Search Results for: Netherlands

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IN an increasingly borderless world, the power of international intellectual property conventions is growing ever stronger and the garden trade is being affected by this trend as much as mining and IT.

Take new plant varieties. In the EU, since 1995 Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) has been established.…

Keith Nuthall
NOONE should ever accuse the European Commission of fighting shy of regulation, and given that proposals on promoting shipping safety are generally framed with good intentions, it would be fair to say that Brussels at least tries to improve standards.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN’S health authorities provide fewer drug addicts with substitution treatment than do a majority of other European Union Member States, a statistical review by an EU drug-use agency has claimed.

The proportion of “problem drug users” given alternative medicines to wean them off their addiction ranges between six and 22 per cent in the UK, taking into account available data, estimates the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
SOME sensible words were spoken recently by the EU’s agriculture commissioner Franz Fischler on the way forward for farmers. His starting point was the quality of farm produce. Noone is going to say that quality has ever been far from farmers’ minds, but until recently it wasn’t really the first consideration.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A FINANCED global action plan to improve safety in the nuclear energy sector has been approved in principle by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. A number of countries have pledged around US$4.6 million to fund its programmes, although this falls far short of the US$12 million price tag claimed by the IAEA, which also wants a fund of US$20 million established to handle security emergencies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU Joint Research Centre’s reactor at Geel, the Netherlands, was to be restarted in March, following its shutdown in February for IAEA-led safety assessments. These have led to improved training and monitoring procedures.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LONG awaited International Criminal Court is poised to become reality next year, with the statute underpinning its legality coming into force on July 1.

This follows the anticipated ratification of the court’s Rome treaty by at least 60 counties who signed the agreement, which was struck in 1998.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FIRST stage of legal proceedings that could lead to Carlsberg and Heineken being fined heavily by the European Commission because of allegations of market fixing have been launched in Brussels.

Formal statements of objections were sent to both drinks giants by the Commission, claiming that they have been in breach of EU competition rules, notably Article 81 of the EU treaty, which bans cartels and other “damaging” concerted business practices.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s ambitious Galileo satellite navigation project was strongly backed by EU government leaders at their summit meeting in Barcelona and a decision to go ahead is now fairly certain to be taken by EU transport ministers at their Council on March 26th.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved a special Tonnage Tax in Spain, where the country’s maritime shipping companies pay tax on the capacity of their ships rather than the profit or loss that they generate.

Brussels approved the plan under its EU internal market powers, because it matches policies stated in the 1997 Commission guidelines on state aid to maritime transport and its new transport white paper.…