Search Results for: European Union

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DEVELOPMENT of so-called smart houses, specially designed for the elderly and disabled, is being promoted by the European Commission, notably through schemes to finance adapted electronic devices built into these homes.

Speaking to a conference on Vitality in the Age of the Information Society, in Tilburg, the Netherlands, EU information society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen said that the concept of promoting products and services for householders with impaired mobility was central to Brussels’ high-tech strategies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS the world’s environment ministers meet in Marrakesh, Morocco, to agree detailed rules on the operation of the Kyoto Protocol, the European Commission has formally proposed that the EU should ratify the convention and has also tabled legislation that will bring it to life in Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has been authorised to open negotiations with Iran on forging a trade agreement, a deal that would inevitably focus on the country’s vast mineral resources; Brussels thinks that trade with Iran has enormous potential and has an interest in its government abiding by World Trade Organisation rules.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
OFF-LICENCES cannot rely on EU consumer protection laws when trying to protect themselves against unfair contracts imposed by suppliers, the European Court of Justice has ruled. The case centred on the supply of automatic drinks dispensers from a company called Idealservice to two Italian companies, which later objected to a clause in the operational contract.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has formally proposed a ban on the sale to consumers of creosote, after EU scientists concluded it was more carcinogenic than previously thought. If approved by EU ministers, the ban will take effect from June 2003.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
The European Commission has announced a significantly tougher regime for EU tobacco growers for the period 2002 to 2004, openly admitting that the revised scheme “sets the scene for allowing the phasing out of subsidies.” EU leaders agreed at their summit meeting in Gothenberg in June that the subsidies should be brought to an end in parallel with measures to develop alternative sources of income for tobacco workers and growers.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission is proposing an outright ban on the use of the chemical product hexachloroethane (HCE) in the manufacture of non-ferrous metals because, it says, it “poses an unacceptable environmental risk, in particular to aquatic organisms.” The ban is to begin on June 30, 2003.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON
AIRLINES and airports have always claimed to put the comfort and well-being of their passengers to the top of their lists, and many already set out in a charter or other document what standard of service their customers can expect.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has called on food safety experts to bid for contracts worth Euro 39 million to stage studies funded by the EU’s outgoing Fifth Framework Programme for research. Brussels says it will fund work on detection tests for infectious and toxic agents in the food chain and on ways to eliminate them.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has called on food safety experts to bid for contracts worth Euro 39 million to stage studies funded by the EU’s outgoing Fifth Framework Programme for research. Brussels says it will fund work on detection tests for infectious and toxic agents in the food chain and on ways to eliminate them.…