Search Results for: Dutch

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has acted upon its public warning that it was considering an extension of the Seveso II industrial safety directive, as result of the fireworks explosion in Enschede, the Netherlands, and the cyanide spill at the Baia Mare mine in Romania.…

Keith Nuthall
AN INTERNET legal advice service for companies wishing to learn about European Union legislation affecting e-commerce, has been launched. The site, eLexPortal.com, will provide updated information on EU and national laws and regulations on the subject; it is free of charge, and allows users to e-mail queries to its online experts.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A STUDY of 8,000 primary schools in the Netherlands has revealed “dirty, cramped and unsafe” conditions that have affected the morale of teaching staff and pupils. The report, drawn up by the Dutch research institute TNO on behalf of the country’s Ministry of Education, concludes that the schools themselves are partly to blame by diverting money from health and safety budgets to new educational programmes but says there is also a shortage of funding necessary for schools to comply with the Dutch Occupational Health and Safety and Building Acts.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared a Dutch waste disposal system for car wrecks, following an investigation into whether it was illegal state aid. It is a voluntary agreement among companies, later declared binding by the Dutch government. It has set a levy for 2001-2003 of Euro 45 per car registered in the Netherlands, paid by car producers and importers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
HOLIDAYS and pregnancy leave are a serious business, both for the employees who take them and the employers who pay for them. Unfortunately for personnel departments who might want a little more flexibility over whether they should shell out or not, recent cases at the European Court of Justice have underlined the right of EU citizens to take paid leave, rather than erode them.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MEP’s are sticking to their guns in a political battle with European Union ministers over whether there should be EU legislation laying down noise limits or particular forms of transport operations across the continent. The parliament’s environment committee is resisting a decision by the European Union Council of Ministers to reject amendments that would have strengthened a planned noise directive, making it include commitments to set specific and binding EU noise limits for road vehicles, trains, rail tracks and aircraft.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development is to lend Viking River Cruises US$15 million to acquire three cruise ships to ply the Danube and Volga rivers. The Scandinavian/Dutch owned company is the world’s largest river cruise line with a fleet of 30 ships operating in European and Russian waterways.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has moved to end tax exemptions enjoyed by Schiphol airport, Amsterdam, which currently is exempt from paying Corporation Tax. Brussels has claimed that in an increasingly liberalised air market, this concession cannot be justified and is illegal state aid from the Dutch government.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank has announced that it is lending US$80 million to Philips Semiconductors Philippines Inc., (PSPI), a subsidiary of the Dutch electronics giant Philips, which will guarantee the loan. The money will help the Asian operation construct a second integrated circuits assembly and test facility in Calamba, Philippines.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has authorised the creation of a joint venture called SuperH, involving Hitachi Ltd., of Japan, and Dutch firm ST Microelectronics N.V.; it will consolidate, in a stand-alone company, the two companies’ existing co-operation in the development of microprocessor cores.…