Search Results for: Germany

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a broadcast public health campaign, including the production and exchange of documentaries that are designed to persuade European Union (EU) citizens to adopt healthy lifestyle choices. EU health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said the "Health in Europe" involved the creation of a network of public broadcasters in Europe, committed to collaborate in producing such material.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission and the Belgian Federal Food Chain Security Agency are investigating the contamination of animal feed with poisonous dioxins, some of which have been exported to Germany and the Netherlands. Hundreds of farms have been closed in the alert in all three countries, which was caused by defective filters at Belgian chemical producer Tessenderlo Chemie.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

VOLKSWAGEN has won a phyrric victory at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which has granted it a limited right to use the trademark Variant in Spain, in the teeth of opposition from the country’s Nacional Motor SA.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON, in London

THE POLITICAL institutions of the European Union (EU) are debating how to join an international system that would protect EU manufacturers’ design rights across a wide range of non-European countries in one simple operation. In an initiative that could help auto manufacturers secure the creative aspects of their vehicle design from plagiarism, the European Commission wants to link the EU’s existing Community Design system, (which protects manufacturers’ designs within the 25 EU member states), to a global design registration system run by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), a UN agency.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

ELECTRONIC toll manufacturers are being asked to join forces in consortia under the European Commission-backed RCI project, which is aiming to ensure new road charging equipment is interoperable across the European Union (EU). The aim is ensuring that drivers from any EU country can operate e-tolls, a key issue given Brussels wants clear common Europe rules regarding such systems.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) tax authorities must take into account financial losses incurred by taxpayers in a foreign EU member state when assessing tax, if they recognise such losses generated in their home country, the European Court of Justice has ruled.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

DEBATES are continuing in European Union (EU) institutions over whether vaccination is a safe response to Europe’s growing bird flu problem. With Germany, France, Slovakia, Slovenia, Italy and other countries all reporting cases, the EU’s Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health approved the first vaccination campaigns.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRITISH government financial controls will be examined by a special European Parliament committee of inquiry into the near collapse of Equitable Life, and the slashing of its pensions. The parliament has launched its probe following complaints from policy-holders, especially the around 15,000 non-British clients, mainly from Germany and Ireland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

GERMANY’S Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics (IPP) says it has received the first parts for its planned Wendelstein 7-X plasma chamber fusion reactor. This 35-tonne device is expected to take six years to build. The plant’s chamber has an unusual, asymmetrical to maximise the chances of a fusion reaction.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

GERMAN leather handbag seller Medici Grimm has failed to secure damages from the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers in a marathon dispute over anti-dumping duties on Chinese imports. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) dismissed a claim that it be paid Euro 168,315 in damages, (or another sum if the judges had decided otherwise), for having been wrongly forced to pay more than DM (Deutschmark) 1.6 million in anti-dumping duties on imported handbags made by China’s Lucci Creation Ltd.…