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German court allows appeal against bottle deposits |
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| GERMANY: October 8, 2001 | ||
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BERLIN - Berlin's senior administrative court ruled last week that an appeal could go ahead by German drinks manufacturers against the introduction of a deposit system for cans and bottles next year.
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The upper court said there were particular legal and factual difficulties with a ruling of a lower court in August which had rejected the attempt to block the deposit system, which would cover bottles and beer cans, but not cans for soft drinks. The environment ministry said in a statement, however, that the fact the court had allowed the appeal did not imply any evaluation of its chances of success. The ministry said that given that the percentage of drinks packaging that was non-recyclable was rising every year, the introduction of a deposit system was more urgent than ever. Shares in Norwegian bottle and recycling company Tomra , which had surged in August when the lower court rejected the appeal, fell some 10 percent on news of the ruling. Tomra, a leader in making machines that repay a deposit when customers return a bottle or can for recycling, is expected to be one of the main beneficiaries from the broadening of the deposit system in Germany. The deposit system was approved by the previous conservative government but only triggered after a proposal for a more comprehensive deposit system, including soft drink cans, was rejected by the upper house of parliament earlier this year. The upper house instead adopted a counter-proposal from opposition state premiers and some of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's own Social Democrats that called for a self-regulating system for the drinks industry. But that counter-proposal was rejected by the environement ministry.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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