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Terms modified by European Community Selected AbstractsThe use of economic, social and environmental indicators as a measure of sustainable development in SpainCORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2006Isabel Gallego Abstract In recent years the concept of corporate social responsibility has gained prominence among academics from a wide range of disciplines. According to the Green Paper issued by the Commission of the European Communities in July 2001, corporate social responsibility is defined as a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis. The problem is how firms have made known the information on corporate social responsibility. With this in mind, we undertook the present work in an attempt to verify empirically how certain Spanish firms present their economic, social and environmental information, how they use the indicators proposed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) that are accepted in all countries and how this information can affect sustainable development. To perform this study we examined some Spanish firms that present economic, social and environmental information according to the GRI framework. Certain relevant conclusions indicate that in Spain in the last few years there has been an increase and an improvement in the information given by firms on economic, social and environmental concerns and that the information most presented by firms has to do with the social indicators related to labour, practices and decent work, strategy and management, non-discrimination, freedom of association, child labour and forced and compulsory labour as well as the environmental indicators related to energy, water, biodiversity and emissions, effluents and waste. This information reveals the great importance afforded in Spain to social and environmental information for sustainable development. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] The General Provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European UnionEUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 4 2002R. Alonso García The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union provides the Union with a ,more evident' (as the European Council of Cologne asked for) framework of protection of the individuals before the public authorities within the European context, after more than thirty years (since the Stauder Case) of full confidence in the leading role played by the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Communities. This new normative catalogue of fundamental rights (included the so called ,aspirational fundamental rights') implies one more instrument of protection which has to find its own place with regard to the protection afforded by the national Constitutions and the international agreements on human rights, particularly the European Convention on Human Rights, which are already a privileged source of inspiration for Court of Justice of the European Communities. It is the main objective of the General Provisions of the Charter to clarify which is that place and the relationship with those other levels of protection as managed by their supreme interpreters (i.e., the Constitutional,or Supreme,Courts of the Member States of the Union and the European Court of Human Rights). [source] Emigration from China: A Sending Country PerspectiveINTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 3 2003Xiang Biao This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the policies pursued by the People's Republic of China (PRC) regarding the emigration of Chinese nationals. Most of the available literature on migration management has focused on receiving countries. With a few exceptions, little attention has been directed at migration management policies pursued in countries of origin. In the case of the PRC, policies regarding overseas Chinese have been fairly well documented and researched, but very little has been written about how the Chinese authorities manage ongoing emigration flows. This gap becomes particularly salient as the importance of the "partnership with the countries of origin" in devising migration policies is being increasingly acknowledged by receiving countries in Europe (Commission of the European Communities, 2000). Over the last 20 years, there have been significant changes in the Chinese Government's policies and perspectives on emigration. But, just like most other governments, the Chinese authorities do not have a single blanket policy covering all categories of emigrants. Emigration is normally managed on a case-by-case basis and the Government's attitude toward the same type of emigration may vary depending on different cases and circumstances. Because of this, this article examines China's major emigration-related policy spheres one by one. Specifically, six issues will be discussed: (1) exit control; (2) diaspora policy; (3) student migration; (4) labour export; (5) regulations on emigration agencies and, finally (6) the Government's response to human smuggling. This article shows both the coherence and the fragmentation in China's policies toward emigration. The coherence is due to the fact that all the policies are inherently linked to China's overall economic and social development strategy. The emigration management regime is sometimes fragmented partly because emigration consists of different streams and is handled by different Government departments, partly because some emigration issues (such as regulations on emigration agents) are very new for the Chinese Government and the authorities are still exploring them. Overall, the Chinese