Search Results for: Portugal

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WITH the summer holiday season in full swing, hold those calls to Stockholm: the Swedes have more time off than other Europeans, Germany’s IW economic institute has claimed. In an international survey of holidays taken by workers in 2003 in 14 western European countries, the Cologne-based think tank said Sweden was closely followed by the Netherlands (31 days) and Denmark (30 days).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CHARGES have been laid against alleged fraudsters in an Italy-based cigarette smuggling scam costing European treasuries Euro 31.6 million in duty. The public prosecutor of Asti, Italy, released details of the alleged con, involving 287,884 kg of cigarettes being smuggled with forged customs stamps being presented to Italian customs officials.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has formally threatened legal action against Spain, Italy, Ireland and Portugal for exempting all book lending institutions from their obligations to pay fees to copyright holders. If the countries do not within two months say how they intend to limit this universal right, the Commission could ask the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to order them to comply.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NATIONAL work accident statistics are keenly examined by occupational health practitioners, but they do not enable the safety of British workplaces to be compared against other European countries; that is where Eurostat, the European Union’s (EU) statistical agency comes in.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
FEVERISH efforts are being made to rescue the European Union’s (EU) software patent directive after suggestions that a number of member states voted for it “by mistake” in May and now seeking ways of reversing their positions. One of those seeking to change its vote – the Netherlands – said it mistakenly thought the measure incorporated amendments approved by the European Parliament which excluded patents for pure software.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has added six traditional Portuguese meat products to the European Union’s (EU) register of protected geographical indications. They are sausages Chouriço de Carne de Estremoz e Borba, Chouriço grosso de Estremoz e Borba, Paia de Toucinho de Estremoz e Borba, Paia de Lombo de Estremoz e Borba and Paia de Estremoz e Borba; and Morcela de Estremoz e Borba.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN’S tax burden as a proportion of GDP fell sharply in 2002 to 35.8% from 37.3% in 2001, confirming the UK as among the lightest taxed jurisdictions in the European Union (EU). The contrast is especially marked with its key competitors Germany (40.2% in 2002), France (44.2%), and Italy (41.7%), according to the latest available comparative figures from EU statistical agency Eurostat.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN is one of the safest countries in the world as regards fatal road accidents involving children along with Sweden, Japan and Italy, a report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has claimed. It says that more children are killed on the road than in any other type of accident, with South Korea, New Zealand, Portugal and the United States having the highest child road-fatality rates.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced that it is granting Portugal’s Comissão de Viticultura da Região dos Vinhos Verdes (CVRVV) Euro 882,320 over three years to help promote its products within the European Union (EU). Matching funding will come from the Portuguese government and the Comissão itself, making the programme’s total budget Euro 1.76 million.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has granted European Union (EU) competition authority clearance to US-based private equity investment group Carlyle Group acquiring full control of Spain’s Saprogal S.A. by from another American company, food giant ConAgra Foods Inc. Saprogal produces and supplies poultry products, pet food and animal feed mostly in Spain and Portugal, commanding annual sales exceeding Euro 250 million.…