Search Results for: European Union

Keith Nuthall
FINLAND has been ordered by the European Commission to change legislation that disqualifies car passengers from insurance cover when the driver is drunk and involved in an accident. Brussels says this exclusion of passengers’ injuries contravenes the EU’s second motor insurance directive which seeks to facilitate free movement within the EU and to safeguard the interests of persons who may be injured in a motor vehicle accident.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union ministers and MEP’s are considering changes to the EU’s directive on the supervision of financial conglomerates, which, claim parliamentarians, will make an Enron-style scandal far less likely in Europe. The proposed new law would cover insurance companies, investment firms and credit institutions that are part of such groups, setting rules on the amount of supplementary capital that they should command.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A STRING of cases have been launched by the European Commission against Member States of the European Union to try and force them to comply with EU water legislation; under existing rules, failure to abide by the court’s rulings can see national governments being hit with huge daily recurring fines of up to Euro 100,000.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has declared illegal on grounds of national discrimination the imposition of tougher penalties by the Italian authorities on erring foreign drivers than on Italians. Local drivers may appeal against a penalty within 60 days, but foreigners must appeal immediately and then post security of twice the minimum fine to avoid the immediate confiscation of their licence or vehicle.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FRENCH government will have to defend itself at the European Court of Justice against claims by the European Commission that it has broken European Union law over tough personnel regulations, restricting the employment of qualified social care workers from other EU Member States.…

BY PHILIP FINE

THE EUROPEAN Commission is taking France to the European Court of Justice for applying a reduced rate of withholding tax on income from investments and contracts with a debtor who is resident or established in France, while not allowing this tax break when the debtor lives in another EU Member State.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
The European Commission is take legal action against France and Luxembourg in a final bid to remove the compulsory no-claims bonus system for third party motor insurance in the European Union. The two countries are now alone in the EU in sticking to a system which the Commission claims is in breach of the third non-life insurance directive (92/49/EEC) and constitutes a barrier to free competition.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CZECH Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria are cooperating in a project to harmonise their licensing procedures for fuel rods; the four countries are being encouraged to work together by the European Union, as they are the only eastern European countries wanting to join the EU who are operating Russian pressurised water reactors.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved a special Tonnage Tax in Spain, where the country’s maritime shipping companies pay tax on the capacity of their ships rather than the profit or loss that they generate.

Brussels approved the plan under its EU internal market powers, because it matches policies stated in the 1997 Commission guidelines on state aid to maritime transport and its new transport white paper.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to take Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Portugal to the European Court of Justice for allegedly failing to fully implement the EU Basic Safety Standards Directive on protecting the health of workers and the public against dangers from ionising radiation.…