Search Results for: European Parliament

BY KEITH NUTHALL
Insurance companies are to be given greater freedom to operate insurance pools and to engage with other companies in the joint calculation of risks, under new regulations announced today (Thursday) by the European Commission. The new 7-year insurance block exemption regulation also provides for the establishment of non-binding standard policy conditions and the testing and acceptance of security equipment.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the proposed acquisition of Norwegian oil and gas company Fortum Petroleum by Italy’s energy company ENI, saying it would not damage the current competitive situation in the gas markets in Italy or in southern Germany, where ENI is present through GVS.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Union’s revised take-over directive is facing new obstacles following an unexpected decision by Britain to side with Germany in opposing a number of key aspects of the proposal. Thus far Germany has been alone in rejecting provisions in the draft directive, which would limit national mechanisms to frustrate take-over bids.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development is promoting a set of guidelines it has drawn up with anti-corruption groups Transparency International and Social Accountability International to help businesses confront bribery in their operations and commercial dealings. These Business Principles for Countering Bribery are, said Jermyn Brooks, Transparency International’s Executive Director, “essentially an anti-bribery framework based on best practice.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Central Bank has reported that the number of counterfeit Euro banknotes removed from circulation rose to 145,153 in the second half of 2002, compared with just 21,965. The Euro 50 note was the most popular for counterfeiters, with 121,826 fake notes being discovered, compared with 11,522 Euro 20 notes and 8,046 Euro 100 notes.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is moving towards a deal with Switzerland over the payment of a withholding tax to avoid releasing information about EU citizens owning Swiss bank savings accounts. It wants to protect these clients from tax demands from their home countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GLOBAL code of practice for the harvesting and manufacturing of fish and fishery products is being drawn up by the world food trade standards body, Codex Alimentarius. Its committee on food hygiene recently endorsed a draft set of worldwide list of rules on handling fish, which are being developed to promote trade by creating uniform, albeit voluntary, standards.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) has agreed to admit officials from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and representatives from secretariats for other multilateral environmental agreements as observers to its ongoing Doha Development Round negotiations. The move has been welcomed by the European Commission, which wants these representatives to point out when the free trade talks are in danger of creating an agreement that may undermine or conflict with existing international environmental agreements.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the acquisition of US-controlled edible oil company Lesieur by French-owned Saipol, which sells the same product.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank is leading an aid deal to encourage local companies to maintain and manage pipelines sending natural gas and oil from central Asia to the European Union. The IFC, (which is initially injecting US$250,000), BP, Norway’s Statoil, GTZ, (the German aid agency), and the Baku Enterprise Centre, Azerbaijan, will launch a programme to help local businesses benefit from petro- projects, notably the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline to Turkey.…