Search Results for: Estonian

The comprehensive set of reforms to the European Union (EU) AML/CFT system the European Commission proposed July 20 through a package of four legislative initiatives (1) could eliminate weaknesses in the fight against dirty money, but success will still hinge on implementation in the member states, experts have argued.…

THE FINNISH can manufacturing industry has been growing, with new production coming online in the past 10 years to diversify a sector that is able to draw on effective access to raw materials and a highly skilled workforce.

Both Rexam (now part of Ball) and Poland-based Canpack operate efficient Finnish can-making plants.…

An international model of rules for monitoring and control cryptocurrency operators and crypto-exchanges’ compliance with anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regulations worldwide, is needed, some AML/CFT specialists are arguing. Nina Kerkez, market planning director at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, said regulatory frameworks are currently being developed “at an alarming rate” in a wide range of jurisdictions, with significant divergences apparent in, for example, KYC/CDD requirements and when to file suspicious activity reports (SARs).…

The development of trusted digital identity systems, now being rolled out internationally, will strengthen anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing (AML/CTF) controls, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and AML technology vendors have argued.

Global AML body FATF is encouraging AML/CFT authorities to consider using regulatory ‘sandboxes’ to test how digital ID systems might interact with national AML/CFT laws and regulations.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission is moving ahead with its plans to replace the European Union’s (EU) long-standing system of anti-money laundering directives – which give member states some flexibility over implementation – with a compulsory AML regulation. This will be directly applicable in all member states and must be followed to the letter.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) finance ministers today (Nov 4) gave support to plans to create an EU-wide anti-money laundering (AML) supervisor and harmonised EU laws to tackle the crime.

The European Commission announced in May that it plans to create “a single EU rulebook” to tackle money laundering and terrorism financing, with more reliance on a mandatory regulation than more flexible directives and a new coordination mechanism for national Finance Intelligence Units (FIU).…

• 1MDB SCANDAL IN MALAYSIA SEES USD BILLIONS STOLEN AND HIDDEN

Malaysia 1MDB scandal is one of the largest money laundering cases ever, worldwide, with Malaysian courts considering charges over how at least USD4.5 billion was stolen and then spent or laundered from Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad by former Prime Minister Najib Razak and his associates.…

Estonia, long known for developing its high-tech sector, innovation, and environment-friendly businesses, has seen its plastics sector gaining momentum. It has been expanding export sales, not only to neighbouring Nordic and Baltic countries, but as far east as China.

As regards volumes, regarding primary resins and plastics, 11,807.7 tonnes were produced by Estonian manufacturers this January-August (2019), an increase of 132.8% for the same period in the previous year.…

COMPANIES using offshore tax jurisdictions need to assess whether their strategies can be branded unethical, as well as illegal, causing them reputational as well as financial damage. They need to assess whether the risk is worth taking. Poorna Rodrigo reports.

The series of data dumps, such as the Panama Papers, and the recent Mauritius Leaks have continued to tarnish the reputation of offshore tax havens, but experts stress that properly used, a positive case can be made for offshore tax policies.…

THE INCOMING new European Union (EU) energy Commissioner has pledged to increase the role of the Euro in energy markets, instead of the US dollar. Former Estonian minister for economic affairs and infrastructure Kadri Simson, then responsible her country’s energy policy, is expected to assume her new EU role on November 1, when a new European Commission takes office.…

CHINA’S ministry of finance drafted regulations punishing accountants violating national accounting laws. Proposals under public consultation would include blacklisting accountants found guilty of fabricating, hiding or destroying financial reports, books and documents, or telling other accountants to undertake such malpractice. Accountants involved in embezzlement would suffer the same fate.…

BANKS worldwide are having to take increasing care lest they be fined for violating sanctions and not having adequate regulatory compliance regimes in place. With the USA expanding sanctions against Venezuela and Iran, financial institutions need to not only have adequate screening software but anticipate potential new regulations and that regulators will be pouring over past activities.…

THE BALTIC States, being European Union (EU) member states adjacent to Russia and Belarus have been exploited by Russian criminals as a gateway for their illicit funds into the EU and beyond.

This is despite that as EU member states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania must implement EU anti-money laundering and anti-terror finance legislation.…

DEUTSCHE Bank’s AMLO has told a European Parliament hearing – to the dismay of MEPs – that the German major had no evidence that it was involved in misconduct surrounding the Danske Bank Estonia money laundering scandal.

