Search Results for: Switzerland

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

INTERNATIONAL travel in the last decade has become exponentially more secure, with countries all around the globe having reformed their systems to cope with transnational crime in a post-9/11 world – largely, through the increased collection, processing and legislation of passenger information.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN RIO DE JANEIRO

THE WORLD’S energy ministers are pondering policy responses to ‘The Future We Want’, a document summarising recommendations from the United Nations (UN) Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) which ended June 22 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.…

BY JONATHAN DYSON, IN BOLIVIA

THE INDUSTRIAL production of lithium carbonate and lithium-ion batteries in Bolivia has moved a step closer following the formation of a joint venture between Bolivia’s state-owned mining corporation Comibol and a South Korea consortium led by the country’s state-run mineral development corporation Korea Resources Corp.…

BY GERARD O’DWYER, IN HELSINKI

A TOUGH legislative response to the rising problem of money laundering-related crimes in Sweden appears to be having a meaningful impact on curbing illegal activities within the country – with the latest statistics from Finanspolisen, the Swedish financial crime police, revealing that while the number of reports pertaining to money laundering grew by 30% to 11,892 in 2010 (year-on-year) that figure dropped to 11,135 in 2011.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) taxation Commissioner Algirdas ?emeta has been angered by Austria and Luxembourg blocking moves to renegotiate the EU’s tax cooperation deals with Switzerland, Andorra, Monaco, Lichtenstein and San Marino. These countries currently transfer withholding taxes of 35% on savings accounts held by EU citizens.…

BY MARK ROWE

FOR products that are marketed for their ability to sooth and generate the feel-good factor, the sustainable sourcing of cosmetics ingredients causes plenty of headaches for manufacturers and suppliers. The industry is in a period of transition, in which several of the world’s multinationals are engaging in a step change in how they go about sourcing the oils they need, and the public wants.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is preparing to release calls for research proposals commanding millions of Euros of European Union (EU) funding, offering opportunities for innovative liquid fuel and oil production. The initiative is the last batch of funding under the outgoing EU seventh framework programme on research, which ends next year.…

BY MARK GODFREY, IN BEIJING

DINERS in Beijing were appalled recently to discover that restaurants on the city’s most famed dining street have been using recycled – or so called ‘gutter’ – cooking oil processed by an underground industry of oil collectors.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

PLASTICS companies in the European Union (EU) storing potentially dangerous chemicals on their premises will have to by 2015 abide by tougher management standards preventing industrial accidents. This is because the European Parliament, the European Commission and the EU Council of Ministers have struck an agreement on the contents of a new law – the Seveso III directive – that will include new safety rules for chemical-using businesses.…

BY ROBERT STOKES

SWITZERLAND just signed a so-called ‘Rubik deal’ with Austria to safeguard Swiss banking secrecy in return for it levying withholding taxes anonymously on undeclared savings and investments held in Switzerland by Austrian nationals.

The bilateral treaty with Austria, start date 2013, follows those with Britain and Germany, and has raised the hackles of the European Commission, which has questioned these agreements’ legality under the European Union (EU) Savings Tax Directive, which tries to erase loopholes allowing depositors to squirrel money away from tax assessors.…