Search Results for: London

BY ALAN OSBORN
BRUSSELS is set to crack down on Britain’s handling of tobacco excise duty cases where travellers from other EU Member States are accused and sanctioned for allegedly violating the “personal consumption” limit. The European Commission says it has questions about “a presumption that the goods are being imported for commercial use and concerning the vehicle seizure policy being applied by customs officers.”…

BY ALAN OSBORN
BRITAIN may face an action in the European Court of Justice over its tough customs policy over the import of excised drinks from other EU Member States, the European Commission said today (Wednesday). The Commission said it was “concerned” that the controls currently being applied at UK ports, and the sanctions imposed when UK excise duty laws were broken, ” may breach the EU rules which give travellers the right to shop abroad.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL AND PHILIP FINE

IN the aftermath of the September 11 tragedy, the shocking images of two planes slamming into two of the most famous buildings in the world fuelled a strong desire tighten up security systems around the world, especially in civil aviation.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
The European Union’s LIFE-Environment programme has selected six British projects for grants under its latest allocation of 69 million euros (pounds 43 million). Altogether 109 projects in the EU countries are being supported, mostly in water resource management.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has significantly watered down its proposed

directive on prospectuses following intense lobbying by the financial services industry, the European Parliament and some Member States including Britain. The main change announced today (Friday) is to exempt small and medium-sized companies from the obligation to publish a draft prospectus if their public offering is Euro 2.5 million (Pounds 1.55 million) or less.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
UNDETERRED by the scientific world’s comprehensive ignorance of the deep-sea environment, the United Nations’ International Seabed Authority is pressing ahead with research projects that will help it estimate the effect of submarine mining on species that have yet to be discovered.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Chamber of Commerce is appealing for help to help it track down the perpetrators of a fake share-offering that has left European businesses out of pocket. Its Commercial Crime Bureau wants to hear from victims of a scam, where investors have been offered bargain prices for stick of companies that were supposedly about to go public, but which actually did not exist.…

BY MONICA DOBIE, in Montreal, and ALAN OSBORN, in London
CANADIAN publishers may have to pay the insolvent General Publishing up front to have their books moved from its warehouse floor, even though many publishers have not received payment from General since last autumn.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
LONDON-based CVC Capital Partners and Cinven Group Ltd have been moving ahead with the acquisition of Sweden’s AssiDomän AB’s container board and corrugated business units company, Alpha, following approval of the deal by the European Commission. The buyers are investment companies jointly controlling Kappa Holding BV, which is already involved in the manufacture and sale of paper products.…

BY MARK ROWE
INTERNATIONAL organisations are supposed to help business fight off sophisticated crime networks, but now the fraudsters are turning the tables and using the good name of these institutions as part of their scams. Mark Rowe reports.

IT STARTED with a fax from a Chinese businessman to the Vienna headquarters of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP).…