Search Results for: Switzerland

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PRACTICE of allowing companies to deduct bribes paid to secure contracts overseas from their domestic tax bills is still widespread, with a United Nations report saying it was allowed in 50 per cent of countries surveyed. The paper on how the organisation’s 1996 declaration against Corruption and Bribery in International Commercial Transactions said that it was however banned in Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Iceland, Nigeria, Norway, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
“SERIOUS concern” has been expressed by the European Commission over the failure of a number of Member States to set up telecommunications and IT networks to establish a New Computerised Transit System, which should seal an administrative loophole bleeding millions of Euro’s in defrauded revenue.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission announced today (Wednesday) that under the EU Merger Regulation it has approved the acquisition of the whole of the insurance business of the Deutsche Bank of Germany by the Zurich Financial Services Group of Switzerland.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A BID by a group of district heating companies to overturn massive fines levied by the European Commission, which found they had been participating in an illegal cartel, has been thrown out by the European Court of Justice’ Court of First Instance.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FOOD safety and quality need to be improved in all European countries because of the increase in food-borne diseases in the past decade, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have said.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A LETTER signed by 108 scientists and researchers has been sent to the European Commission, calling for a greater priority to be given to biomedical studies in the oncoming Euro 16.2 billion Sixth Framework Programme for research. The experts, from the EU, the USA, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Poland, the Ukraine and Israel, claimed that although the preceding fourth and fifth programmes earmarked significant sums of money for their subject, the new scheme “offers little or nothing for them.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A RESIDENCY qualification for directors of companies established in the Alpine Principality of Liechtenstein, set up to help its authorities fight abuse of its liberal business laws, including money laundering, has been declared illegal.

The European Free Trade Area Court has ruled that the regulation discriminates against citizens of other EFTA countries, (Switzerland, Iceland and Norway), breaching fair trade treaty commitments made by Liechtenstein on joining the association.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A NEW model contract drawn up by the European Commission has been published to try and simplify life for companies engaged in personal data transfers while at the same time safeguarding them from claims under EU data protection legislation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nation’s Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries has financial commitments from the private and public sector of US$1.5 billion, the World Health Organisation has claimed. The first meeting of the fund’s board was to have taken place on January 28.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
BRITAIN and the Netherlands have been authorised by the EU council of finance ministers to begin negotiations with associated territories – in the UK’s case the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Caribbean dependent territories – for the elimination of secret savings accounts.…