Search Results for: European Union

BY KEITH NUTHALL
INCREASING political pressure is being applied on eastern European governments to undertake root-and-branch reforms to promote energy effieciency and environmental performance within their utilities and industries, including the raising of gas and oil prices.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe recently addressed the issue, with its Committee on Sustainable Energy and the Committee on Environmental Policy agreeing to produce guidelines on price reforms for the region.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EU Council of Ministers has, as expected, granted political approval to a hastily drawn-up proposed regulation on boosting civil aviation security, based on rules written in Document 30 of the European Civil Aviation Conference, Europe’s aviation policy development body.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has ruled that tax breaks granted to German nuclear power operators, to help them build up reserves for the eventual decommissioning of their plants and the safe disposal of nuclear waste, do not actually constitute the payment of unfair and illegal state aid.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
EUROPEAN Union internal market ministers have reached a “political agreement” to ban the use of azocolourants in the dyeing of a range of textile and leather goods. Azocolourants are dyes made from nitrogen-based compounds, which could cause cancer.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE JOINT European Torus (JET), the world’s largest nuclear fusion machine, is to restart operations after eight months of improvements by the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to upgrade its power as a research tool. It is the only machine capable of using the fuel mixture which will power a commercial fusion station.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PROPOSED priorities of the oncoming Euratom framework programme for research may be re-examined, following a vote by the European Parliament for the 2002-2006 grants scheme to given an extra Euro 100 million. This, said MEP’s, would ensure that funding for studies into thermonuclear fusion remains as with the previous programme, at Euro 800 million.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched legal action against Austria, Greece, Finland, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Sweden for failing to comply with a commitment under EU law to monitor average emissions of CO2 from new passenger cars.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A PROGRAMME promoting sophisticated safety systems for lorries, (and other motor vehicles), is being drawn up by the European Commission and the EU automobile industry. This Action Plan on Active Safety (e-Safety) should establish guidelines for their introduction, and create a forum for discussing their market implications, said EU information society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WATER pricing reform is on its way in the European Union. The water framework directive passed last year imposes a commitment on Member States by the year 2010 to ensure that their pricing policies “provide adequate incentives for users to use water resources efficiently.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IN a surprise judgement, the European Court of Justice has blocked European Union retailers from re-importing textile products from eastern European countries or other non-EU countries, without permission from trademark holders.

By doing so, the ECJ ignored one of its advocate generals, who had advised that manufacturers should not block such parallel imports; this was unusual, as judges normally back such preliminary judgements.…