Stephan Wilken, head of anti-financial crime and Deutsche Bank’s group anti-money laundering officer, told the EP’s special committee on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance (TAX3) on Tuesday (Feb 4): “We have not identified any misconduct” in Danske case.…

DEUTSCHE Bank’s AMLO has told a European Parliament hearing – to the dismay of MEPs – that the German major had no evidence that it was involved in misconduct surrounding the Danske Bank Estonia money laundering scandal.

Stephan Wilken, head of anti-financial crime and Deutsche Bank’s group anti-money laundering officer, told the EP’s special committee on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance (TAX3) on Tuesday (Feb 4): “We have not identified any misconduct” in Danske case.…

It may not have been widely noticed internationally, but Dublin has become a key cog in the Russian economy’s financial system. That exposure – while profitable for the city’s accountants and lawyers – also risks becoming a liability due a lack of transparency over the source and use of funds.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) must create a central agency to supervise banks and non-banking institutions to combat rising risks posed by money laundering, a European Parliament hearing that focuses especially on the threat posed by Russian dirty money, has been told.…

Estonia’s Versobank AS has announced the start of liquidation proceedings just days after the European Central Bank (ECB) withdrew its authorisation to operate as a credit institution. The Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (EFSA) submitted an official request on February 8 (2018) asking the ECB to pull the small Estonian bank’s license, which it did on March 26, due to “serious and long-lasting breaches of legal requirements, particularly concerning the prevention of money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism,” said an EFSA statement.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers today (December 5) adopted a money laundering blacklist, bringing widespread criticism because the listing – designed to prevent tax fraud and evasion – only covers countries outside the 28-nation bloc. Despite the European Commission screening 92 jurisdictions worldwide, the final list of non-cooperative jurisdictions in taxation matters only contains 17 jurisdictions: American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, Grenada, Guam (another US territory), South Korea, Macau (a China special administrative region), the Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, Panama, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).…

French prosecutors have accused Denmark’s leading bank Danske Bank of playing an organised role in a Russian fraud and money laundering scam. Prosecutors, from the Paris High Court, allege that an Estonian branch of the bank helped to move EUR15 million “from organised fraud and tax evasion” in Russia into France and other European Union (EU) jurisdictions between 2008 and 2011.…

CONFECTIONARY manufacturers in India are having to grapple with their products and ingredients attracting a wide range of tax rates under the country’s new goods and services tax (GST), which started to be levied from July 1.

India’s GST Council, a body representing the central and state governments, has been deciding which goods will be covered by the zero, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28% tax rates allowed under India’s GST legislation. …

NEXT Monday (June 12) will see a meeting of European Union (EU) agriculture ministers in Luxembourg to decide if negotiations can continue on the much-debated reform of the EU organic farming regulation ((EC) No. 1235/2008).

Adopted by the European Commission in March 2014, the reform proposals aim to remove obstacles to organic production by introducing certificates to cut operators’ costs, to avoid fraud and to regain consumer confidence by restricting organic products containing forbidden substances.…

The Estonian parliament has approved introducing a special tax on sales sugary drinks that includes dairy products, causing concern within the Baltic state’s food and dairy industry.
Taxable beverages mentioned in the law now include sweet drinkable yogurt, kefir (fermented milk drinks), as well as sweetened soy milk.…

Machines are taking on more and more tasks traditionally carried out by accountants, Professor Richard Susskind OBE and his son Dr Daniel Susskind, an economics lecturer at the University of Oxford, UK, have warned. They were speaking at a ‘Digital Day’ conference in Brussels, staged on March 29, in a ‘What future for the professions?’…

ELECTRONICS and gadgets such as smart watches may have reached their technological and popularity limits, but smart textiles – materials, for example anti-bacterial, that react to environmental or physical stimuli – are here to stay, industry experts argue.

Speakers at this year’s FUTEX – the 7^th Innovative Textile European Convention on ‘interactive textiles for health, sport and the home’ emphasised the bright future for ‘wearable’ technology.…

MANY personal care product markets in eastern and central Europe are growing slowly, with incremental growth being tapped especially by major international brands who have squeezed out local players with their solid pricing and reliable quality.

