Search Results for: France

BY JONATHAN GILBERT, IN BUENOS AIRES; AND CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) dispute settlement body discussed today in Geneva a complaint lodged by the European Union (EU) against Argentine import restrictions which is harming EU auto and auto-part exports.…

BY CARMEN PAUN

TWO Romanian banks have been hit by staff issuing EUR85 million fraudulent loans to customers who should never have qualified for financing, the country’s directorate for the investigation of organised crime and terrorism (DIICOT) has revealed. The banks are BRD, controlled by France’s Société Générale, and Volksbank, part of the identically named Austrian group.…

BY CARMEN PAUN IN BRUSSELS

At a time when Europe needs smart grids and storage capacity for electricity produced by renewable energy sources, investors could be expected to sink money into the potential decarbonised future of utilities. Not so much, a Eurelectric report on investments in the liberalised electricity market has showed.…

BY KITTY SO

Rio Tinto Alcan has today been ordered to stop insisting companies licensing its Aluminium Pechiney smelting technology must also buy pot tending assembly handling equipment from its subsidiary Electrification Charpente Levage. The European Commission has accepted and made legally binding a Rio Tinto’s promise to end the practice as a condition of lifting a threat of anti-trust fines in the European Union (EU).…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

China

Between the worsening Eurozone crisis dampening demand in key export markets, sourcing rivals from neighbouring countries becoming increasingly competitive, the strengthening Chinese yuan and rising labour costs, analysts warned in August that Chinese textile and clothing manufacturers’ business would struggle for the rest of 2012.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPE’S new airport policy network Airpol has started showing its operational worth, helping coordinate a two-day operation targeting 28 airports in 15 European counties, where 10 smugglers of cash, drugs and counterfeit goods were arrested. Airpol was launched late 2010 and has since developed operations as a coordinator of European network police.…

THE LUXURY packaging seent of the personal care product industry has always been important, but with the industry’s high end becoming increasingly profitable worldwide, packagers are assuming a really critical role.

Simply, while revolutionary formulations are being developed to tap wealthy markets, the resulting cosmetics and personal care products need to set themselves apart for marketing with classy exteriors.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS, ALAN OSBORN, IN LONDON, LEE ADENDORFF, IN LUCCA, ITALY; MICHAEL KOSMIDES, IN ATHENS; DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS; ANDREW KURETH, IN WARSAW; AND JOHN PAGNI, IN HELSINKI

THE POTENTIAL of micro-CHP (combined heat-and-power) for industrial businesses, residential complexes and individual homes is becoming increasingly clear across Europe.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

EVER since the European Commission announced last month that it would stop subsiding food-based biofuels from 2020 and support the production of secondary biofuels based on waste matter and algae, Europe’s biofuel sector has been preparing to fight for survival.…

BY JULIAN RYALL, IN TOKYO

Masumi Natsusaka has global ambitions for Kanebo Cosmetics Inc., where he assumed the company’s presidency in June. And he has told Soap Perfumery & Cosmetics that he is impatient for brands that have previously only been for selected foreign and domestic markets to evolve into truly global brands developed to directly meet the needs of a new generation of consumers around the world.…