Search Results for: european union⊂mit=Search

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is investigating whether Brazil has failed to stick to a promise to scrap a minumum-price regime on certain textile products, which had restricted the amount of EU exports that could enter its market.

World Trade Organisation disputes proceedings had been launched by Brussels because of the problem, which especially affected ‘home textiles,’ such as mattress ticking, carpets and rugs, with Belgian and Spanish producers being the hardest hit.…

KEITH NUTHALL
FRANCE has been ordered by the European Commission to recover 100 million French Francs, (Euro 15.2 million), which it paid to ailing textile and clothing company Manufacture Corre(E IS ACUTE)zienne de Ve(E HAS CIRCUMFLEX)tements Ve(E HAS CIRCUMFLEX)tements (MCV).

Brussels had not been notified about the payments, which it says broke EU state aid rules, because they did not promote effective investment in the company which would have allowed it to become self-sufficient.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has attempted to speed up preparations to launch the European Food Authority, by setting up an interim scientific advisory forum that will provide expert advice on food policy, ahead of the establishment of a permanent committee.…

BY KATE REW
A MORATORIUM on the drilling of oil and gas reserves in the American portion of the Great Lakes could be lifted this autumn, just as President George Bush unveils his plans to dramatically increase the US search for new energy reserves.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is seeking legal authority to undermine the series of bilateral ‘open skies’ agreements struck between individual EU Member States, and the USA.

These deals allow airlines from both sides the right to fly to each others’ territory and on to another country, but not to undertake onward domestic flights to a neighbouring terminal.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Union has voiced “disappointment and concern” at a decision by the US Department of Commerce to impose provisional countervailing duties on imports of low enriched uranium from the EU.

European Commission officials said that the case concerned uranium that had been processed for use in electricity generation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SHORTAGE in veterinary medicines for meat and dairy livestock should be tackled by a pan-European licensing system, enabling animal pharmaceuticals to move more freely between Member States, the European Parliament has claimed. In a resolution on the problem, MEP’s backed short term plans from the European Commission to make more drugs available, after EU legislation capping residues of veterinary medicines in meat and dairy products led to the number of medicines being produced falling more steeply than had been expected.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PROPOSED European Union directive that would restrict spamming and other controversial online marketing devices for financial services has failed to secure approval at the EU Council of Ministers, despite having been tabled in 1998. A communiqué from the council for the European internal market said, that following a long debate, ministers were “not in a position to reach agreement by qualified majority on this issue.”…

KEITH NUTHALL
IN the world’s continually growing urban communities, household consumption of water accounts for the bulk of demand, and as such, has to be the target of conservation strategies, for them to maximise their effectiveness.

However, a rather gloomy report from the European Environment Agency has claimed that high prices and lack of information are preventing many households from using devices that can substantially cut their water consumption.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed that sulphur should be banned from petrol in the EU by 2011, and has proposed that sulphur-free petrol and diesel should be made available in every Member States from January 1, 2005.

Brussels thinks sulphur elimination is important, because the chemical damages catalytic converters and makes them less efficient.…