Search Results for: European Union

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FUTURE phytosanitary agreements between the EU and third countries should focus on “a limited number of products of undoubted importance to the parties,” said the European Commission following the emergence of a number of “practical problems” in existing deals.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL organisation is to be set up later this year to help developing country governments negotiate better deals for drug access, as well as helping local researchers to protect their ideas from being poached. The MIHR, (Management of Intellectual property in Health Research and development), will be set up by public health and intellectual property experts from Britain and the Netherlands, with the assistance of experts from Asia, Africa, south America and north America.…

BY MARK ROWE
THAI-JAPANESE joint venturers have floated a plan to turn a hillside in northern Thailand into one of the world’s most unlikely ski venues. Leisure Patine International Co Ltd, which has previously developed ice rinks in Thai shopping centres, has suggested that Japanese snow-making machines could be used to establish a ski slope near the town of Chiang Mai, a place better known as a haven for European and Australian backpackers.…

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.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States has released details of the talks held with the European Union over its threatened safeguard duties on certain steel imports into America. Washington said that it had responded to questions about the US International Trade Commission’s timeframe for identifying and defining like products; the establishment of a causal link between increased imports and serious injury to US producers; and the methodology for selecting a safeguard measure, among other issues.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has ruled that the imposition by France of heavier duties on light-tobacco cigarettes, (which are mostly imported), than for dark-tobacco cigarettes, (which are almost exclusively home produced), breaks EU law. Ordering the French government to harmonise the taxes, the court dismissed France’s arguments that light and dark tobacco are essentially different products and liable to different tax regimes.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers and the European Commission have rejected claims that their new regime setting the minimum EU excise duty rates for cigarettes is so tough and inflexible, it will promote smuggling in countries where consumers usually pay lower duties.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has ruled that the Netherlands, and by precedent other Member States, has the right to prevent lawyers entering into multi-disciplinary partnerships with accountants, even though it accepts that this may restrict competition in legal services.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has ignored strong pressure from the American government to abandon its plans to exempt EU-based suppliers of digital products, (including e-books), from charging VAT when they sell to customers in non-EU countries.…

Keith Nuthall
EUROPEAN Union ministers have approved a new ‘solvency margin’ directive that increases by 50 per cent the minimum financial reserves that must be retained by EU-registered insurance companies writing aviation industry policies, as these are deemed by Brussels as ‘volatile-risk’.…