Search Results for: France

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WINE growers in southern France’s Rivesaltes region must repay some state aid paid by the French government during a 1996-2000 sales crisis said the European Commission. It ruled illegal subsidies used for selling local table wines rather than ‘Rivesaltes’ or ‘Grand Roussillon’ appellations and for vineyard reconversions covering over 30% or Euro 5,000/hectare of costs.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
COMPREHENSIVE tests are needed following the conformation that a goat in France did indeed die of BSE, the European Food Safety Authority’s BIOHAZ panel has said. Data on the goat had been transferred to the EU Community Reference Laboratory for TSEs, in Weybridge, Surrey, after French authorities had reported their concerns.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON
THE WORLD is waking up to biofuels, increasingly produced from food crops and their waste by-products, and now one of the growing energy alternatives to conventional fossil fuels. As prices for traditional energy rise year on year, and energy watchers warn of oil production peaking around 2010, governments are looking towards food producers to grow the raw feedstock for the fuel of the twenty-first century.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has further underlined developing European Union (EU) case law that says periods spent resting, but on-call within hospitals and clinics, should be considered working time under relevant EU legislation. However, judges have weakened claims by nurses and others that EU law guarantees them payment for such activities.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE IRISH, French and Spanish governments have come under increased political pressure to improve their conservation of fishing stocks and monitoring of illicit catches through rulings from the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

Judges backed claims from the European Commission that Spain had failed to stage inspections of fishing vessels as mandated by European Union (EU) legislation, had not prevented fishing after quotas had been exhausted, and not taken “penal or administrative measures against anyone for breaking these limits”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NATIONAL governments are often jealous of attempts by the European Union (EU) to increase its power into policy areas that they consider none of its business. Defence and foreign affairs are obvious examples, but health is another. EU member states have long resisted Brussels’ calls for influence over their health policies, but their resolve has weakened of late.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
INCREASED compensation of up to US$1.152 billion for damage caused by serious oil spills will be made available from March 3 next year, when an International Oil Pollution Compensation Supplementary Fund comes into being. This follows the ratification of its founding protocol by Spain, fulfilling the minimum number of major oil importing states required for the formal creation of this International Maritime Organisation (IMO)-coordinated fund.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has allowed France and Spain to use VAT rules departing from standard EU practice regarding tax declarations for investment gold. These sales can be exempt of VAT under EU legislation, meaning they maybe do not generate income for customs authorities.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has censured the French government for missing an October 2000 deadline to implement Euratom legislation on informing the public about radiological emergencies. Although there have been reforms since, bringing France closer to implementing the directive, the court ordered full compliance.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITISH holding company Candover has welcomed the European Commission clearing its sale of French and Italian frozen food chain Picard to another investment vehicle BC Partners for more than Euro 1.3 billion. The sale brings Candover a 2.7-times return on its 2001 acquisition of Picard in 2001, when it bought the chain from French retailer Carrefour in 2001 for Euro 920 million.…