Search Results for: Dutch

BY KEITH NUTHALL

TALKS to agree a new European Union (EU) novel food regulation, which could have banned the use of meat from cloned animals and their offspring collapsed this week (Monday Mar 28). It means that the current novel foods law, adopted in 1997, remains in force, with no outright ban on using these meats in the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

DESPITE having set a clear goal of ensuring 20% of the European Union’s (EU) energy consumption is drawn from green sources, such as biogas and biofuels, more money and resources must be wheeled into action. That is the claim of the European Commission, in a long-awaited policy paper from its energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger, assessing the EU’s renewable energy directive.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

It is received wisdom that new technology is the way forward for reducing emissions, but pressure group Transport & Environment (T&E) have been arguing that returning to the performance offered by old vans is actually the best strategy.…

BY MARK ROWE

FOR the cosmetics and personal care product sector, the provenance of their ingredients can be important for marketing, and this is particularly important for bio-based oil and fats. These can be the base of such products and with growing consciousness about the environmental impact of their production and feedstock cultivation, the personal care sector – a key client of the oils and fats industry – is looking hard at who supplies their ingredients.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

UKIP MEP and former European Commission chief accountant Marta Andreasen has called for the European Union (EU) to use external audits following claims from a former EU auditor that irregularities are swept under the carpet. Andreasen spoke to Accountancy Age in Strasbourg on the claims made byMaarten Engwirda, a Dutch auditor and former member of the EU Court of Auditors (ECA),that the ECA had been systematically intimidated and forced to water down critical findings about EU spending.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

Discord has hit the usually placid calm of European Union (EU) financial watchdog, the Court of Auditors: a dissident ex-member says EU fraud and mismanagement is even worse than we think. Keith Nuthall explains.

It was something of a surprise when Dutch auditor Maarten Engwirda marked his retirement from the Luxembourg-based court with what amounted to an accounting kiss-and-tell exclusive in the Netherlands’ De Volkskrant newspaper.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

Driven by consumer preference and regulation, the replacement of solvent based coatings with water-based ones has been a slow but steady process, beginning in earnest at the turn of the century in the USA, followed by Britain and Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

REGULATING an industry as dynamic and fast-changing as the electronic communications sector is always tough, especially when attempting to create rules through an international organisation as slow as the European Union (EU). But that is the tough task that the EU’s digital agenda Commissioner NeelieKroes has set herself, with detailed plans being released throughout 2010, notably in her ‘Digital Agenda for Europe’ communication (policy paper).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

TARGETED investments aimed at improving energy self-sufficiency and efficiency maybe the key result of a grand European Union (EU) ‘Energy 2020’ strategy, released this month (November 10) by the European Commission. Building on existing reforms to liberalise and green EU energy production and delivery, the policy paper proposes ensuring energy efficiency is a criteria of public procurement by member states, and also that energy efficiency certificates are created to encourage sustainable energy investment by industry.…

BY JOHN PAGNI

THE NORD Stream natural gas pipeline, linking Russia with Germany, is not just making political waves, but inspiring technological innovations. Its developers appear to be taking environmental issues seriously. This could appease the project’s doubters.

When completed by the end of 2012, two parallel pipelines will stretch 1,224 kilometres from Vyborg in Russia to Greifswald on Germany’s Baltic coast, linking with EU networks, notably those run by DONG Energy (Denmark), Germany’s E.ON…