But with natural cosmetics rising in popularity, there is still space for innovative smaller players with sufficient local roots and knowhow to appeal to consumers in what remains an extremely diverse region in terms of culture and consumer habits.…

MANY personal care product markets in eastern and central Europe are growing slowly, with incremental growth being tapped especially by major international brands who have squeezed out local players with their solid pricing and reliable quality.

But with natural cosmetics rising in popularity, there is still space for innovative smaller players with sufficient local roots and knowhow to appeal to consumers in what remains an extremely diverse region in terms of culture and consumer habits.…

THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) is planning to lend EUR30 million to Tallinn Airport, Estonia, operator Tallinna Lennujaam AS, to help fund a EUR80 million expansion project. This includes realigning its runway and taxiway system to reduce noise and air pollution, building new aircraft aprons, while reconfiguring and refurbishing the passenger terminal, expanding car parking areas, new aircraft maintenance hangars and other safety and environmental related enhancements.…

MILLIONS of Euros have been released by the European Union (EU) to fund projects deepening the international gas pipeline network in eastern Europe, a key element of EU plans for forge an ‘energy union’.

One major project is a EUR179 million plan to create the Bulgaria–Romania–Hungary–Austria (BRUA) system of gas lines.…

IN an ever more interconnected world, where reliable energy flows are of critical importance to sophisticated developed economies, the role of diplomacy in helping keep oil and gas flowing is perhaps more important than ever before.

Of course, oil and gas has always been an international business.…

MULTI-COUNTRY regions such as eastern Europe do not always follow the same script when it comes to market performance. Sometimes, when major events happen, such as the global financial crisis, it is difficult for national coatings markets to buck the trend, but with the recovery now established, weakening economic headwinds, the latent differences between national markets can become clear.…

It has taken more than half a decade for the cosmetics markets of eastern Europe to finally shrug off a long-running period stagnation that has characterised the regional market. Two underlying features – the financial crisis of 2008 and the completion of multinational takeovers in the noughties that saturated these post-communist markets – lay behind the extended period of slow, low or non-existent growth.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) member states have suffered unevenly from Russia’s ban on EU food exports from last August, according to European Commission data.

While Finnish and Estonian extra-EU food and drink exports fell sharply in August-November 2014 compared to the same period in 2013 (32% and 22% down respectively), other EU food exporters saw only moderate falls in such sales, or even gains.…

THE POLISH, Scottish, Austrian and Belgian meat sectors are significant winners in the latest announcement of European Union (EU) marketing financing designed to help food companies seize more sales within and outside the EU.
They will benefit from multi-million Euro sales and marketing programmes, 50% funded by the EU, announced yesterday (Tues April 21).…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has voted to allow individual European Union (EU) member states to reject the cultivation of genetically modified food on their territories, independent of what the situation is at EU level. This law, negotiated with the EU Council of Ministers, leaves room to national governments to ban the GMOs from being produced in their countries for other reasons than environmental or health risks.…

China’s cabinet, the State Council has announced the country will increase imports of beef and lamb, according to a Chinese government communiqué. It said ministers at a meeting held on September 29 (last Monday). “[China] will reasonably increase imports of beef and lamb,” said the statement.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched the second phase of its fuel cells and hydrogen joint undertaking, sinking EUR1.33 billion into hydrogen-based energy and transport fuel technology until 2020. The European Union (EU) is planning to contribute up to EUR665 million, leveraging at least EUR665 million from private sources.…

AUSTRIA

The location of ECC Austria in central Vienna means many consumers drop by to receive advice or lodge complaints in person with the ECC’s five staff members. A top priority in 2013 was increasing public awareness about e-commerce fraud; a brochure aimed at combatting the problem was published and more than 600,000 were distributed throughout Austria.…

EASTERN and central Europen markets for biocosmetics are a key growth area for personal care product companies, with some markets growing and others relatively untapped.

The region’s largest country, Poland (38 million people) is witnessing sales of bio-cosmetics surging at rates of 10% to 30% annually, according to producers and distributors.…

THE BALTIC States’ proximity to Russia and their position as a border between eastern and western financial markets, renders Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania particularly at risk as regards money laundering.

