Search Results for: Climate change

Keith Nuthall
THE UNITED States government has claimed that Egypt is breaking its World Trade Organisation treaty commitments to bind textile and clothing tariffs, in its new system of specific duties on imports of these products.

Washington has complained to the WTO’s market access committee, claiming that Cairo’s action breaks article two of the GATT agreement on goods tariffs.…

Keith Nuthall
FINLAND has been ordered by the European Commission to change legislation that disqualifies car passengers from insurance cover when the driver is drunk and involved in an accident. Brussels says this exclusion of passengers’ injuries contravenes the EU’s second motor insurance directive which seeks to facilitate free movement within the EU and to safeguard the interests of persons who may be injured in a motor vehicle accident.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FINNISH government has been ordered by the European Commission to change legislation that disqualifies car passengers from insurance cover when the driver is drunk and involved in an accident. Brussels says this exclusion of passengers’ injuries contravenes the EU’s second motor insurance directive, which seeks to harmonise national regulations for the sector and to safeguard the interests of persons who may be injured in a motor vehicle accident.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
THE SEAS around Australia are among the cleanest in the world, partly thanks to the ingenuity of local scientists, who are pioneering two projects to ensure local waters remain healthy, while assisting other more stressed ocean regions.

One involves an electronic mapping system developed by the Australian Marine Safety Authority (AMSA), which is being used to predict the effects of dangerous chemicals in the ocean.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has voted to accept the latest European Commission airport noise directive, while passing some technical amendments that would make the legislation tougher than originally proposed.

MEP’s voted for changes time-limiting for 10 years an exemption allowing the noisiest aircraft registered in developing countries to continue operating in Europe, adding that these aeroplanes must be prevented from moving to new routes in the EU.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A COMPREHENSIVE reform of the European Union’s VAT package for travel agents has been proposed by the European Commission, which would change the special rules that apply for the sector. Because their services are often consumed in a foreign Member States where different sales tax rates can apply, travel agents are allowed to pay VAT on the profits that they make rather than handing over the VAT charged directly on services that they supply, minus the VAT they paid when incurring allowable business expenses.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A NORWEGIAN salmon producer which had been hit with European Union anti-dumping and countervailing duties after failing to file compulsory performance reports with the European Commission, is expected to be freed from having to pay the tariffs.

Gje-Vi AS was ordered in 1998 to pay the duties, because Brussels claimed that it had broken promises not to dump salmon on European markets and to prove with its accounts that it was trading fairly.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Labour Organisation has released a report detailing how employment in the global oil and gas sectors has “shrunk dramatically” over the past 25 years. Citing “changing corporate structures and privatisation” as key reasons for the change, the Geneva based UN agency says that in the US alone, worker numbers slumped from a peak of 1.65 million workers in 1982 to roughly 640,000 by 2000.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE, in Sydney
RESEARCHERS in Tasmania, Australia, claim they have developed the world’s first smart car that can actually override driver error and thereby reduce road accidents.

Their full sized prototype model has 25 sensors that can monitor everything from brake pressure to suspension dynamics, steering angle and engine parameters.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE DEVELOPMENT of alternative energy sources within the European Union is important, not just for improving the environment, but also to help guarantee the security of the EU’s electricity supplies, energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio has said.

Speaking at the Sanderstølen Conference 2002, she stressed that with Europe being increasingly reliant on imported fossil fuels, such as oil and gas, the need for the EU to develop its own fuel supplies – such as biofuels – was becoming more important, especially in the current climate of political and economic instability.…