Search Results for: Ireland

Accountants and their clients within the European Union (EU) have had to avoid trading with an increasing number of sanctioned individuals and companies, especially in Russia, following its invasion of Ukraine. Now, with sanctions evasion being criminalised across the EU under a new proposed law, the risk of exposure to sanctions for EU companies and their accountants and auditors has risen further – both when dealing with actors subverting these measures and when undermining sanctions themselves, of course.…

With universities grappling how best to integrate sustainability concerns into curricula and operations, the League of European Research Universities (LERU) has released a detailed report offering good practice examples from its 24 elite HE members.

A paper ‘How to Enhance Education for Sustainable Development – Trends and Good Practice at LERU Universities’ includes guidance and examples for HE institutions worldwide.…

Overseas investment has played a significant role in shaping Romania’s clothing sector, with luxury brands such as Moncler, Canada Goose, or the fast-fashion global retailer Primark making strategic moves into the country’s manufacturing sector. In 2022, foreign direct investment into Romania’s textiles, clothing, and leather manufacturing industries reached EUR971 million said an official from the National Bank of Romania, the central bank, indicating continued interest from international investors, albeit slightly lower than the EUR978 million recorded in 2021.…

Food innovation centres (FICs) have become a feature of the global food production landscape over the past few decades and now play a significant role in the research and development of edible products.

The first purpose built FICs started to appear in the final quarter of the 20th century, with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the US’s Midwest Corn Belt, an early mover in this field, opening its Food Processing Center in 1983 (1).…

It is a good time for the paint and coatings industry in Ireland, which has one of the most buoyant construction sectors in the Europe.

According to building sector forecaster Euroconstruct, the Republic of Ireland’s construction sector grew by 3.2% in 2023 year-on-year and will grow by 4.4% in 2024, as the country’s government tackles a housing shortage by promoting home building.…

AML/CFT concerns about casinos and gaming remain strong and are an integral part of FATF mutual evaluation reports (MERs), as the global body approaches its fourth round of MERs. In its February (2023) guidance on MER procedures, FATF placed casino supervisory bodies at the top of the list of designated non-financial business and professions (DNFBP) actors to interview during scheduled MER visits (1).…

Imposing bans on disposable e-cigarettes or vapes will not help people stop smoking and are counterproductive, European vape experts have told Tobacco Journal International (TJI).

Their comments come in the wake of myriad plans to ban or impose high taxes on these products, which contain nicotine and are regarded by some as harmful for health.…

An Interpol police operation cracking down on online financial crime across 34 countries (1) worldwide led to 3,500 arrests and saw a total USD300 million seized – USD199 million in hard currency and USD101 million in virtual assets. The global agency’s six-month HEACHI IV operation, which ran from July to December 2023, targeted seven types of cyber-enabled swindles: voice phishing, romance scams, online sextortion, investment fraud, money laundering associated with illegal online gambling, business email compromise fraud and e-commerce fraud.…

The European Union (EU) has been busy chiselling the regulatory edifice of its much-vaunted European Capital Markets Union (CMU), but this growing legal framework has yet to deliver the deep capital pools that its framers envisaged.

Indeed, speaking at the European Banking Congress, in Frankfurt, on November 17, European Central Bank (ECB) president Christine Lagarde, bemoaned the lack of available EU capital (1):

“Today, European start-ups attract less than half the funding of their US counterparts, while the volume of investments in scale-ups in the United States is more than four times greater than in Europe,” she stressed.…

With consumers becoming increasingly health conscious worldwide, demand for vegan chocolate, replacing dairy ingredients with plant-based materials, is growing fast.

According to US-based Grand View Research, the global vegan confectionery market – dominated by chocolate – is anticipated to generate USD2.62 billion in annual revenues by 2030, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.9% from 2023’s USD1.23 billion.…