Search Results for: european union

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has ordered American medicines information company IMS HEALTH (IMS) to abandon its refusal to allow rivals to copy its pharmaceutical sales and prescriptions data collection system in Germany.

In an unusual step, Brussels has used its powers as a competition authority to tell IMS to immediately licence the use of its 1860 brick structure method, over which it has copyright, “on commercial terms.”…

BY DEIRDRE MASON
A TOUGHER new attitude to take-off and landing slots at European Union airports is on the way, under a new proposed Regulation from the European Commission that was issued in June this year.

Airlines will no longer be able to regard their slots as a property right but rather, as permission to use airport facilities.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
EUROPE’S direct marketing organisations have expressed delight at a vote in a European Parliament committee to agree an opt-out system for electronic messaging in the EU Member States.

What the MEP’s are saying is that companies should not have to seek permission from consumers before sending them unsolicited commercial e-mails, or “spam,” (the so-called “opt-in” approach), but can operate on the basis that if the messages are unwanted the recipients can opt out.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE COMPLETION of the World Trade Organisation’s Agreement on Textiles and Clothing in 2005 will usher in a new world order for the industry, in which Europe will have to meet the challenge of unrestricted imports from major suppliers like China, India and Indonesia for the first time.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EU Council of Ministers has formally approved a three-year extension of the current flat-rate aid of Euro 480/hectare paid to European hops producers, up to and including the 2003 harvest. A Council statement has said that this would “allow decisions on providing aid to producers to be taken at the same time as decisions on special aid measures relating to temporary set-aside or permanent grubbing-up.”…

BY ALAN OSBORN
FRANCE, Ireland and Spain are to be taken to the European Court of Justice for their failure to recognise professional legal qualifications granted in other EU countries. The European Commission said the countries had not implemented Directive 98/5/EC, which entitles lawyers to practise permanently and without restriction, under their original professional title, in another Member State on the same basis as the host country’s own lawyers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SPECIALIST monitoring unit in the EU’s Joint Research Centre, has been using the latest satellite radar technology to track deliberate and accidental discharges of oil and other pollutants from shipping, encouraging the European Commission to take a stronger line in its maritime pollution policies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IRELAND is being threatened with legal action by the European Commission over its alleged failure to extend the EU product liability directive to primary agricultural foodstuffs, such as meat and game. Ireland had until last December to changes its law, to allow Irish food manufacturers, processors and caterers to pass on liability for defective products to farmers, where the blame is clear.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
ALL new vehicles sold in the EU from 2003 will carry daytime running lights and anti-lock brake systems under a commitment to protect pedestrians and cyclists made by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association and accepted today (Wednesday) by the European Commission.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE JAPANESE Automobile Manufacturers Association, (JAMA), has reached agreement with the European Commission that all new vehicles sold in the EU from 2003 will carry daytime running lights and anti-lock brake systems, as part of a voluntary package to improve pedestrian safety.…