Hard hit during the global financial crisis they have still made considerable strides towards improving anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) legislation while transitioning into the Eurozone: Estonia joined January 2011; Latvia will join this January; Lithuania wants to join by 2015. …

POLAND, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will collectively receive EUR2.5 million from the European Commission to prevent spread of African Swine Fever (ASF) from Russia and Belarus.

The Commission said the money is for “preventive measures which include cleansing and disinfection of vehicles, surveillance and laboratory testing, awareness campaigns and even the use of wild boar repellents and preventive early slaughter of pigs in risk backyard farms”.…

The 9.5MW J920 FleXtra gas engine formally installed in May this year by the municipal utility Stadtwerke Rosenheim, in Bavaria, Germany, ticks off a number of important innovations. The largest gas engine yet developed by the Austrian company GE Jenbacher, the unit is seen by the company as an illustration of the role distributed energy is now playing in Germany’s ‘Energiewende’ – the country’s policy to halt all nuclear power by 2022 and replace it with natural gas, renewable energy, and greater use of energy efficient technologies.…

WITH Europe’s economy still struggling to deal with the fall-out of the global financial crisis, its co-generation sector has had to fight to expand, or in some cases hold its position. Tightening national government budgets have meant that the co-gen industry has had to argue persuasively for public subsidies and tax breaks, or even the right to have equal treatment with renewable energies.…

EASTERN European textile and clothing companies used to have a cost advantage in serving wealthy western European markets, but that has long been eclipsed by Asian competition – added value technical textiles may offer them a sustainable future.

In Poland’s hard-pressed textile industry, its fast-growing technical branch may constitute the future of the national industry, experts in the country’s industry say.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) member states have suffered unevenly from Russia’s ban on EU food exports from last August, according to European Commission data.
While Finnish and Estonian extra-EU food and drink exports fell sharply in August-November 2014 compared to the same period in 2013 (32% and 22% down respectively), other EU food exporters saw only moderate falls in such sales, or even gains.…

As Poland’s shale gas rush ramps up in earnest, companies offering locally-sourced minerals used in hydraulic fracturing look set to profit. The industry, nascent as it is in Poland, comprises a hodgepodge of contractors and subcontractors, each sourcing different materials from different places.…

LITHUANIA’S plans to build the Visaginas nuclear power plant, hailed the first modern nuclear alternative to Russian energy in the Baltic States, have been stalled since Lithuanian voters opposed the idea in an October 2012 referendum.

However, a general election held the same day as the referendum and the resulting newly elected Social Democrat-led government has formed a commission within the energy ministry to recalculate the project’s cost estimates, reporting in March.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has been flexing its regulatory muscles to push the roll-out of high-speed broadband networks – trying to fine-tune European Union (EU) competition rules to encourage this development. Brussels is using its current legal powers and consulting on creating new rules and policies, with action being driven by pro-free market Dutch digital agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes.…

BY E BLAKE BERRY, IN POLAND; MIKE STEIN, IN PRAGUE; MONIKA HANLEY, IN RIGA; AND MJ DESCHAMPS,

WHILE southern and western Europe’s economies falter, being mired in debt, eastern Europe’s coatings market is now growing solidly amidst economic performances that are recovering from a recession that hit the region hard.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is to further reduce its maximum rates for mobile roaming tariffs from July 1, and also introduce cap EU mobile data service charges for the first time. Under a deal struck between the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers, these would cost no more than Euro EUR0.70 cents from that day, with the cap falling to EUR0.45 cents in 2013 and EUR0.20 cents in 2014.…

BY MARK ROWE, IN LONDON; ZLATKO CONKAS, IN NOVI SAD, SERBIA; MIKE STEIN, IN PRAGUE; AND BLAKE BERRY, IN WARSAW

DURING the spring of 2011, the prevailing view throughout eastern Europe’s personal care and toiletries market was that while business was not exactly buoyant, the worst of the recession was over – then came the credit crises and the faltering Euro.…

BY MONIKA HANLEY, LEE ADENDORFF, MARK ROWE, ALAN OSBORN, MINDY RAN, GERARD O’DWYER and MARTINA MARECKOVA

FOR an industry that generates energy, heat and maybe cooling, the European cogeneration sector has been operating on a decidedly low output in recent years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has laid down the gauntlet to the fossil fuel sector, releasing a comprehensive long-term strategy that would halve the use of ‘conventionally-fuelled’ cars in urban transport by 2030, phasing them out in cities by 2050.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE DISRUPTION to the European airport sector caused by the continent’s heavy snowfall this winter – the heaviest in 20 years – looks set to prompt a radical shake-up of contingency plans to deal with bad weather.

