Search Results for: German

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
BMW is developing a new high-tech system to prevent drivers falling asleep at the wheel, after research by the German Insurance Association (GdV) revealed that tiredness caused a quarter of all fatal accidents on autobahns.

BMW’s “driving alertness assistant” operates using a small camera fitted inside the car, which examines eye blinking patterns to assess how watchful or tired the driver is.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
REVERSING its earlier position, the European Commission has agreed that the German grid feed-in laws on the promotion of electricity from renewable energy sources and from combined heat and power do not constitute state aid, that Brussels could, in theory, ban.…

From Alan Osborn
The European Commission has ordered Germany to stop blocking the

sale of the Austrian drink Original Schwedenbitter by claiming it to be a

medicinal product which requires special authorisation.

Original Schwedenbitter is sold in Austria without restriction as a

herb-based alcoholic beverage but is traditionally bought in Germany as a

cure for several illnesses.…

KEITH NUTHALL
APPLICATIONS have been made by the Nicaraguan and German governments for the trade in two hardwood species to be controlled under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). These species are, respectively, big-leaf mahogany (also known as Brazilian mahogany) and the tree-of-life (also known as pockwood or sonora guaiacum).…

BY MONICA DOBIE, in Montreal
DaimlerChrysler Canada has announced it will close its trim plant in Ajax, Ontario, in December, 2003, as part of the company’s cost saving strategy. The closure will eliminate 650 jobs, adding to the thousands of jobs wiped out over the past 18 months at its light vehicle and heavy truck manufacturing plants.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
The European Commission has cleared a deal through which the French Société Anonyme d’Explosifs et de Produits Chimiques (EPC) will acquire a 50% stake in the German drilling and blasting company SAARMontan, a wholly- subsidiary of Deutsche Montan Technologie.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE GERMAN government has launched an investigation after it was discovered that around 100 organic farms have been feeding chickens wheat containing the banned herbicide Nitrofen. The agriculture ministry in Lower Saxony, where the tainted wheat was first discovered, has claimed that contaminated meat and eggs have already been sold and consumed.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union research project is about to be launched, which will create a new sophisticated model for reducing tyre noise. This ‘microscopic road traffic noise-modelling project,’ (ROTRANOMO), will consider the type of vehicle, tyre-road interaction, traffic management, driver behaviour, environmental planning and vehicle structure changes to develop a more effective noise calculation model.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
GERMANY is set to become the first European country to transpose the controversial EU End-of-Life Vehicle Directive (ELV), while Britain appears to be dragging its feet over implementation.

All 15 Member States failed to meet the ELV deadline of April 21, 2002, for introducing laws on the disposal and recycling of vehicles.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
1902-1912

British American Tobacco was created on September 29th 1902 as a joint venture between Imperial Tobacco Company of the UK and the American Tobacco Company of the US following a fierce trade war. The parent companies agreed not to trade in each other’s domestic territory and to assign trademarks, export businesses and overseas subsidiaries to the joint venture.…