Medical Physics is a field of applied physics and as such a comparatively young discipline. The roots of Medical Physics go back to the application of ionising radiation in diagnostics and therapy in the beginning of the last century. Between the years 1950 and 1970, the increasing importance and specialisation of Medical Physics led to the foundation of Medical Physics societies in most Europe...

The Protocol on the protection and welfare of animals annexed to the Amsterdam Treaty (1997) establishing the European Community requires that in formulating and implementing agriculture and transport policies, the Community and the Member States shall pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals. In the field of animal welfare, transport has been, and still is today, cause of much co...

This paper analyzes the nature of e-commerce policy actions in three European countries. Compiling the EU and national policy instruments into four groups (regulation and legislation, knowledge diffusion, economic incentives and e-government), France is viewed as a front-runner with early Minitel applications but loosing steam during the EC rush. Germany is the European EC power house with a la...

In 1998, the european Parliament responded to the increasing public concern about potential adverse effects of chemicals that interfere with the endocrine system in wildlife and in humans by calling on the European Commission to take specific action regarding “endocrine Disrupters” (tab. 1). the major objectives were to improve legislative frameworks and to reinforce research efforts and commun...

The recent revision of the legal framework for authorization of use of plant protection products and pesticides within the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA; Regulation EC 1107/2009, Directive 2009/128/EC) imposes a need for close collaboration across country borders within the three pesticide authorization zones (designated the north, central, and south zones) in Europe. The princi...

The 900 consultant paediatricians in Britain might occasionally pause to reflect that they have about 30 000 paediatrician colleagues within the European Community (EC). The total number in greater Europe between Lisbon and the Urals must approach six figures. The geographic and political map of the continent has radically changed during the last year and it is likely that colleagues working in...

There is currently a strong focus on responsible research in relation to the development of nanoscience and nanotechnology. This study presents a series of conversations with nanoresearchers, with the 'European Commission recommendation on a code of conduct for responsible nanosciences and nanotechnologies research' (EC-CoC) as its point of departure. Six types of reactions to the document are ...

Part I of this Essay shows that two central principles of the EC, namely mobility between Member States and decentralization of economic policies (subsidiarity), imply that Member States and other lower-level jurisdictions necessarily are in competition with one another (locational competition). Part II presents an outline of a theory of interjurisdictional competition that suggests, first, tha...