Many European airports are now conducting reviews of how they source, commission and stockpile equipment for such eventualities.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

GERMAN consumer protection officials have warned of sales restrictions on Ivory Coast skin whitening products – European Union (EU) alert service RAPEX has reported. These include the G&G brand Dynamiclair Lightening Beauty Crème; Body White brand body clearing gel and HP.3 body clearing oil; and Bio Claire lightening body cream.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

GERMAN consumer protection officials have warned of sales restrictions on Ivory Coast skin whitening products – European Union (EU) alert service RAPEX has reported. These include the G&G brand Dynamiclair Lightening Beauty Crème; Body White brand body clearing gel and HP.3 body clearing oil; and Bio Claire lightening body cream.…

BY MONIKA HANLEY

OFTEN lumped together, the three Baltic States (Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia) vary greatly in their anti-money laundering standards and risks and banking competencies. Estonia has a well-regarded financial centre with one of the most advanced and transparent banking systems of the newer European Union (EU) member states as well as newly adopted anti-money laundering laws, something the other two Baltic States cannot boast.…

BY MONIKA HANLEY

THE BALTIC States and their eastern neighbours have long been viewed as a cheap supply of labour and goods to the rich countries within the European Union (EU), but now local companies and governments are looking to expand biofuel production to satisfy both growing domestic and export demand.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

RUSSIA and Ukraine appear to have headed off an oil transit dispute that could have created a repeat of last year’s major disruption of European natural gas supplies. Moscow and Kiev have signed an agreement increasing by 30% the fees Ukraine charges on transporting Russian oil to the European Union (EU) – this alters a 2004 contract and the change had sparked a diplomatic tussle.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN automobile industry will face two major policy reviews once a new European Commission (the European Union’s executive) takes office for the next five years on February 1. The key players on this new Commission for the auto sector will be the Commissioners for transport and industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED States is claiming victory in a trade dispute with China, after Beijing announced it would scrap subsidies for products including body lotion, liquid detergent, soap and fancy soap. Washington had argued these China-christened ‘famous brands’ handouts were export subsidies banned by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPOL’s Organised Crime Threat Assessments have not always contained a wealth of detailed useful information – but its 2009 report shows how crime groups are adopting innovative technology and organisational skills: international business should take note. Keith Nuthall reports.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) anti-fraud, audit and administration Commissioner Siim Kallas has been renominated to serve another five years as Estonia’s member of the European Commission. He has been formally proposed by the Estonian government, so he is almost certain to return to Brussels, given his largely trouble-free handling of his brief, which some officials at the EU executive say he may retain.…

BY MONIKA HANLEY

DESPITE being one of the regions hardest hit by the global financial crisis and its resulting recession, the cosmetics industry of the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) is doing surprisingly well. Although local sales have been under pressure, companies have begun expanding abroad in the last year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE ABILITY of national and European Union (EU) authorities to take a tough line with confectionery companies stockpiling sugar and other products ahead of their country joining the EU has been strengthened by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).…

BY CHRIS JONES and DAVID HAWORTH

PAUL van Buitenen, the notorious Brussels whistleblower and sleaze-buster, has announced he will not stand for re-election as an MEP when his current term comes to an end in June.

There will be relief amongst the complacent and unworthy in all the European Union (EU) institutions that he has decided to chuck it after only five years as a parliamentarian.…

BY MARK ROWE

ONE of the major elements of the 2004 enlargement of the European Union (EU) was its intended expansion to these new member states of the Schengen agreement, which phases out checks at shared borders and allows free movement for all within the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and ALAN OSBORN

ONE of the more colourful (and thankfully less deadly) aspects of Russia’s mini-war with Georgia in August was the simultaneous attach by hackers on Georgian Internet sites, especially those of its government.,

Ones of these were crashed by ‘denial of service’ attacks, where masses of data are sent to particular sites until they cannot handle the megabytes and closedown.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

