Search Results for: European Union

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission and Morocco have failed to strike an agreement which would allow Spanish and Portuguese fishing boats to take catches in Moroccan waters, bringing to an unsuccessful end six months of detailed discussions. The result is that the previous agreement, which expired in 1999, and which allowed 500 European boats to exploit catches including tuna and shrimp, is not expected to be renewed.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has expressed concern at the growing number of requests from EU wine-producing countries for permission to grant national distillation aid to growers. Franz Fischler, EU agriculture commissioner for wine, said it was “quite worrying” that member states were seeking to grant “pure operating aids which do not bring about any structural improvement.”…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE UK government has been given permission by the European Commission to go-ahead with exempting certain environment-friendly services from its general climate change levy, ruling that because they promote environmental good-practice and public transport, the concessions should not be considered as illegal state aid.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
COMPULSORY minimum standards, for the treatment of asylum seekers within the European Union, have been proposed by the European Commission.

Using its new powers to table European legislation on justice and home affairs, the Commission has proposed that Member States provide a “minimum level of support with special help for the vulnerable,” such as unaccompanied children, torture victims and pregnant women.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DIRECTIVE to improve energy efficiency in new and renovated buildings, (above 1,500 square metres), by up to 22 per cent in the year 2010, has been proposed by the European Commission. It would order national integrated minimum energy performance standards for each building type, covering insulation, heating, ventilation, lighting, orientation, heat recovery, and renewable energy sources.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
BRITISH supermarket giants Tesco and Costco are likely to win a European Court of Justice case over the parallel trading of Levis Jeans.

The preliminary ruling from the Advocate General of the ECJ ruled that the trademark holder should not have the power to dictate where retailers purchase their goods.…

KEITH NUTHALL
ADVICE from the European Commission, that retailers with branches in the EU countries introducing notes and coins of the Euro next year should avoid holding their winter sales until the New Year deadline for the launch of the new cash has passed, has been attacked by the British Retail Consortium.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SOUTH Korean government is continuing to bankroll its shipbuilding industry, allowing its companies to continue dominating this international sector, on the basis of unfair trading practices, a European Commission report has alleged. It noted that last year saw an significant expansion in shipbuilding orders worldwide, but that the 56 per cent rise in orders “benefited South Korean yards,” which increased their market share, rather than EU shipbuilders, whose share remained static.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE PROPOSED EU directive on the training of professional drivers – which would make preliminary and continuing training compulsory for road hauliers – could receive its first reading at the next Council of Ministers for transport and telecommunications on June 27-8.…

KEITH NUTHALL
HAULIERS handling live exports could be forced to make costly improvements to their lorries to boost the welfare of their animal cargoes, if EU ministers accept a new reform package from the European Commission.

It has proposed a set of mandatory standards for the long distance transport of horses, cattle, goats, sheep and pigs within the EU, on journeys exceeding eight hours.…