authorities increasingly see emigration as a means to enhance China's integration to the world and are keen to avoid conflicts with the international community over migration issues. At the same time, China's emigration policies need to be more balanced, in particular, the emigration of unskilled labour should be given more priority. [source] Bound and unextractable pesticidal plant residues: chemical characterization and consumer exposurePEST MANAGEMENT SCIENCE (FORMERLY: PESTICIDE SCIENCE), Issue 7 2004Heinrich Sandermann Jr Abstract Plants are well known to incorporate pesticides into bound and unextractable residues that resist solubilization in common laboratory solvents and are therefore not accessible to standard residue analysis. A characterization of such residues has been proposed for incorporation rates above trigger values of 0.05 mg kg,1 parent pesticide equivalents, or percentage values of 10% (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1995) or 25% (Commission of the European Communities, 1997) of the total radioactive residue. These trigger values are often exceeded. The present review describes the current status of the chemical characterization and animal bioavailability of bound and unextractable residues that may be xenobiotic in nature or result from natural recycling of simple degradation products. The latter case represents a mechanism of detoxification. Bound residues have been shown to be covalent or non-covalent in nature. With regard to the plant matrix molecules involved, incorporation into proteins, lignins, pectins, hemicelluloses and cutins has been demonstrated, and four covalent linkage types are known. Animal feeding experiments have revealed cases of low as well as high bioavailability. Many of the studies are limited by experimental uncertainties and by results only being reported as relative percentage values rather than absolute exposure. A preliminary value of absolute exposure from bound and unextractable residues is derived here for the first time from eight case studies. The mean exposure (ca 1.5 mg kg,1 pesticidal equivalents) exceeds some of the existing maximum residue levels (MRLs) of residual free pesticides that are typically in the range of 0.05,1 mg kg,1. A mathematical framework for the correction of current maximum residue levels is presented for cases of highly bioavailable bound residues. As bound pesticidal residues in food plants could represent a source of significant consumer exposure, an experimental test scheme is proposed here. It consists of basic chemical characterization, model digestibility tests and, in exceptional cases, animal bioavailability and additional toxicological studies. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry [source] Terminology of the BSCC, European Community and the Bethesda system: the boundary between low-grade and high-grade cytologyCYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 1 2009A. Herbert No abstract is available for this article. [source] Understanding the costs of an environmentally ,friendly' common agricultural policy for the European Union1,ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 1 2001Pamela M. Barnes Part of the bedrock of the European Union's (EU's) Environmental Policy is the principle that those who pollute the environment should pay for the cost of remedying the damage they cause (the polluter pays principle) (Article 174 para. 2 TEC ex Article 130r TEC). In addition environmental objectives must be integrated into all the sectoral policies of the European Union (Article 6 TEC ex Article 3c TEC). The Common Agricultural Policy's (CAP's) role at the centre of the EU's sectoral policies would appear to make it an ideal focus for implementing Article 6 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC). If integration of environmental protection can be achieved in this central area of the EU's activities then a major source of environmental degradation could be overcome. However, if these requirements are applied to European agriculture the sector will face a budgetary and financial crisis of even greater magnitude than at the present time. Recent reforms of the CAP have been designed with the objective of achieving an agricultural sector that is moving towards sustainability. As this article argues the political, social and economic significance of the agriculture sector is such that national governments of the EU have repeatedly shied away from adopting the measures, which could significantly reduce the pollution from the sector. The proposals for reform made by the Agricultural Commissioner, Franz Fischler, were amended by the meeting of the European Council that took place in Berlin on 24/25 March 1999. These amendments substantially weakened the ambitions of the strategy for development of the EU, the ,Agenda 2000' adopted in 1997, for a number of reasons (CEC, 1997). This article examines the reasons for the disappointments with the amended reforms and speculates on the possible future path that may be taken to improve matters. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Five Danish referendums on the European Community and European Union: A critical assessment of the Franklin thesisEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL RESEARCH, Issue 6 2002Palle Svensson Denmark had five referendums in the period from 1972 to 1998 dealing with Danish membership in the European Community, the Single European Act, the Maastricht Treaty, the Edinburgh Agreement and the Amsterdam Treaty. Did the Danes really address these issues and involve themselves actively in the policy,making process on a vital issue or did they merely vote for or against the current government? The latter option represents the ,second order' elections argument advanced by Mark Franklin and others (see Franklin's article in this issue). If correct in this instance, it may have important and negative consequences for the potential of referendums to involve citizens more directly in the way they are governed. In this article, the Franklin thesis is assessed on the basis of data on voting behaviour in five Danish referendums on Europe and the democratic implications of these findings are discussed. [source] Energy Security and the Division of Competences between the European Community and its Member StatesEUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 4 2008Sanam S. Haghighi However, dealing with energy issues in general and securing energy supply in particular is a new phenomenon within the EU's regulatory framework. One important issue which has not yet been discussed by legal scholars and which has been questioned repeatedly by energy experts, is the question who is actually responsible to guarantee security of energy supply in Europe? Is it the European Community alone? Is it the Member States alone? Or is it both? This question cannot be answered without a detailed legal analysis of the EU law in general, and EU law on division of competences between the Community and the Member States in particular. This article seeks to highlight the complications of this area of law within the EU and expand it to cover the energy sector in order to determine who and under what circumstances is responsible for guaranteeing security of energy supply for the consumers within the EU borders. [source] The Current Status and Prospects of the ,Strategic Partnership' between the EU and China: Towards the Conclusion of a Partnership and Cooperation AgreementEUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 6 2007Antoine Sautenet In the absence of a category of ,emerging countries' in international economic law, the Union must adapt its foreign policy with regard to this major economic and commercial power. Relations between the European Community and China are currently governed by a second-generation agreement from 1985. However, a new dynamic has been set in motion since 2003, by the drawing up of preparatory documents by both parties and joint declarations at annual summits bearing on the ,strategic partnership'. Seen in a long-term perspective, this partnership helps provide a measure of predictability in relations between the two partners, through combining elements of ,soft law' and ,hard law'. If the insertion of political dialogue into the strategic partnership seems to alter the coherence of the Union, notably with regard to the difficulties of implementing the dialogue on human rights, the added value of the partnership lies essentially in its economic and commercial aspects, through not only the putting into place of non-binding ,economic dialogues' which cover a large spectrum of the relationship, but also by the multiplication of sector-based accords in numerous areas (maritime transport, customs cooperation, etc.). This constant development has thus allowed parties, at the last annual summit, to envisage the conclusion of a new framework agreement: this is the origin of the mandate given to the Commission in December 2005 to conclude a partnership and cooperation agreement. This article will sketch out a forecast of the legal framework, measured against the yardsticks of Asiatic regional reconfigurations and the law of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The commercial risks of the relationship could imply the integration of the domains known as ,WTO plus' into the future agreement, notably in the field of investments and intellectual property rights, which would introduce a greater variety into the agreement. That being the case, the negotiations risk being equally fragile at the political level, in particular concerning the insertion of a clause of democratic conditionality in the future agreement. Also, any clash between the values and the interests of the EU would be uncomfortably highlighted during negotiations. [source] Looking for Coherence within the European Community*EUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 2 2005Stefano Bertea It focuses on a specific dimension of this relationship and shows how the appeals to coherence made by the European Court of Justice have shaped a particular branch of the European legal order, namely, the judicial review of Community acts. The analysis of the Court of Justice's case law in this field shows that in its extensive use of coherence the Court of Justice explored and brought into play different types of coherence and, while it failed to distinguish between them, it made use of sorts of coherence that thus far legal theorists have disregarded. The article concludes that a closer collaboration between legal theory and legal practice would be profitable for both legal theorists and Community law specialists. [source] Appointing and Censuring the European Commission: The Adaptation of Parliamentary Institutions to the Community ContextEUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 3 2001Paul Magnette The parliamentary model at the heart of European civic cultures has deeply influenced ,Constitutional reforms' in the European Community. But the EC is not a Parliamentary state and the transplant of national institutions in its own political context gives rise to hybrid practices. This paper examines this process of hybridation, and shows that new practices of appointment and censure are emerging in the Community, mixing classic