Search Results for: European Court of Justice

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has raised concerns about the financial viability of the Galileo global positioning project, passing a critical motion calling on Brussels to “ensure sufficient private sector participation during each step of the project” and guarantee “the financial consequences of a lack of participation by the private sector should not be passed on to the EU or national budgets.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PROCESS of transforming the European Union’s anti-fraud office OLAF into a truly independent operator, with enough investigative muscle and legislative teeth to make an impact in Brussels’ fight against financial crime, has proved to be a slow and difficult task, its latest report admits.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EASTERN European countries applying to join the European Union should be given transitional periods to align their excise duties on cigarettes with the laws loosely harmonising those of existing Member States, says the European Commission.

It has formally suggested that Poland, Romania and Slovenia should have two years from the time that they join the EU in which to amend their rates, and that Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovakia should have three years’ grace.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A REVIEW of European safety laws designed to prevent industrial explosions – such as that which recently ripped through the Atofina fertiliser plant in Toulouse, France, killing 29 people and injuring 2,400 – is to be launched by a specialist EU committee.…

Keith Nuthall
A DEAL has been struck between the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers over the final shape of reforms to the European money-laundering directive, an agreement that was given political impetus by the attacks in the US and the need for improved legislation to help pinpoint terrorist-tainted funds.…

BY ALAN OSBORN AND KEITH NUTHALL
A NUMBER of tax regimes run by European Union countries are being investigated by the European Commission, which is following up suspicions that they are so loose, they amount to a breach of the EU’s competition laws.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EXPENSIVE programmes and legislative initiatives made by the European Union to boost rail, shipping and combined transport, while shrinking the road transport sector, appear to be failing, according to a report TERM 2001, from the European Environment Agency.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A STUDY ordered by the European Commission finds that the imposition of environment-friendly waste management regulations can, contrary to longstanding opinion in industry, have a positive effect on employment. According to the report, jobs are created straight away in the waste management industry and while these are offset by potential employment losses in manufacturing companies, the net effect is a small but significant improvement.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
AN ADVOCATE General of the European Court of Justice has ruled that by using the value of a new car as a yardstick for determining the taxes on an imported second-hand vehicle, Finland is violating EU treaty regulations.…

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.…