Search Results for: Netherlands

IT is a long way to the UK from the German terminus of the Russian-dominated Nord Stream gas pipeline – but major energy companies are seriously considering building a fixed link to Britain. BP has been in talks with Gazprom, the UK and the Russian government.…

INDIA’s auditors have had a difficult time in the court of public opinion since the revelations of the USD1 billion Satyam Computer Services scandal. A new Companies Bill might change that – although it will also inflict some pain on India’s auditors.…

SPAIN, Austria and the Netherlands have been criticised for failing to prosecute cases involving bribery of foreign officials despite being longstanding signatories to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Convention on combating graft in international business. An OECD report published this month found that: in 13 years since adopting the convention, Spain has not prosecuted a single individual or company; Austrian authorities are investigating seven such cases but have failed to convict anyone since the convention came into force there in 1999; and a lack of resources was evident in Netherlands prosecuting 14 out of 22 foreign bribery allegations received by Dutch law enforcers.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) should be the second supplier of pork to the Japanese market, up from the fourth place now, once a planned EU-Japan free trade agreement (FTA) is in place, Jean-Luc Mériaux, secretary general of the European Livestock and Meat Trading Union (UECBV) told globalmeatnews.com…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) offers a more favourable investment environment compared to north America or south-east Asia in the eyes of Chinese investors, according to a recently released study of Chinese companies investing in Europe. Africa however is seen as the most welcoming destination for Chinese investment, by 85% to 15%, according to the survey of 74 Chinese firms carried out by the EU Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC), in cooperation with KPMG and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.…

THE BRITISH government is creating a unique regime of energy price incentives to spur commercialisation of carbon capture and storage systems, yet significant barriers remain to unlocking the billions of Pounds Sterling needed to build a CCS industry of sufficient mass in the UK able to create economies of scale for investors.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) Japanese knitwear manufacturers are assessing the opportunities offered by the planned EU-Japan free trade agreement (FTA), with negotiations about to begin, having been authorised by the European Union (EU) member states before Christmas.

“We will try to develop good contacts with the Japanese industry to try to come up with solutions during the negotiations that could be beneficial for both whenever possible”, said Luisa Santos, head of international trade at the European apparel and textile confederation (Euratex).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL AND ROB STOKES

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has rejected final appeals by Dutch brewers Heineken, (including subsidiary Heineken Nederland) and Bavaria NV, against European Commission fines of Euro EUR198 million and EUR20.71 million respectively over a Netherlands beer cartel.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, RAGHAVENDRA VERMA AND KITTY SO

THE DEMAND for eco-friendly additives is growing and will continue to, as long as the paints and coatings incorporating them have a similar price and functionality those with regular additives, according to Carine Lefèvre, general manager at the Belgium-based Coatings Research Institute (CoRI).…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

China

Between the worsening Eurozone crisis dampening demand in key export markets, sourcing rivals from neighbouring countries becoming increasingly competitive, the strengthening Chinese yuan and rising labour costs, analysts warned in August that Chinese textile and clothing manufacturers’ business would struggle for the rest of 2012.…