parliamentary institutions with the crucial features of the EC itself. Focusing on recent tensions between the Council, the Commission, and the European Parliament, it shows that they are governed by national divisions, technocratic and legal reasoning rather than by classic majoritarian attitudes. It concludes that, while this new model of accountability might prove efficient in terms of inter-institutional controls, it remains symbolically inefficient, because it does not help citizens understand and accept the Community institutional model. [source] Legal Basis and Scope of the Human Rights Clauses in EC Bilateral Agreements: Any Room for Positive Interpretation?EUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 1 2001Elena Fierro It is well known nowadays that the European Community includes a so-called human rights clause into the framework agreements that it concludes with third countries. It is also widely recognised that, in virtue of the relevant provisions of the Vienna Convention on the Law of the Treaties, such a clause grants the Community a right to suspend the agreement should human rights and/or democratic principles be breached. The question to be explored in the present paper is whether, in the light of its legal basis, the clause fulfils a mere ,negative' or ,sanctioning' function or, by contrast, there is room for the pursuit of positive measures of active promotion of human rights,that is the granting of technical and financial aid. It is argued here that the clauses present an ideal starting point for the pursuit of a comprehensive human rights policy at the EU level. Such a policy should encompass positive measures in the first place, systematic dialogue in the second, and suspension or negative measures of less extent only as ultima ratio in particularly grave cases which cannot be addressed through ordinary (dialogue and aid) routes. [source] The Institutionalised Participation of Management and Labour in the Legislative Activities of the European Community: A Challenge to the Principle of Democracy under Community LawEUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 1 2000Gabriele Britz The legislative procedure established by Articles 138-139 of the Amsterdam Treaty is sensitive with regard to democratic prerequisites, but does not, in the final analysis, breach the formal principle of democracy established under Community law. Although the establishment of a parliamentary right of consultation is desirable, sufficient democratic legitimation is nonetheless supplied by virtue of Council and Commission participation within the legislative procedure and by their unlimited right to examine and reject substantive provisions designed by management and labour. By the same measure, the participation of management and labour in the Articles 138-139 legislative process is not of itself sufficient to create democratic legitimation. However, although management and labour organisations might never claim to represent the public of Europe as a whole, they can contribute to the ,substantive' legitimacy of European social law-making where they are adequately representative of persons and groups affected by EC legislative acts and take positive steps to ensure that the interests of such persons are reflected in secondary EC law. Accordingly, the Commission and the Council should review the representative nature of organisations engaged in European social law-making, paying particular attention to under-represented interests and, if necessary, should also make use of their right of rejection where privately negotiated agreements neglect these interests. [source] The European Commission: The Limits of Centralization and the Perils of ParliamentarizationGOVERNANCE, Issue 3 2002Giandomenico MajoneArticle first published online: 17 DEC 200 The idea of an inevitable process of centralization in the European Community (EC)/European Union (EU) is a myth. Also, the metaphor of "creeping competences," with its suggestion of a surreptitious but continuous growth of the powers of the Commission, can be misleading. It is true that the functional scope of EC/EU competences has steadily increased, but the nature of new competences has changed dramatically, as may be seen from the evolution of the methods of harmonization. The original emphasis on total harmonization, which gives the Community exclusive competence over a given policy area, has been largely replaced by more flexible but less "communitarian" methods such as optional and minimum harmonization, reference to nonbinding technical standards, and mutual recognition. Finally, the treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam explicitly excluded harmonization for most new competences. Thus, the expansion of the jurisdiction of the EC/EU has not automatically increased the powers of the Commission, but has actually weakened them in several respects. In addition, the progressive parliamentarization of the Commission risks compromising its credibility as an independent regulator, without necessarily enhancing its democratic legitimacy. Since the member states continue to oppose any centralization of regulatory powers, even in areas essential to the functioning of the internal market, the task of implementing Community policies should be entrusted to networks of independent national and European regulators, roughly modeled on the European System of Central Banks. The Commission would coordinate and monitor the activities of these networks in order to ensure the coherence of EC regulatory policies. More generally, it should bring its distinctive competence more clearly into focus by concentrating on