Search Results for: International law

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PUBLIC procurement rules telling Portuguese utilities to conduct open tenders for their purchases are illegal under European Union (EU) law, the European Commission is claiming. As a result, it is threatening legal action at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which has the power to order Portugal to comply.…

Keith Nuthall
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) directive setting technical limits on the exposure of workers to electromagnetism has finally been approved by the EU Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, following years of debates. The legislation implements recommendations from the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection, and gives employers the responsibility to assess exposure limits and that maximum levels are not exceeded.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
CANADA’S largest producer of chrysotile asbestos fibres, LAB Chrysotile, has announced it will indefinitely shut one of its two mines near Thetford Mines, Quebec, this November. The company has blamed the closure of its Black Lake mine, which will result in 450 job losses, on a high Canadian dollar in comparison to the US dollar and tough international competition.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
RELIABLE statistics are of course vital to any insurance company’s assessment of risk, and nationally produced figures in countries such as Britain and the USA can usually be counted upon in actuarial calculations. But what about comparing countries when managing international policy portfolios?…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE 10 EASTERN and southern European countries joining the European Union (EU) last weekend are “on course” to meeting its food health standards, Brussels’ health and consumer protection Commissioner David Byrne has claimed. His confident declaration masks some problems however, leading to temporary exemptions, giving the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia between an additional three months and three years to ensure milk producers, slaughterhouses and food processing plants meet standards that should have been in place on May 1.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
A FEDERAL judge has ruled that the US Justice Department can backdate claims for damages from cigarette companies before 1970. Tobacco firms had argued that the government should not use a 1970 racketeering statute to recover industry profits earned before the law was in place.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SWEDISH government lawyers are drafting a new national law on alcohol advertising that would allow alcohol advertising in the country, but would impose restrictions, such as banning images of drinkers in publicity material. Instead, only bottles, cans, glasses, grapes and other ‘still life’ images could be used, and advertisements would also have to carry warning or information messages about alcohol consumption.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s environment committee is seeking to prioritise a new European Union energy efficiency directive, by proposing amendments forcing the European Commission to introduce electricity consumption standards for particular products generating significant global warming problems. These rules would cover heating and water heating equipment, electric motor systems, lightings, domestic appliances, office equipment, consumer electronics plus heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A LAW insisting that at least half of crew members or sharesmen on Norwegian-owned vessels fishing within the 200 mile Norwegian Economic Exclusive Zone of the North Sea be Norway nationals or residents is being challenged by the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) Surveillance Authority.…

KEITH NUTHALL
TRADERS in fish flour cannot under European Union (EU) law deliver consignments containing mammal bone fragments, even if the contamination is slight and accidental, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. Public authorities have the right to destroy such consignments, if discovered by health inspectors, judges added.…