Search Results for: European Court of Justice

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A POLITICAL agreement has been struck at the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers (environment) on reforming the EU packaging and packaging waste directive. Member States provisionally agreed increased minimum targets for the recycling of specific materials: 60 per cent for recycling paper and board, 15 per cent of wood and 22.5 per cent of plastics, recycled back into plastics.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the acquisition by US office supplies firm Staples of the office supplies distance-selling business of French company Guilbert. Brussels agreed that the take-over did not pose competition problems, because, although it would boost Staples’ position in Europe, the giant would still face strong rivals, notably the US-based Office Depot.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
UP to 30 per cent of the carbon dioxide emissions caused by industry in the EU could be absorbed by forests and other “carbon sinks” according to CarboEurope, an EU research project developing ways to reduce greenhouse gases.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is threatening Sweden with legal action at the European Court of Justice over its failure to pass national rules insisting upon environmental impact assessments (EIA) for the decommissioning of nuclear power stations. Brussels claims that the EU’s EIA directive requires that the dismantling of plants and reactors should be subject to planning consent, following an environmental impact assessment.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
COMPETITION clearance has been granted by the European Commission to the planned deal involving Finnish paper manufacturer UPM-Kymmene Corporation acquiring Morgan Adhesives, a United States-based company making adhesive labels for manufacturers. Brussels concluded after an inquiry that the takeover would not damage competition in the European Union (EU) as US-based Avery Dennison would remain the market leader in Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s legal affairs committee has proposed amendments to the European Commission’s latest proposed tobacco advertising directive, liberalising its effect. MEPs want to limit the directive to cases with ‘significant trans-border effects’ and to permit advertising indirectly related to tobacco.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A MAJOR new drive against tax fraud throughout the European Union (EU) has been signalled by the extension of the Fiscalis programme which funds co-operation between the tax authorities of the 15 Member States and the 10 eastern and southern European countries applying to join the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CONCEPT of nation building is not new. Powerful governments have for centuries sought to create pliant political administrations which would do their bidding, without being directly under their control. It is, after all, in noone’s interest for a territory to descent into chaos.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Environment Agency has reached a negative conclusion about the environmental impact of aquaculture in European Union (EU) lakes and seas, saying that the “dramatic increase” in the size of the industry since 1970 had created “an increased pressure on water and ecological quality in those waters affected.”…

Keith Nuthall
EMPLOYERS will have to monitor changes to national workplace data protection regulations expected across the EU because of a wide-ranging and detailed public consultation launched by the European Commission.

Brussels has already concluded that there is a need to harmonise the widely divergent rules and practices amongst Member States, so legislation will inevitably be tabled.…