the core business of ensuring the development and proper functioning of the single European market. This is a more modest role than that of the kernel of a future government of Europe, but it is essential to the credibility of the integration process and does not overstrain the limited financial and legitimacy resources available to the Commission. [source] Consumer empowerment: global context, UK strategies and vulnerable consumersINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSUMER STUDIES, Issue 4 2008Carol Brennan Abstract Globalization has created new consumer needs and wants, and resulted in consumer confusion regarding the increasing complexity of products and services. This has stimulated global interest in educating and empowering consumers. The UK government has made a very ambitious commitment to ensure that the framework for consumer empowerment and support is at the level of the best in the world by 2008. The government, many consumer organizations and regulators believe that empowered consumers are key to the success of competitive markets. Two national strategies to co-ordinate activities in the UK have been developed by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The OFT consumer education strategy aims to deliver targeted, effective consumer education by increasing co-ordination and making the best use of available resources. The FSA is leading a financial capability strategy designed to deliver change to improve the UK's financial capability. Both strategies share a vision of educated and confident consumers making informed choices about the products and services they buy, and both aim to empower vulnerable consumers. Given the global interest and the development of national strategies, it is useful to consider what is meant by the term consumer empowerment. Is there a shared view of consumer empowerment internationally? Does the education of consumers result in empowered consumers? To what extent do the national strategies address the empowerment of vulnerable, disadvantaged, excluded or susceptible consumers? These questions will be addressed in this article which reviews the global context for the consumer education and empowerment agenda and considers key UK developments, with particular reference to the needs of vulnerable consumers. The study found that the language of consumer empowerment is gaining prominence in policy and strategy documents at the highest levels internationally in the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Community, and nationally in the UK. [source] Labor Force Trends and Immigration in Europe,INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW, Issue 3 2005Serge Feld Labor force trends up to 2025 for the fifteen countries (before May 1, 2004) of the European Community are examined. Will demographic decline have an early effect on manpower volume? An estimation is made to determine whether present migratory flow levels in these countries will be sufficient to counter labor force stagnation. Manpower trend scenarios are proposed for each country. They show highly contrasting situations. These countries favor different policies for mobilizing and increasing their manpower volume. There is wide divergence between the various EU countries as concerns their demogra hic situation and labor force partici ation rate as well as their social security systems. labor force partici ation rate as well as their social security systems. Considering these highly diverse national characteristics, the difficulty in arrivin at a consensus on EU migratory policy harmonization is stressed [source] Review of Swedish regulation and monitoring of aquacultureJOURNAL OF APPLIED ICHTHYOLOGY, Issue 4-5 2000H. Ackefors Summary The aquaculture industry is governed by national Acts, ordinances and regulations. Provisions for the industry have been slightly modified since Sweden entered the EU in 1995. Swedish environmental legislation is applied when potential farmers ask for permission to cultivate. The Acts regulate farming sites, the discharge of water from farms and the species and strains that are permitted to be cultivated. The application procedure for fish farming is comprehensive and judged with regard to the Swedish Acts. Supervision of the aquaculture industry is performed by the County Administrative Board and sometimes also by the Local Administration. All farming units producing stocking material are strictly controlled in an elaborate scheme. Sweden has adopted European Community (EC) directives for shellfish, fish and water quality. Criteria for classifying water quality for concentrations of organic compounds and metals in blue mussels are worked out, and toxins in blue mussels are monitored. EC directives for fresh water quality which aim to sustain fish stocks are adopted as Swedish conditions. [source] DEHYDRATION CHARACTERISTICS OF PAPAYA (CARICA PUBENSCENS): DETERMINATION OF EQUILIBRIUM MOISTURE CONTENT AND DIFFUSION COEFFICIENTJOURNAL OF FOOD PROCESS ENGINEERING, Issue 5 2009R. LEMUS-MONDACA ABSTRACT This study determined the drying kinetics behavior of papaya at different temperatures (40, 50, 60, 70 and 80C). Desorption isotherms were determined at 5, 20 and 50C over a relative humidity range of 10,95%. The Guggenheim, Anderson and de Boer models were found to be suitable for description of the sorption data. The samples reached equilibrium moisture of 0.10 ± 0.01 g water/g dry matter. Fick's second law model was used to calculate the effective diffusivity (6.25,24.32 × 10 - 10 m2/s). In addition, experimental data were fitted by means of seven mathematical models. The kinetic parameters and the diffusion coefficient were temperature-dependent and were evaluated by an Arrhenius-type equation. The modified Page model obtained the best-fit quality on experimental data according to statistical tests applied. