Search Results for: France

BY KEITH NUTHALL

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THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the takeover by Unilever of Sara Lee’s body and laundry care businesses, on condition it sells off the US company’s Sanex brand and related business in Europe. Following an inquiry as the European Union’s (EU) lead competition authority, Brussels concluded there were particular concerns regarding Unilever’s future dominance of some EU deodorant markets.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS, KEITH NUTHALL

THE KNITWEAR sector, especially at the higher end of the market spectrum, is a prey for organised counterfeiters. Sophisticated illicit manufacturers, especially in emerging markets, create copies of established brands, that can be high enough quality to fool, but poor enough to disappoint the consumer after a few wears.…

BY ALAN OSBORN, KARRYN MILLER, FLORENCE LABEDAYS, GAVIN BLAIR

PRIVACY is the big bugbear for RFID tags. Sure they give retailers and manufacturers lots of excellent information, but there is a hint of Big Brother about how this automatic data collection.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

TARGETED investments aimed at improving energy self-sufficiency and efficiency maybe the key result of a grand European Union (EU) ‘Energy 2020’ strategy, released this month (November 10) by the European Commission. Building on existing reforms to liberalise and green EU energy production and delivery, the policy paper proposes ensuring energy efficiency is a criteria of public procurement by member states, and also that energy efficiency certificates are created to encourage sustainable energy investment by industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) research network Eureka has hailed as a success a research and development project using its services creating a new needle-free injection device. The Zeneo – developed by France-based CrossJect – is a pre-filled, single-use injection device adapting to different injection depths (intradermal, subcutaneous, intramuscular).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

The reform package for the European Union’s (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) released today has been so unpopular, it begs the question – is Europe really the best level of government to control food production subsidies?

The CAP has always been at the heart of the EU – part of the grand bargain that underpinned its launch in the 1950s between Germany and France.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE GERMAN government is giving Euro EUR1.2 million to a UN project expanding and upgrading small and medium-sized generic pharmaceutical manufacturers in Asia and Africa. It is run by the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and aims to spread medicine manufacture across a continent where production is mainly concentrated in South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya.…

BY WANG FANGQING

JAPANESE snacks manufacturer Ezaki Glico has started to build a new factory on October 5 in Kitamoto city, Japan’s Saitama Prefecture, to serve Greater Tokyo and seven nearby prefectures – easily the country’s largest market. The new factory will manufacture snacks such biscuits, cookies and chocolate, and is scheduled to start operations in spring 2012.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

DEFINING a niche drink is an arbitrary matter and what may pass as niche today may well be considered mainstream tomorrow. Flavoured vodka, for instance, had a relatively specialised following in Europe until a few years ago – now it is classified as an official spirit drink under European Union (EU) regulations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE FRENCH and Brazilian governments have forged an unusual European-emerging market alliance, calling for increased coordination among G20 states during food supply crises, and tighter regulation of the global food market. They have issued a joint communiqué calling for the creation of global and regional food stocks, close monitoring of global cereal stocks especially, greater regulation of food market derivatives, and the creation of financial mechanisms (including price guarantees) to protect food producers from excessive price fluctuations.…