Search Results for: Germany

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has insisted that German insurer Talanx sells off some of its pharmaceutical industry insurance interests as a condition of being given permission to buy rival insurance group Gerling. Acting as an international competition regulator, the Commission found that both Talanx subsidiary HDI and Gerling have "a very strong position" in insuring German medicine manufacturers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has reduced a fine levied by the European Commission against Germany’s Degussa from Euro 118.1 to 91.1 million regarding an amino acid cartel case. It found that although the Commission correctly viewed the 1986-1999 methionine cartel as "serious", in evidence "the concrete effects of the infringement only partially were shown".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRAZEN political manoeuvres to duck increased pollution clean-up costs imposed by the revised European Union (EU) bathing water directive have sparked 11 separate legal actions by the European Commission. It has reacted promptly to a massive delisting of 7,000 official bathing water sites by 11 EU governments, to avoid having to comply with new cleanliness standards.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRITAIN is one of only seven European countries that are fully complying with key guidelines on institutional oversight of financial information issued by the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR). Its standard No.1 advises on how the harmonisation of institutional oversight systems in Europe maybe achieved, especially regarding enforcement of good practice.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has reduced a fine levied by the European Commission against Germany’s Degussa from Euro 118.1 to 91.1 million regarding an amino acid cartel case. It found the Commission has only "partially demonstrated" a 1986-1999 methionine cartel’s "concrete effects".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

NON-EUROPEAN Union (EU) uranium owners do not have to ask the European Commission permission to export uranium enriched within the EU, a European Court of Justice (ECJ) advocate general has concluded. Miguel Poiares Maduro was advising on a complex legal case focusing on the control of Brazilian-owned uranium transferred from Europe to the United States.…

BY JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo

OSAKA, Japan-based Sumitomo Electrical Industries Ltd has got a foot in the door of the German automobile wiring harness market with its purchase of Volkswagen Bordnetze GmbH.

Approved by the European Commission, using its authority over international mergers affecting Europe, the cost of the deal is not being announced, but the Japanese company believes the acquisition will allow it to broaden its business throughout Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has warned reliable statistics on the extent of super-bug Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) in Europe is "largely unknown". The dangerous and highly robust germ has been shown present in 10 to 200 hospitalised American patients per 10,000 admissions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE VAT exemption enjoyed by Britain’s Royal Mail is under threat from the European Commission, which has launched a probe into its legality under European Union law. Brussels argues this benefit "results in distortion of competition with other postal private operators that are fully taxed".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE MOVEMENT of all pigs in and out of Germany’s North-Rhine Westphalia has been suspended because of another outbreak of classical swine fever. The fourth confirmed case in the region this year, the new European Commission-ordered controls follow local protection, surveillance, slaughtering and buffer zones being set up following initial outbreaks in early March.…