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The main utility of this study is the application of both different empirical models and the diffusional model in tropical fruits' dehydration, which can be considered a basis for a very accurate estimation of drying time and the optimization of the same process. Two newly mathematical models are proposed in this study, through which a good fit on the data of experimental moisture content was achieved. The study of drying of papaya cultivated in Chile engages a great technological interest, because this product is widely used in the development of different products such as candying, canning, juice, syrup and marmalade. In addition, papayas cultivated in Chile, along with other tropical fruits cultivated in Brazil, Colombia and the Caribbean, have become especially important in the exportations of these countries. The major markets for these products include the U.S.A., the European Community and Asia. [source] The EuroPrevall surveys on the prevalence of food allergies in children and adults: background and study methodologyALLERGY, Issue 10 2009I. Kummeling Background:, The epidemiological surveys in children and adults of the EU-funded multidisciplinary Integrated Project EuroPrevall, launched in June 2005, were designed to estimate the currently unknown prevalence of food allergy and exposure to known or suspected risk factors for food allergy across Europe. We describe the protocol for the epidemiological surveys in children and adults. This protocol provides specific instructions on the sampling strategy, the use of questionnaires, and collection of blood samples for immunological analyses. Methods:, The surveys were performed as multi-centre, cross-sectional studies in general populations. Case,control studies were nested within these surveys. The studies in children aged 7,10 years and adults aged 20,54 years were undertaken in eight centres representing different social and climatic regions in Europe. Results:, After a community-based survey collecting basic information on adverse reactions to foods, all those stating they had experienced such reactions, as well as of a random sample of those stating ,no reactions' to foods, completed a detailed questionnaire on potential risks and exposures. Also a blood sample was taken to allow serological analysis to establish patterns of food and aeroallergen sensitization. We also included a questionnaire to schools on their preparedness for dealing with food allergy amongst pupils. Subjects reporting adverse reactions to foods and sensitized to the same food(s) were called in for a full clinical evaluation that included a double blind placebo controlled food challenge (DBPCFC), following a protocol which is described in detail elsewhere. Conclusions:, The outcome of these studies will help to improve our understanding of several important aspects of food allergies in the European Community, providing for more well-informed policies and effective measures of disease prevention, diagnosis and management. [source] Conditional recognition as an instrument of ethnic conflict regulation: the European Community and YugoslaviaNATIONS AND NATIONALISM, Issue 2 2002Richard Caplan The European Community's conditional recognition of new states in Yugoslavia in 1991,2 represents the revival of an approach to ethnic conflict management that harks back to the Congress of Berlin (1878) and the minority treaties negotiated at the end of the First World War. Despite the historic parallels, and the continued relevance of this approach to ethnic conflict regulation, scholars have given scant attention to the strategic logic governing the EC's use of recognition. This article seeks to recover the conceptual thinking behind the EC's recognition policy. It argues that however much extra-strategic considerations may have informed EC policy and however imperfectly that policy may have been implemented, conditional recognition represented a genuine attempt to address some of the presumed sources of violent conflict in the region. [source] Klimapolitik: Kyoto-Protokoll und Emissionshandel für CO2 -Zertifikate in der EU1PERSPEKTIVEN DER WIRTSCHAFTSPOLITIK, Issue 3 2005Wolfgang Ströbele Also every economist knows that the institutional conditions and the rules of the game are important. This basic idea stood behind the introduction of a CO2 -emissions trading system within the European Community starting in 2005. Since the starting point is the Kyoto-protocol with its subset of relevant states involved and the rules agreed upon there, one must ask whether the EU CO2-trading system is really an instrument that helps to reach the Kyoto goals more efficiently. A positive answer to this question is very doubtful. The new European subsystem is only valid for CO2 while Kyoto knows six greenhouse gases, the EU trading periods are 2005,2007 and 2008,2012 while Kyoto is only relevant for the second period, the integration with all flexible instruments of Kyoto is not guaranteed from the beginning. The plants involved are power plants and plants with high energy intensity. Since the technological levels of these plants are rather similar in Europe, the difference in marginal abatement cost will not be large enough to offset the rather high transaction cost of the special EU system. Furthermore, the heating systems and small scale plants of industry are not included in the trading system. The same holds true for