Search Results for: European Parliament

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
THE EUROPEAN Union has launched its long awaited cross-border out-of-court disputes settlement system, which involves each Member State, (plus Iceland and Norway), setting up a central national contact point, where consumers can get information and assistance in fighting their cases.…

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 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 KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Space Agency is to launch the world’s first giant space telescope in 2007. Its Herschel Space Observatory will command a primary mirror 3.5 metres in diameter, allowing, said the European Commission, the faintest objects to be observed.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has released its priority projects for investment under its ongoing trans-European networks programme; the list includes a range of projects designed to improve rail links, in a bid to encourage freight operators to abandon road transport.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission is planning new trade measures to help Pakistani exports, specifically targeting clothing and textiles, which account for three-quarters of the country’s sales to the EU. In a move linked to helping Pakistan deal with the current war on its Afghan neighbour, the plan is to remove all tariffs on clothing and to increase quotas for Pakistani textiles and clothing by 15 per cent.…

Keith Nuthall
A GERMAN fraudster has fled the European Union after investigators unmasked his certificate of origin scam involving Malaysian textile products, mostly denim jeans. Acting as an importer, he fraudulently exploited preferential trade regimes for Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Lesotho, by claiming that its Malaysian products were from these countries, losing EU coffers at least Euro 4.5 million in duty.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has blocked the planned takeover by London-based CVC Capital Partners Group Ltd, (CVC), of Austrian man-made fibres manufacturer Lenzing AG. Because CVC already controls Acordis, Lenzing’s principal rival in Europe, and only rival in the United States, Brussels has ruled that a merged company would have a dominant position in a number of fibres markets, that could “reduce choice and lead to higher prices for customers and end consumers.”…

KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN enterprise commissioner Erkki Liikanen has told the European Congress of the Confederation of Linen and Hemp that he wants plans to spend Brussels’ money earmarked for promoting EU agricultural products abroad on marketing textile products made from fibre plants grown in Europe, notably linen.…