Search Results for: European Parliament

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GERMAN porcelain manufacturer Graf von Henneberg is facing an uncertain future, after the European Commission ruled that it must repay state aid of Euro 71.3 million, (DM 139.4 million), paid to it and a predecessor company, because it was paid in circumstances that break EU rules.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has published a long-term strategy to combat the presence of PCB’s and dioxins in food, complementing its moves to establish maximum contamination values for these chemicals. For the next five years, Brussels wants to conduct hazard identification, risk assessment and management, research, public information and international co-operation on the problem.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE RELIANCE of part of the Irish power sector on the locally sourced fuel of peat is to continue into the next two decades, after a state aid scheme allowing the Irish government to fund its use was agreed by the European Commission.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed an up-dating of the EU’s “dual-use” regulation which controls the export by Member States of certain products and technologies sold to legitimate customers but which could be used for unlawful purposes. The list, which runs to more than 200 pages, covers a range of nuclear materials, facilities and equipment ranging from reactors to computer software and including natural or depleted uranium, plants designed for the fabrication of nuclear reactor fuel elements and test, inspection and production equipment.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DEVELOPMENT of so-called smart houses, specially designed for the elderly and disabled, is being promoted by the European Commission, notably through schemes to finance adapted electronic devices built into these homes.

Speaking to a conference on Vitality in the Age of the Information Society, in Tilburg, the Netherlands, EU information society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen said that the concept of promoting products and services for householders with impaired mobility was central to Brussels’ high-tech strategies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BROAD agreement has been reached in the EU Council of Ministers on the shape of the next Euratom research programme, (2002-6) although Member States have yet to reach a consensus regarding its budget or the future direction of studies into fission production.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has fined eight companies a total of Euro 855.22 million for participating in secret market-sharing and price-fixing cartels affecting the production of vitamins including those sold to the cosmetics industry. There were eight cartels, said the Commission, operating between 1989 and 1999.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
DESPITE its rejection by America, the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has now been agreed and is set to move towards ratification and implementation within two years. Ministers from 180 countries reached a compromise deal over the treaty after lengthy negotiations in Marrakesh, Morocco at the week-end (finished on Saturday 10th).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s Scientific Steering Committee has called for a redoubling of efforts to check whether sheep can carry BSE, after British tests into the potential problem were found to have been worthless, because brain tissue examined actually came from cattle.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
DESPITE its rejection by America, the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has now been agreed and is set to move towards ratification and implementation within two years. Ministers from 180 countries reached a compromise deal over the treaty after lengthy negotiations in Marrakesh, Morocco at the week-end (finished on Saturday 10th).…