traffic, households and the service sector. Drawing a borderline between CO2 -policy there and the trading activities will cause inefficiencies. If CO2 -prices are high, the main incentive of the trading system will be a large shift from domestic production to production abroad without any CO2 -restrictions. Leakage-effects will then be dominant. With low CO2 -prices the special European bureaucratic system will not create enough efficiency gains to cover the trading system's cost. [source] A systematic investigation on the influence of the chemical treatment of natural fibers on the properties of their polymer matrix compositesPOLYMER COMPOSITES, Issue 5 2004Jerico Biagiotti This paper reports a systematic study of the effects on composite properties of different chemical treatments on natural fibers. Both short flax fibers and flax cellulose pulp in a polypropylene matrix have been investigated. The influence of treatments on fiber properties was investigated by means of spectroscopic, thermal and mechanical tests. Moreover, the effects of fiber treatment on the crystallinity of the matrix were analyzed using differential scanning calorimetry and optical microscopy. The mechanical properties of the composites obtained were studied using tensile and bending tests. It is shown that most of the main properties of the composites can be improved by adequately treating the fibers. The results of this study provide a database mainly devoted to material selection for the automotive industry. This research has been performed as a part of the ECOFINA project in the framework of the 5th European Research Program of the European Community. Polym. Compos. 25:470,479, 2004. © 2004 Society of Plastics Engineers. [source] Legitimacy for a Supranational European Political Order,Derivative, Regulatory or Deliberative?RATIO JURIS, Issue 1 2002Massimo La Torre This paper discusses some models purported to legitimise a European supranational legal order. In particular, the author focuses on an application of the so-called regulatory model to the complex structure of the European Community and the European Union. First of all, he tackles the very concept of legitimacy, contrasting it with both efficacy and efficiency. Secondly, he summarises the most prominent positions in the long-standing debate on the sources of legitimation for the European Community. Thirdly, in this perspective, he analyses several, sometimes contradictory, notions of the rule of law. His contention is that we can single out five fundamental notions of the rule of law and that some but not all of them are incompatible with or oppose democracy. Finally, the paper addresses the regulatory model as a possible application of the rule of the law to the European supranational order. The conclusion is that the regulatory model should be rejected if it is presented as an alternative to classical democratic thought, though it might be fruitful if reshaped differently and no longer assessed from a functionalist standpoint of deliberation. [source] Denationalization and the Very Idea of Democratic Constitutionalism: The Case of the European CommunityRATIO JURIS, Issue 3 2001Oliver Gerstenberg Within the current debates about Euro-constitutionalism, the conventional options are either to defend a vision of the European Union (EU) which separates global economic law from national sovereignty, and thus relies on the legitimizing powers of free markets, or to regard the legitimation problem (at least under current conditions) as beyond solution: This view argues that any further progress towards an ever closer Union would inevitably increase the legitimation deficit and that therefore the capacity for political action of the nation state should be protected or restored. This paper seeks to break the stranglehold of the, as is argued, false dichotomy (global markets vs. national democracy), and it argues that an extension of democracy beyond the nation state is possible. [source] The learning credit card: A tool for managing personal development,BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Issue 2 2008Nick Rushby This is the report of a five month study, undertaken by Sundridge Park Training Technologies in association with Guildford Educational Services to assess the potential of smart card technology to support learning and the management of learning. The study had two strands,the state of the art of the technology and its potential for supporting, delivering and managing learning. In addition to a study of the literature and extensive discussions with people using smart cards, potential users of smart card and visionaries, the project team developed two illustrative systems using cards to store personal data relating to education and training. The term ,smart card' is often used loosely to describe three different types of card, each of which is similar in general shape and size to a traditional credit card. These are: memory cards, laser cards,and true smart cards incorporating a processor and memory. This study has been concerned with memory cards and smart cards. The focus for smart card applications has been predominantly financial: there are relatively few applications in education or training. A notable exception is the large scale project at the University of Bologna which uses smart cards to manage the progress and achievements of a large number of students in the Department of Electronics. The two illustrative systems provided valuable experience of using memory cards and smart cards in quasi-real education and training applications. They highlighted the problems of limited memory capacities and confirmed the high