Search Results for: Finland

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has filed an appeal against the dismissal of its cigarette smuggling action in the US against three tobacco companies: Philip Morris, R. J. Reynolds and Japan Tobacco. Notably, it has received formal support in the proceedings from the US Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association for its action, along with the World Health Organisation, the US Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
NOT many items of legislation from Brussels have provoked quite such anger among farmers over the years as the nitrates directive, which seeks to protect water from nitrate pollution caused by the application of organic and inorganic fertilisers to agricultural land.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN ICELANDIC drinks importer could win compensation from the Iceland government, after the European Free Trade Area Court found that Reykjavik had broken the rules of the European Economic Area, (of which Iceland is a part), by maintaining its alcohol importation monopoly until December 1995.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EMEA’s Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products has given a positive opinion on a range of insulin medicines, namely Actrapid, Actraphane, Insulatard, Mixtard, Monotard, Protophane, Ultratard and Velosulin. The committee also began risk-benefit reviews of gatifloxacin, (containing Bonoq, Crispin, Urobonoq, Urocrispin and associated product names) and nimesulide containing medicinal products (Aulin, Mesulide, Nimed and associated product names).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
STONE discards stored by a quarry for future sales, should be classified as waste under European Union regulations, even if they do not “pose any real risk to human health or the environment” the European Court of Justice has ruled.…

Keith Nuthall
NOONE should ever accuse the European Commission of fighting shy of regulation, and given that proposals on promoting shipping safety are generally framed with good intentions, it would be fair to say that Brussels at least tries to improve standards.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A FINANCED global action plan to improve safety in the nuclear energy sector has been approved in principle by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. A number of countries have pledged around US$4.6 million to fund its programmes, although this falls far short of the US$12 million price tag claimed by the IAEA, which also wants a fund of US$20 million established to handle security emergencies.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission is expected this month (May) to announce a proposed directive boosting the use of co-generation, although EU electricity association Eurelectric thinks it may at the same time moderate earlier targets for doubling the share of energy represented by the sector.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
*Finland is the world’s most “honest” country according to Transparency International;

*New British laws will ban payments made to people just for performing their official duties;

*In countries where bribery of foreign officials is a crime, penalties range from a one-year jail sentence (Norway) to life imprisonment (South Africa);

*Half the countries replying to the UN said their legal systems did not make it impossible to obtain tax benefits for foreign payments that would constitute bribery;

*Under American law companies can make payments for “routine government action” such as obtaining licences and permits abroad.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
SLOWLY but surely, the world is becoming a little more open and honest in its business transactions. Bribery and corruption have existed as long as people have traded with each other and in some parts of the world remain as matter-of-fact as ever.…