Search Results for: European Parliament

BY DEIRDRE MASON
AIRLINES and airports have always claimed to put the comfort and well-being of their passengers to the top of their lists, and many already set out in a charter or other document what standard of service their customers can expect.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has been accusing the United States of having double standards over agricultural subsidies, by pushing for grant cuts and free trade at the World Trade Organisation, whilst supporting handouts at home.

EU agriculture commissioner Franz Fischler has been especially vocal, following the vote in the US Congress for a Farm Bill, which includes a ten-year increase in price-linked support for farmers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A POSITION Paper on Mercury has been released by the European Commission, which tries to accurately measure the effect of the metal on the EU environment and human health and makes recommendations on how to limit its impact.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Trade Organisation has launched a general round at its summit in Qatar, which will include negotiations on liberalising export and import regimes for so-called industrial goods such as fish.

These talks have a final deadline of 2005 and, said the meeting’s communiqué, will try “to reduce or as appropriate eliminate tariffs, including the reduction or elimination of tariff peaks, high tariffs, and tariff escalation, as well as non-tariff barriers, in particular on products of export interest to developing countries.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS the world’s environment ministers meet in Marrakesh, Morocco, to agree detailed rules on the operation of the Kyoto Protocol, the European Commission has formally proposed that the EU should ratify the convention and has also tabled legislation that will bring it to life in Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FOOD processing industry could help make the EU economy more sustainable by increasingly spreading its waste on farmland, a European Commission report has claimed. It highlights the “elements beneficial to plant growth…rapidly available to plants,” with “very few trace organic compounds or heavy metals.”…

BY ALAN OSBORN
FROM the beginning of next year exporters of medicinal products will find it easier to sell in Japan following completion of a Mutual Recognition Agreement between that country and the EU.

The deal includes a Good Manufacturing Practice agreement under which both sides will agree to honour each other’s testing, certification and approval of products.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE PAYMENT of Euro 18 million in grants by the Spanish government in support of a Renault factory at Valladolid is to be formally investigated by the European Commission. Brussels says it fears Spain fluted EU state aid rules.…

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.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has formally proposed a ban on the sale to consumers of creosote, after EU scientists concluded it was more carcinogenic than previously thought. If approved by EU ministers, the ban will take effect from June 2003.…