level of user acceptance reported by other trials. We can expect considerable advances in the technology of both memory cards and smart cards over the next months and years. The memory capacities of both types of cards will increase many-fold and the unit costs will fall as large quantities of cards are produced for financial applications. Education and training applications will benefit from this expanding market. The major surprise from the study was the level of interest in the work and the enthusiasm expressed by almost all of those who came to hear of it. The general level of awareness of smart card technology was found to be low. However, the requirement for a system which will enable individuals to manage and own their learning on an extended timescale was generally recognised. Some of the possible applications for smart cards and memory cards in education and training had emerged before the official start of the study and it is clear that the technology is potentially pervasive. The project team and those consulted identified a wide range of possible applications both in education and in training. These focussed on assessment, personal course planning and management, identification of relevant learning opportunities, and the ownership of learning. It was felt that, over the next few years, smart cards are very likely to be in common use as credit cards for financial applications. Therefore, their use for education and training should be planned now. The recommendations from the study are that: More detailed studies are needed to find out how smart cards and memory cards could be used by different organisations in a fully operational system; Standards should be established for smart card applications in education and training, similar to those governing financial applications; Applications should be developed after the standards have been established. To be convincing, these should take a case study approach with small pilot studies in a variety of contexts and must follow real needs rather than attempt to drive them; The case studies would then form the basis for a campaign to increase awareness of smart cards and their potential for education and training, together with a programme for building an infrastructure to support the proposed systems. The public sector should fund the task of developing standards and providing interfaces with existing educational systems and projects to demonstrate the feasibility of various applications. Since educational standards have a European dimension, the European Community may be a source of support for work in the area of standards. At the same time, private sector funding should be sought for skill development and career development systems in industry and in education. The Training Agency itself should consider the application of smart card technology to the control and management of the Youth Training Scheme (YTS). [source] Normative Power Europe: A Contradiction in Terms?JCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 2 2002Ian Manners Twenty years ago, in the pages of the, Journal of Common Market Studies, Hedley Bull launched a searing critique of the European Community's ,civilian power' in international affairs. Since that time the increasing role of the European Union (EU) in areas of security and defence policy has led to a seductiveness in adopting the notion of ,military power Europe'. In contrast, I will attempt to argue that by thinking beyond traditional conceptions of the EU's international role and examining the case study of its international pursuit of the abolition of the death penalty, we may best conceive of the EU as a ,normative power Europe'. [source] Acquiring a Community: The Acquis and the Institution of European Legal OrderEUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 4 2003Hans Lindahl The emblematic manifestation of this passage, in the framework of the European legal order, is the acquis communautaire: what is the nature of the process that leads from acquired community to acquiring a community? In a first, preparatory, step, it will be argued that determinate conceptions of truth, time and the giving and taking of reason underlie the process of acquiring a European community. These findings are confronted, in a second step, with Antonio Negri's theory of the multitude as a constituent power, which opposes revolutionary self-determination to representation. Deconstructing this massive opposition, this paper explores three ways in which representation is at work in revolutionary self-determination. As will become clear in the course of the debate, instituting (European) community turns on the interval linking and separating law ,and' disorganised civil society. [source] Advanced Light Microscopy and Portuguese FolkloreIMAGING & MICROSCOPY (ELECTRONIC), Issue 3 2006ELMI Meeting 2006 at Ofir, Portugal Those who may have asked themselves 6 years ago, when the European Light Microscopy Initiative (ELMI, http://cci.sahlgrenska.gu.se/elmi/) meeting took place for the first time, if this really is what the European community of microscopists was waiting for, have a clear answer by now: Yes!, the ELMI conference has developed into an excellent platform for communication between scientists, specialists and manufacturers. [source] The decline of euro M&AJOURNAL OF CORPORATE ACCOUNTING & FINANCE, Issue 6 2005Bruce A. Benet When the European community adopted the euro as a common currency, pundits were optimistic. It was supposed to open the way for beneficial mergers. But much of the expected merger mania never materialized. What happened? © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||