LAST May, a coordinated attack on essential computer networks in the tiny Baltic republic of Estonia set nerves upon edge amongst European Internet security specialists. Following the removal of a Russian war memorial from the centre of its capital Tallinn, a still unidentified group of computer users bombarded Estonian political, government, media and banking websites with so much data, they were forced offline.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

LAST May, a coordinated attack on essential computer networks in the tiny Baltic republic of Estonia set nerves upon edge amongst European Internet security specialists. Following the removal of a Russian war memorial from the centre of its capital Tallinn, a still unidentified group of computer users bombarded Estonian political, government, media and banking websites with so much data, they were forced offline.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has circulated throughout the European Union (EU) series of consumer alerts made over potentially harmful nail polish receiving retail bans in member states. Using its RAPEX alert service, the Commission warned of a marketing ban in Estonia of US-made nail polish range Pinnacle.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved as the European Union’s (EU) senior competition regulator planned investments of Euro 35 million and Euro 32.7 million into Tallinn airport, Estonia. These will be made by owner-operator Tallinn Airport Ltd, and the Commission has concluded that they will not involve illegal payments of public subsidies from the Estonian government.…

BY MARK ROWE

WHEN it came to accession to the European Union (EU) in 2004, the Baltic States were something of a special case. Though unable to compete on the same scale as their neighbours in Poland, or further south, Ukraine and the Czech Republic, the economies of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia quickly gained a reputation for being micro economic powerhouses – and the same has applied to their paint industries.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH

THE PAINT and coatings industry is a small but brightly shining star in the Finnish economy’s firmament, and one, which, as might be expected, has all the virtues of specialised Nordic industrial sectors.

These include a mature market, a great familiarity between manufacturers and customers in a society of little more than five million and harsh winter conditions, which dictate the high consumption of paints.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission’s radiation section of its nuclear energy directorate has given Estonia a largely clean bill of health regarding radiological protection, but has called for some improvements. Checking the Estonian national monitoring network for environmental radioactivity, the Commission said it should compare its practices with those of other European Union member states to improve “the nature and frequency of sampling”.…

BY MARK ROWE

EXPORTS of Lithuanian beer rose by 51.4% in 2005, according to the Lithuanian Breweries Association, to 1.518 million dekalitres – exceeding the combined volumes of the neighbouring Estonian and Latvian beer markets. Domestic consumption was more modest but still saw a healthy growth of 4.5% – though according to a spokesman for brewer Gubernija, the domestic market is loyal, with up to 97% of the domestic market divided between Lithuanian breweries.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Helsinki

BY its own lights Finland is a model of Nordic virtue and is snooty about crime in neighbouring countries round the Baltic. But Interpol begs to differ, ranking Finnish criminality as high for an industrialised economy.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AFTER years of doing nothing, and then years of erecting complex bureaucratic controls, the European Union (EU) is at last starting to get its act together on controlling fraud. Keith Nuthall reports.

IN a filthy flat, not properly cleaned for years, moving the odd cupboard and shining a torch on the floor is sure to highlight a few cockroaches, scuttling for safety towards some Godforsaken corner.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ISSUES of commercial crime have been moving up the European Union’s (EU) policy agenda in recent years. With the arrival of a 25-member European Commission under Jose Barroso, the subject has even greater prominence and involves the responsibilities of three new Commissioners.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s first dedicated anti-fraud Commissioner has promised to deal speedily with future controversial cases of whistleblowing in Brussels, as the outgoing Commission finally sacked its former chief accountant for alleged “unsubstantiated statements”. Responding to complaints that Marta Andreasen was dismissed after a lengthy two-year suspension, Estonia’s Siim Kallas told a European Parliament hearing that such cases “must be handled as fast as possible” under his term of office.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) first dedicated anti-fraud Commissioner has promised to review the structure of complex accounting rules erected at the European Commission in the past five years to prevent corruption and mismanagement scandals. Estonia’s Siim Kallas accepted that some rules created by the outgoing Prodi Commission, especially vice-president Neil Kinnock, “could be simplified” as they “seem to be complicated”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DEEP-SEA northeast Atlantic fishing quotas for vessels from the eastern European countries which joined the European Union (EU) in May, have been announced by the European Commission. Initially covering 2004, but also a base for future years, these quotas are in some cases quite substantial, despite the concern about the need to conserve the stocks of these deep water species.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
ESTONIA’S prime minister Juhan Parts said his government would not boost a planned 20% hike in strong alcohol duty rates, despite pressure from neighbouring Finland. Visiting Helsinki, Mr Parts heard arguments that next year’s planned tax change would do little to halt the boom in personal alcohol imports to Finland since Estonia joined the EU in May.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE POLITICIANS appointed to the incoming European Commission taking office on November 1 start intensive hearings at the European Parliament on Monday (27-9), with the competition Commissioner-designate Neelie Kroes expecting tough questioning.

