EU Legislation, Initiatives, etc.

LDA: The London Development Agency has published the prospectus for applications to a £20m fund of combined European Social Fund (ESF) and LDA money, which is aimed at groups who face the biggest barriers to work in London and will fund a range of activities, such as job search advice & support, basic skills and vocational qualifications.

Applications for funding will need to be completed by 14 January 2008.  Projects funding will start from April 2008. A further tranche of £20m funding will become available from the LDA in the summer of 2008.
Press release ~ European Social Fund (ESF) ~ How to apply

BERR: The UK government has welcomed an EU-wide ban on the production, marketing, import & export of cat and dog fur. The ban has been approved and introduced into EU law by the European Council of Ministers and will apply from 31 December 2008.
 
The final EU proposals allow for two very limited exceptions (for taxidermy and specific educational purposes) but all other commercial trade will be illegal.  There has been considerable concern about the trade in cat & dog fur across the EU although, to date, there has been little evidence of imports into the UK.
Press release ~ Cat and Dog Fur - BERR ~  BBC news item ~ Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade ~ RSPCA - Fur
 
ScotGov: The Scottish Government has secured 40% (£38.83m) of the UK budget for a new European grants scheme for Scotland's fishing and aquaculture industries, which will be split between the Scottish Highlands and Islands Convergence area (£12.41m) and the Lowland Scotland Non-Convergence area (£26.42m).

The new European Fisheries Fund is designed to help modernise and secure the sustainability and international competitiveness of the fishing industry. It replaces the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) grant programme which ran between 2000 and 2006.
Press release ~ European Fisheries Fund ~ Questions and Answers on the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) ~ ScotGov fishing grants
 
CLG: Fire safer cigarettes (also known as Reduced or Lower Ignition Propensity cigarettes) look set to be introduced as the Government supports a new agreement across the EU to a set of standards that will enable the manufacture of these cigarettes which, if dropped or left unattended, will soon go out.
 
Cigarettes burn at hundreds of degrees Celsius and as currently manufactured they will usually continue burning down to the filter - whether they are being smoked or not.  A dropped or poorly extinguished cigarette can start a devastating fire, and smoking materials (predominantly cigarettes) are the single biggest cause of both fires and fire deaths.
 
Fire safer cigarettes are produced differently - bands of thicker paper placed down the length of the cigarette act as 'speed bumps' will extinguish it if it's not being smoked and therefore provide greater - but not total - protection against accidental fires.  
 
Although the European standard setting process is likely to take several years, the government will shortly be consulting on the introduction of an early standard for the UK based on the USA model.
Press release ~ Reduced or Lower Ignition Propensity cigarettes ~ CLG: Reduced Ignition Propensity Cigarettes ~ General Product Safety Quick Facts - BERR ~ CEN, the EU's standards making body
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