Search Results for: France

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has formally threatened legal action against Spain, Italy, Ireland and Portugal for exempting all book lending institutions from their obligations to pay fees to copyright holders. If the countries do not within two months say how they intend to limit this universal right, the Commission could ask the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to order them to comply.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that bans imposed by France on the broadcast of alcoholic drinks advertising, especially those on hoardings at foreign international sports events, are legal under European Union (EU) law. Backing an ECJ advocate general opinion, the full court said EU treaty commitments on freed trade “do not preclude” such health-based restrictions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is reclaiming Euro 143.86 million in food production subsidies from 12 member countries, including Britain, because of financial irregularities, largely in the meat sector. While the UK’s repayment of Euro 1.8 million is small and for missing general payment deadlines, France faces the largest demand – for Euro 50.7 million in bovine-product premiums, especially in Corsica.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is reclaiming Euro 143.86 million in food production subsidies from 12 member countries, including Britain, because of financial irregularities, largely in the meat sector. While the UK’s repayment of Euro 1.8 million is small and for missing general payment deadlines, France faces the largest demand – for Euro 50.7 million in bovine-product premiums, especially in Corsica.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CHARGES have been laid against alleged fraudsters in an Italy-based cigarette smuggling scam costing European treasuries Euro 31.6 million in duty. The public prosecutor of Asti, Italy, released details of the alleged con, involving 287,884 kg of cigarettes being smuggled with forged customs stamps being presented to Italian customs officials.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FRENCH government should be censured by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for flouting a deadline to implement Euratom legislation on informing the public radiological emergencies, an ECJ advocate general has said. In formal advice – usually accepted by the court – Leendert Geelhoed stated that France had missed the October 2000 deadline for transposing its rules into national law.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is threatening seven European Union (EU) countries with legal action at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for failing to apply EU law and give local companies the option of applying International Accounting Standard (IAS) 39 on financial instruments.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has – for a change – some good news to crow about regarding greenhouse gases, with the European Environment Agency (EEA) saying the old 15 member EU’s emissions fell by 0.5% from 2001-2, following increases in the previous two years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
Italy, the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation have suffered particularly serious thefts from museums and other cultural sites according to figures from Interpol. In a new table published by the international police organisation Italy reports a total of 18,715 thefts – far more than any other country – of which 2,875 represented liturgical objects.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GOVERNMENTS should avoid forcing national telecommunications utilities to make broadband services available to rural and remote areas, but rather rely on boosting competition in the sector, an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report has claimed. Indeed, making such demands “would reduce competition and innovation.…