The Dutchwoman has been a board member of many large European companies, such as Swedish automobile manufacturer Volvo, mobile phone group MMO, French defence company Thales and shipping group Royal P&O Nedlloyd.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NEW and first European Commissioner for fraud has indicated that he could be as cool towards Brussels whistle-blowers as outgoing Commission administration vice-president Neil Kinnock. Replying to a European Parliament questionnaire on his appointment, Estonia’s Silim Kallas declared he would not change existing criticised ‘guarantees’ to whistle-blowers, saying it was “the last and least desirable option” for airing allegations.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
ESTONIA’S prime minister Juhan Parts has refused to increase his government’s planned 20% hike in strong alcohol duty rates, despite pressure from neighbouring Finland for a steeper rise. Visiting Helsinki, Mr Parts heard arguments that next year’s planned tax change would add only a few cents to a bottle of strong grain liquor which retails for about Euro 3 in Estonia, while selling for Euro 9 a bottle in Finland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NEW European Commission taking office from November will include for the first time a Commissioner specifically dedicated to fighting European Union (EU) fraud and handling audits. New Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has appointed an Estonian, Silim Kallas, a former prime minister and finance minister.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE NEW president of the European Commission, the former Portuguese prime minister Jose Manuel Barroso, has made clear that for the next five years at least there will be a reform-minded team at work in Brussels driven by a powerful desire to eliminate accounting fraud, inefficiency and the protection of special interests.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NEW EUROPEAN Union (EU) member country Estonia has been lent Euro 80 million by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to renovate and extend its electricity transmission and distribution systems. The loan to Eesti Energia AS should reduce its operational and maintenance costs, enable it to meet expected residential electricity demand growth and increase cross-border sales.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A NUMBER of key European Union (EU) directives affecting the insurance industry face delays of up to six months because of the failure of EU Council of Ministers secretariat translators to produce legal texts in all 20 official languages of the newly expanded EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has admitted that translation difficulties caused by May 1’s accession of 10 new member countries is already slowing the adoption of important financial legislation, with the EU Council of Ministers accepting a six month delay for two accounting-related directives.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ESTONIA should hasten its electricity market liberalisation, helping to promote investment in an oil shale industry fuelling most power generation, the European Commission has proposed. It has asked European Union (EU) ministers to approve a derogation from the EU’s electricity liberalisation directive requiring full market opening – including the right to secure energy materials from any source – by 2012.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
E-BUSINESS W@tch (NOTE – CORRECT SPELLING), an EU-funded monitoring organisation, is claiming that businesses in countries joining the European Union (EU) in May are embracing new Internet technologies rapidly – especially broadband – resulting in a smaller digital divide with existing members than expected.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE INSTITUTIONS of the European Union (EU) have invited applications for about 375 lawyer posts to help meet the demands imposed by next year’s enlargement of the EU from 15 to 25 countries which will add 75 million to the EU population.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ESTONIAN government has launched an inquiry that is expected to lead it to impose temporary safeguard duties on pigmeat imports. The Baltic republic told the World Trade Organisation it was concerned about the effect on domestic producers of a rise in imports of fresh, frozen or chilled carcasses, half carcasses, hams, shoulders and other cuts.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL AND ALAN OSBORN
EUROPEAN Union countries will have to ensure that at least two per cent of their transport fuel supplies are in the form of bio-fuels – made from sugar beet, cereals, maize and rape-seed – by 2005, under a European Commission directive to be proposed very shortly, said Franz Fischler, agriculture Commissioner.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU Council of Ministers has approved a textiles trade agreement signed with Estonia, which will widen import quotas, especially for Estonian exporters. The deal includes a double-checking system to check for surges in imports of a particular product and to ensure that textiles declared as Estonian were made in that country.…