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EU Directives (eu + directive)
Selected AbstractsProtocols for the diagnosis of quarantine pests,EPPO BULLETIN, Issue 3-4 2000EPPO member countries have recognized the need for a harmonized approach to detection and identification methods for quarantine pests. In 1998, EPPO started anew project to prepare diagnostic protocols for the quarantine pests of the EPPO region. The work is conducted by the Panel on Diagnostics, which is under the authority of the Working Party on Phytosanitary Regulations. The Panel consists of 10 experts in different fields. When necessary, expert groups on specific disciplines are called upon. The Panel agreed on a suitable common format for the protocols and a procedure for producing the best quality of diagnostic protocols. As there are about 325 quarantine pests for the region (listed in the EPPO A1 and A2 lists of quarantine pests and in the Annexes of EU Directive 77/93), it was necessary to decide upon a priority list of the organisms for which protocols should be developed first. At the moment, 52 protocols are at different stages of preparation. [source] From Boundary Drawing to Transitions: the Creation of Normativity under the EU Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and ControlEUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 2 2002Bettina Lange This article aims to make a contribution to debates about how to conceptualise normativity. It argues that normativity can not be just understood through defining it and in particular through identifying conceptual boundaries around the normative and the non-normative. Instead the article suggests that it is important to explore how transitions between the non-normative and the normative occur in practice. This argument is developed through a critical examination of literature on legal pluralism and an analysis of qualitative empirical data on the drafting of technical guidance documents under the European Union Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (96/61/EC). [source] Gene therapy legislation in The NetherlandsTHE JOURNAL OF GENE MEDICINE, Issue 10 2007D. A. Bleijs Abstract Several regulatory organisations are involved in the assessment of clinical gene therapy trials involving genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in The Netherlands. Medical, ethical and scientific aspects are, for instance, evaluated by the Central Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects (CCMO). The Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) is the competent authority for the environmental risk assessment according to the deliberate release Directive 2001/18/EC. A Gene Therapy Office has been established in order to streamline the different national review processes and to enable the official procedures to be completed as quickly as possible. Although the Gene Therapy Office improved the application process at the national level, there is a difference of opinion between the EU member states with respect to the EU Directive according to which gene therapy trials are assessed, that urges for harmonisation. This review summarises the gene therapy legislation in The Netherlands and in particular The Netherlands rationale to follow Directive 2001/18/EC for the environmental risk assessment. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] European best practice in blood transfusion: improvement of quality-related processes in blood establishmentsISBT SCIENCE SERIES: THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTRACELLULAR TRANSPORT, Issue 1 2007Christian Seidl Transfusion medicine is an expanding field comprising the interaction between several medical disciplines. Looking at the ,vein to vein process' covering the donation of blood by the voluntary donor up to the application of blood components to patients, modern blood transfusion services comprise a large variety of sociomedical functions. The production of standard cellular blood components, such as erythrocyte and thrombocyte concentrates, plasmatic blood components as well as special cellular components such as blood stem cells, mesenchymal cells or granulocytes will require an extensive laboratory testing repertoire to monitor product quality and safety. The European blood legislation has defined several key quality elements to achieve good manufacturing practice in the field of blood transfusion. In addition, GMP/GLP and ISO standards are used inter alia by blood establishments. Following the call for proposal in the field of public health by the European Commission, a consortium of blood establishments from 16 European member, acceding and EFTA states has been established in order to survey the individual quality management systems used by the participants and to developed guidelines for quality systems. These guidelines are aimed at assisting blood establishments in preparing for government inspections as required by Directive 2002/98/EC. They could also be used to adapt existing procedures to comply with current EU requirements and/or to prepare for accreditation and certification of these institutions. Major benefits from those quality management systems are (1) the definition of an overall quality policy, (2) improved personnel responsibility, qualification and training, (3) error and risk assessment system, (4) continuous improvement, (5) improved resource management, (6) performance improvement. The definition of cost,benefit relation between certification and accreditation of blood establishments will depend on the individual institution itself and the amount of processes covered. With the release of the new EU Directive 2005/62/EC, there are currently EU requirements available that describe in detail relevant processes to be covered by quality system following good practice used in blood establishments. A future challenge for transfusion medicine would be optimizing the synergetic effects expressed by the EU directive, GMP and ISO standards. [source] New Parliament, New Cleavages after the Eastern Enlargement?JCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 5 2010The Conflict over the Services Directive as an Opposition between the Liberals, the Regulators This article analyses the parliamentary debates and decision-making related to the highly contentious EU directive on services. It is intended as a contribution to the academic debate on political conflict lines in the European Parliament. Our argument is that neither the left,right cleavage nor a territorial one (old versus new Member States) can fully explain conflict at stake on socio-economic issues. Rather, what we can observe is cross-cutting opposition between ,regulators' and ,liberals'. [source] Die Vorteile des Staatsmonopols in der Gebäudeversicherung: Erfahrungen aus Deutschland und der SchweizPERSPEKTIVEN DER WIRTSCHAFTSPOLITIK, Issue 1 2001Thomas Von Ungern-Sternberg This paper compares the prices charged and the quality of service provided by state