Search Results for: European Union

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CLAIMS that the compulsory scale of fees paid to Italian lawyers is illegal under European Union competition legislation have been thrown out by the European Court of Justice, which has ruled that the system is a reasonable act of the national government.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union ministers have been asked to approve anti-dumping duties of 28 per cent on Chinese exports into the EU of zinc oxide. The European Commission has made a formal application for this special protection after an inquiry confirmed conclusions reached in a preliminary study.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU’S anti-fraud organisation OLAF has held its annual Task Group Cigarettes meeting, in Seville, Spain, with European customs departments, to discuss the targeting of their collective fight against cigarette smuggling.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has approved an application from France to extend for another seven years its right to reduce by up to half the rate of excise duty applied in mainland France to traditional rum from the French Caribbean and Indian Ocean departments of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion and Guyane.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has asked EU ministers to extend until December 2009 special tax advantages offered by the German government to Hochtemperatur-Kernkraftwerk GmbH to enable the company to completely dismantle Uentrop nuclear power station, shut down since 1989.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States government has informed the disputes settlement body of the World Trade Organisation that it “intended to comply” with the final Havana Club ruling issued at the start of this year, although it warned diplomats that it “would require for that purpose a reasonable period of time.”…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development has approved a Euro 20 million loan for Lithuania, to improve the energy efficiency measures of a range of public buildings. Consultants are to help Vilnius prepare an action plan for making the improvements, starting work in May.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has issued formal guidelines to its (mostly rich and often European) member governments to use their financial muscle when striking contracts for electricity supplies and power projects generally, to impose conditions that favour environmental good practice.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A RESIDENCY qualification for directors of companies established in the Alpine Principality of Liechtenstein, set up to help its authorities fight abuse of its liberal business laws, including money laundering, has been declared illegal.

The European Free Trade Area Court has ruled that the regulation discriminates against citizens of other EFTA countries, (Switzerland, Iceland and Norway), breaching fair trade treaty commitments made by Liechtenstein on joining the association.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE GREEK government has asked EU ministers permission to exempt local small waste dealers in glass, paper, board, scrap iron and steel and suppliers of any size in non-ferrous metals from paying VAT. Athens wants to deviate from European tax directives this way, because of VAT evasion and the difficulties of investigating the sector.…