Search Results for: European Union

KEITH NUTHALL
A STREAMLINED system for removing faulty non-food items from shops across the European Union, where goods have been shown to be a risk to consumers, is to be set up, following the agreement of reforms to the EU general product safety directive.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A REVIEW of European safety laws designed to prevent industrial explosions – such as that which recently ripped through the Atofina fertiliser plant in Toulouse, France, killing 29 people – is to be launched by a specialist EU committee.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Telecommunication Union is developing global standards for an Internet telephone protocol, allowing a single number to access many types of terminals and services, including phones, faxes, e-mails, pagers, mobiles and websites, at home, at work or while roaming.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has signed an agreement with Russia on space research cooperation. EU research commissioner Phillipe Busquin and Russian space agency director general Youri Koptiev agreed a joint document on the Euro-Russian Space Partnership. The deal focuses on mutual assistance in the development of satellite navigation systems such as Galileo and Glonass, Brussels’ “global monitoring for environment and security” (GMES) initiative and launch services, notably the launch of Soyuz rockets from the European Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
Six chemical companies have been fined a total of 57.53 million euros (about pounds 34.5 million) by the European Commission for price-fixing and market-sharing in respect of sodium gluconate, a chemical mainly used to clean metal and glass.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission is preparing a potentially groundbreaking initiative to overcome the problems created by the existence of 15 different tax systems throughout the European Union, which could involve setting a harmonised EU corporation tax. In a report due to be released shortly, obtained by Accountancy Age, the Commission says differing tax national systems have caused losses in economic efficiency, generated compliance costs and contributed to a lack of transparency.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has appealed for proposals for EU grants, which would fund technological initiatives boosting the clean and efficient use of solid fuels, notably the use of clean coal technologies by power plants to limit emissions such as carbon dioxide.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has released details of the conditions that it will probably attach to applications by EU Member States to pay state aid to airlines to fund insurance cover, at a time when private companies have been withdrawing policies.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
MOST governments are keenly concerned about the quality of food their people eat, and quite rightly so. They pass laws to ensure food purity and safety and that’s all very commendable – but it can be overdone.

Regulations can, sometimes deliberately, be drawn up so tightly that they effectively bar the sale of food produced in other countries, thus constituting an impediment to free trade.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL AND ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has taken a significant step towards closing the legal loophole preventing refugees and stateless persons resident in one Member State from claiming social security rights available to EU citizens, when arriving from outside the EU and remaining in their country of arrival.…