ensure the security of energy supplies to the European Union (EU), Brussels institutions are sinking money into one sure bet, eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), for instance, is lending US$170 million to SOCAR, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, to fund two Caspian gas projects.…