monopolies and private insurance companies on the property insurance market. Both the cross-section data from Switzerland and the time-series evidence from Germany strongly suggest that in this specific market the presence of state monopolies is very advantageous for the customers. This raises the question why German academic economists made practically no effort to defend their state insurance monopolies in the debate about the 3rd EU directive on property insurance. Is it possible that peer pressure prevents academic economists from standing up to defend state monopolies, even if these are clearly to the benefit of consumers? [source] Integrated environmental product innovation and impacts on company competitiveness: a case study of the automotive industry in the region of MunichENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 1 2008Ursula Triebswetter Abstract This paper examines the impact of integrated environmental product innovations on company competitiveness. In a regional case study about automotive, rail and commercial vehicle firms in Southern Germany it is found that integrated environmental product innovation is driven by factors such as regulatory pressure, the search for competitive advantages and technological lead as well as customer pressure. Regulatory pressure includes sector policies, such as emission standards, and wider non-sector energy conservation issues, at both national and international levels. For instance, EU directives on future use of renewable energy as well as national goals for reaching the Kyoto protocol play an important role in driving innovation. The study finds that integrated environmental product innovations driven by regulatory pressure produce similar competitiveness impacts as innovations undertaken voluntarily by companies. Such results yield supporting evidence for the so-called ,Porter hypothesis', which assumes that environmental legislation stimulates innovation and leads to ,win,win' situations , the simultaneous reduction of pollution and increase in productivity. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] The implementation of international nature conservation agreements in Europe: the case of the NetherlandsENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 3 2001Graham Bennett Nature conservation policy in European countries is increasingly determined by the requirements of a wide range of international agreements. The most important are two EU directives (the Birds Directive and the Habitats Directive) and four conventions (the Ramsar Convention, the Bern Convention, the Bonn Convention and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity). The main foci of these instruments are habitats and species that are of international importance or require international cooperation to secure their effective conservation. Despite the importance of these habitats and species, implementation of the instruments has been uneven. The Netherlands provides a interesting example of implementation issues. The legislation necessary to enable the government to legally designate areas that have to be protected under the Birds Directive was only adopted in 1998, 17 years after the deadline fixed by the directive. This legislation has enabled the government to nominate areas for designation under the Birds and Habitats Directive. However, not all the sites that fall under the criteria of the Directives have been included in the list, and the legislation does not include the required provision concerning compensation for areas that are protected under the Habitats Directive and then damaged by activities that are authorized in the public interest. In the case of the Ramsar Convention, the government is planning to increase the number of designated sites, but the total number of sites will still represent inadequately the types of wetland of international importance that are found in the Netherlands. Despite this uneven implementation, the instruments , particularly the EU Directives , are having far-reaching effects on nature conservation in Europe. The most important consequences are that ecological considerations are the sole and absolute criteria for determining whether a site should be protected under the EU Directives and that many areas that until now only enjoyed limited protection under the spatial planning system now have to be legally protected from virtually all forms of damage. However, in practice many development plans take only limited account of the biodiversity conservation requirements implied by international conventions. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment [source] Explaining Non-Compliance with European Union Procurement Directives: A Multidisciplinary PerspectiveJCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 2 2010KEES GELDERMAN Since their adoption in the 1970s, compliance with European Union (EU) procurement directives has been problematic. Many studies have reported on the effectiveness of the directives, mostly in terms of the impact on the openness of public procurement and the impact on cross-border trade. However, research on the explanation (or the lack) of compliance with EU directives is limited. This article identifies the directives which are most sensitive to non-compliance. A multidisciplinary model for explaining compliance is presented, drawing from criminal theory, economics, social psychology and public purchasing. The impact on compliance is quantified, using survey data from purchasing professionals of the Dutch Ministry of Defence. The results indicate that both the expected gains of compliance and the organizational pressure have a positive impact on compliance. In contrast, no support is found for the effect of certainty and severity of sanctions and the perceived resistance of suppliers in case of non-compliance. [source] Measuring Progress in Transition and Towards EU Accession: A Comparison of Manufacturing Firms in Poland, Romania and SpainJCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 5 2000Wendy Carlin This article provides new evidence on progress in transition and the ,readiness' for accession of enterprises in two EU applicant countries. A major innovation is to benchmark them against Spain. Approximately 200 manufacturing firms were surveyed in each of Poland, Romania and Spain. Newly-established private firms in both Poland and Romania are found to be growing the fastest, but on measures of integration and investment, it is new and privatized Polish firms that most resemble Spanish ones. Polish state-owned firms, and most Romanian enterprises, typically are less integrated. Polish firms tend to lag behind Spanish ones in complying with EU directives, but are ahead of Romanian ones, although awareness of and compliance with directives does not vary with ownership type. Progress in transition at the country level seems to be consistent with improvements in compliance with much of the acquis communautaire. [source] | |||||||||||||