Search Results for: International law

BY ALAN OSBORN
ABUSE of drugs and alcohol in the workplace may be a growing concern in European Union (EU) countries but there seems little evidence that the relevant authorities are unduly alarmed by it. An informal survey by Occupational Health of organisations and government departments suggests that little attempt has been made so far to assess the scale of the problem, still less to devise legislation aimed at workers, as distinct from society in general.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COMPREHENSIVELY gloomy forecast for the future of the European Union (EU) coal industry has been issued by the European Commission, underlining its determination to press for closures of most unprofitable mines to trim Brussels’ and Member States’ state aid budgets.…

BY MARK ROWE
IN tough economic times, an industry has to sell itself harder. It is no surprise, then, that if you glance at the websites of Singapore’s leading paint companies, you will see plenty of buzzwords such as “technology”, “improvement” and “development”.…

BY 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
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
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has approved a proposed regulation tightening and harmonising EU food and animal feed controls. As it informally agreed amendments in advance with EU ministers, the law is now expected to be rubber-stamped. One change insists that national governments erect “effective, proportionate and dissuasive” sanctions to breaches of these controls and another says relevant information held by food authorities must be publicised quickly, except data “covered by professional secrecy”.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
THE INTERNATIONAL trade deal between the USA and Australia – which has been welcomed by the antipodean non-ferrous metals industry – could be threatened by anger amongst Australian sugar producers who have been excluded. They say they may use their influence amongst right-wing and independent members of the Australian senate to stall ratification, in a chamber not numerically controlled by the country’s Liberal-National government.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
INTERNATIONAL financial experts have concluded that the insurance industry is particularly vulnerable to being exploited by money launderers, calling for an in depth study into how organised crime is abusing the sector.

A report from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has concluded it is “necessary to better understand how and to what degree the various parts of the insurance sector could be used by money launderers.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE RISK of millions of tonnes of uranium mining waste being swept by a landslide into a populous central Asian river basin has prompted the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to redouble its efforts to prevent such a tragedy.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
INITIAL results from the world’s largest ever study into whether mobile phone use causes cancer suggest that the technology is safe. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) says that research carried out in Denmark, forming part of the global INTERPHONE study, has concluded: “Use of a cell phone for 10 years or more did not increase acoustic neuroma risk over that of short term users.…