Search Results for: Germany

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has declared illegal under European Union (EU) freedom of trade laws, lorry bans based on cargo carried (other than dangerous goods). The precedent setting declaration, opposes a Austrian plan to block lorries carrying bulk goods, such as waste, cereals, timber, cork, stones, soil, rubble, motor vehicles, trailers, building steel and ceramic tiles from using the A12 motorway in the Inn valley, part of an Alpine pass.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission’s formally proposed wine market liberalisation reforms face a stormy passage as approval is sought from the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. EU agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel announced early July (4-7) proposals to abolish all EU aid programmes for crisis distillation, support for by-product distillation, private storage aid, export refunds.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

DIFFERENTIALS in car prices between the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) persist, the latest showroom survey by the European Commission reveals. While prices in the UK fell by 0.3% from January to July this year, fleet managers looking for bargains would still do well to look abroad, as British prices are often well above the EU average.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE AGREEMENT between the European Union (EU) and the United States over the exchange of personal air passenger information was approved despite “serious doubts” aired by Peter Hustinx, the European Data Protection Supervisor. Writing to German interior minister Wolfgang Schaüble, representing the EU’s January-June president Germany, Hustinx warned: “Data on EU citizens will be readily accessible to a broad range of US agencies and there is no limitation to what US authorities are allowed to do with that data.”…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

BEIRUT’S re-named Rafik Hariri International Airport (RHIA) is still reeling from last year’s conflict between Israel and the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah, with passenger numbers down and some US$19 million needed to acquire a second radar and upgrade communications and security systems.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

THE EUROPEAN Commission has told just-drinks.com that it will power ahead with its proposed wine reforms, despite an overwhelmingly negative reaction at the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers. Brussels was “not in the least discouraged” by the criticism at yesterday’s council meeting, Commission wine spokesman Johan Reyniers said.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CONTINENTAL Europe has been grappling with a series of livestock disease outbreaks whilst Britain has attempted to nail down its latest foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak. Germany and the Netherlands have both been fighting cases of bluetongue in cattle and sheep, showing that the disease that once was restricted to the Mediterranean is now well established in north-west Europe.…

BY ANDREW CAVE

THE DEVELOPMENT of biofuels and their impact on food crops has generated debate since Germany’s Rudolph Diesel ran the world’s first diesel engine on peanut oil in 1894.
However, now a biofuels boom is moving global markets and one result is commodity crop price inflation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A DRAFT standard being developed by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) could harmonise traditional sizing practices within the European clothing industry, enabling clothing retailers to sell clothing across Europe without changing designs or labels.
The proposals have created something of an uproar amongst right-wing nationalist tabloids in the UK, because the proposals would being to an end Britain’s comparatively rigid size 4 to 32 dress sizing system, based on fixed hip and bust sizes.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

DIFFERENT parts of the world have devised a wide range of regulations to promote biofuels as an answer to traditional fuels posed by supply and environmental concerns. Japan began promoting alternative fuels in the mid-70s following the oil crisis, replacing oil-powered electric generators with units driven by alternative fuels, as well as natural gas, coal and nuclear power.…