Search Results for: Ireland

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) order could force the Irish government to improve and expand its mandatory training programmes for professional passenger and goods vehicle drivers. The European Commission has asked judges to rule Ireland’s current training system is too scant to meet the safety standards required by the European Union’s (EU) directive on training professional drivers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has prepared for formal approval in December of an expansion of the borderless Schengen zone to the 10 new member states that joined the EU in 2004. Ministers accepted that these countries had sufficiently upgraded their airport frontier controls for flights from non-EU countries to allow the removal next March of immigration controls for flights to and from other EU member states (except Britain, Ireland, Bulgaria and Romania who remain outside Schengen).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have been asked to approve an increase in the exploitation by EU ships of the rich tuna stocks surrounding Indian Ocean island archipelago the Seychelles. EU fishing businesses will have to pay for the privilege however: whilst the general limit on EU tonnage accessing Seychelles waters should rise from 55,000 to 63,000 tonnes, the money paid by vessel operators will rise from Euro 25 to 35 per tonne per annum, which would – said a note from the European Commission – bring fees in line with other EU tuna access agreements.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission wants to spend the bulk of its Euro 5.1 billion available under its Trans-European Networks (TENs) budget for major transport projects from 2007-13 on inland waterways and railways, with new roads losing out. European Union (EU) transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot has announced that inland waterways would receive "maximum possible funding", receiving 11.5% of the total budget, while railways will get 74.2% of total funds, and roads just 2.7%.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A PROPOSED liberalisation of European Union (EU) design rights legislation, allowing lorry parts makers to copy and sell spares already made by vehicle manufacturers across the EU has been accepted by the European Parliament’s legal affairs committee. A committee communiqué said: "The directive will allow suppliers to produce motor vehicle components which are identical to the original parts without infringing design protection."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is pushing for Britain and Ireland to adopt the same rabies protection measures in place for other European Union (EU) member states – other than Finland and Sweden, which also have tougher controls. In a review of the EU’s current pet movement health checks mandated by EU regulation EC/998/2003, Brussels has concluded that "provided that protective immunity has been established and maintained by administration of an authorised vaccine…a valid vaccination should be the sole requirement for pets to travel to all member states".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is pushing for Britain and Ireland to adopt the same rabies protection measures in place for other European Union (EU) member states – other than Finland and Sweden, which also have tougher controls. In a review of the EU’s current pet movement health checks mandated by EU regulation EC/998/2003, Brussels has concluded that "provided that protective immunity has been established and maintained by administration of an authorised vaccine…a valid vaccination should be the sole requirement for pets to travel to all member states".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE BRITISH road transport sector has to play catch up with many of its European Union (EU) competitors regarding the introduction of sulphur-free fuels, a report from the European Commission has shown. It shows that as long ago as 2005, member states such as Germany, Italy and Ireland were already selling this environmentally-friendly petrol and diesel, while Britain was still selling low sulphur fuel, of between 10 and 50 parts per million sulphur content.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE BRITISH road transport sector has to play catch up with many of its European Union (EU) competitors regarding the introduction of sulphur-free fuels, a report from the European Commission has shown. Although the UK Petroleum Industry Association has indicated it expects Britain to switch to sulphur-free fuels by a 2009 deadline imposed by the European Union (EU), in June the government admitted the issue was complicated because "the UK fuel distribution network can only accommodate a single grade of diesel", preventing small introductory sales of sulphur-free diesel.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has welcomed a cooperation agreement struck between the British and Irish governments to prevent illegal waste shipments across the land border between their two countries. Brussels was threatening legal action over the problem, because it broke European Union (EU) waste shipment rules, but with London and Dublin combining their forces, and tougher waste regulations being approved for Northern Ireland, the Commission has been satisfied.…