Search Results for: European Union

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.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
HANDLING the needs and issues surrounding the 550 million passengers and billions of tonnes of cargo moving through the airports and terminals of the 38 European Civil Aviation Conference countries is a task of immense scope.

No wonder then that ECAC’s Working Group on Facilitation, (FAL), is comprised of a multi-disciplined team of delegates and observers from areas including customs, immigration, security, public health, drug control as well as of course, air transport users and civil aviation representatives.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Trade Organisation has launched a general round at its summit in Qatar, which will include negotiations on liberalising export and import regimes for so-called industrial goods such as fish.

These talks have a final deadline of 2005 and, said the meeting’s communiqué, will try “to reduce or as appropriate eliminate tariffs, including the reduction or elimination of tariff peaks, high tariffs, and tariff escalation, as well as non-tariff barriers, in particular on products of export interest to developing countries.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CYNICS may look at the hastening political process of allowing eastern European countries, and their large agricultural sectors, into the European Union, and ask, ‘what’s in it for us?’

It’s a good question given that the 10 countries that are at the front of the membership queue, (with the tiny exceptions of Malta and Cyprus), are hardly wealthy.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GOOD practice regarding the prevention of mercury pollution, during the production of the metal, and its emission as an unwanted by-product, has been collected in a Position Paper on Mercury, released by the European Commission.

It tries to measure the effect of the metal on the EU environment and human health and makes recommendations on how to limit its impact.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONCENTRATIONS of potentially harmful ground-level ozone pollution exceeded a critical threshold somewhere in the European Union on two out of every three days this spring and summer, according to the European Environment Agency.

In a report to EU environment ministers, the EEA said that from April to August, ozone pollution exceeded levels requiring public alerts in 11 of 15 EU Member States and in five out of 10 other (mostly eastern) European countries that supplied data.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union ministers have been asked to approve the transfer of Euro 60 million from the general EU 2001 budget, (most of which is currently earmarked for fishery support), to help finance the UN’s Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union research Commissioner Philippe Busquin has proposed the creation of a European Platform for Clinical Tests, a body whose aim would be to intensify and fast-track studies within the EU on AIDS/HIV, TB and malaria. He said that the platform would be a “cornerstone” of the Commission’s strategy against the diseases, especially where it is considering the needs of developing countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union research Commissioner Philippe Busquin has proposed the creation of a European Platform for Clinical Tests, a body whose aim would be to intensify and fast-track studies within the EU on AIDS/HIV, TB and malaria. He said that the platform would be a “cornerstone” of the Commission’s strategy against the diseases, especially where it is considering the needs of developing countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EU ministers have been asked to approve a formal plan to computerise and coordinate the European Union’s customs procedures controlling the movement and surveillance of excisable products, including alcoholic drinks. The tabled EU Decision would establish a Euro 35 million Brussels budget to set up the system within five years, hopefully by 2006, which is to be matched by between Euro 5 and 12 million from each Member State.…