Search Results for: European Union

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE CREATION of a European Aviation Safety Agency has moved closer following a “broad preliminary agreement” by EU transport ministers on common rules for civil aviation safety between the 15 member countries. The European Commission has been given 12 months to draw up “adequate proposals” on how the proposed regulation could be applied to third country aircraft.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PLANS to develop a new kind of European Union patent, which would allow R&D units to gain protection for their inventions across the EU by making one comparatively simple application, are being discussed. A so-called Community Patent would be easier to operate than the existing European Patents, which have to be translated into the official language of each Member State in which it is to apply.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union ministers have reached political agreement on two new proposed directives that are supposed to ensure the safe disposal of discarded electrical equipment, including computers and household appliances.

The Council of Ministers, (environment), has backed the directive on the treatment of waste from electrical and electronic equipment and the directive on the limitation of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN competition commissioner Mario Monti has complained that his hands are being tied by the weakness of European liberalisation legislation, a lack of will at Member State level to force through reforms and also the appetite of big players to press ahead with acquisitions.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to apply further pressure on Member States to harmonise their drinks excise duty rates later this year, when it releases a report on alcohol taxation. The paper will focus on the problems created in the EU’s Internal Market by wide contrasts between rates and its effect on competition between different categories of alcoholic drinks.…

Keith Nuthall
THE PORTUGUESE government has been ordered to scrap its reduced five per cent rate of VAT on wine sales, with the European Court of Justice ruling that it contravened the EU’s Sixth VAT Directive, which attempts to harmonise the application of sales taxes.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
LOCAL authorities have been asked to apply for grants from a Euro 2.5 million budget run by the European Commission’s DG environment. Money is available for projects that focus on climate change, sustainable development, forestry, publicising EU environmental policies and animal experiments, among other areas.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has given an indication of the likely size of the average annual budget for a new Research Fund for Coal and Steel, that will replace the spending of the soon-to-lapse European Coal and Steel Community.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed that sulphur should be banned from petrol in the EU by 2011, and has proposed that sulphur-free petrol and diesel should be made available in every Member States from January 1, 2005.

Brussels thinks sulphur elimination is important, because the chemical damages catalytic converters and makes them less efficient.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced that Greece’s Thessaloniki and Heraklion, (Crete), airports are to receive investment of Euro 131 million from the European Regional Development Fund, as part of a Euro 1.4 billion injection of EU cash to update Greek transport services.…