Rexam - The UK is the most lenient country when it comes to conversion of non-JAA licences and training outside JAA member states. If it were up to france, for example, JAA licences issued by the UK based on training conducted in non-JAA member states would not be recognised by the rest of the JAA. There is no chance that you will get an easier ride anywhere else in the JAA.
THTF/Raw Data - You're quite right, training for the FI rating is at the discretion of the Head of Training of the organisation concerned. However, you still have to do enough to pass the flight and ground tests, and you still end up with only a restricted rating, no matter how much experience you have.
Exam exemptions used to be given against the UK national ATPL for suitably experienced ICAO ATPL holders. That is not possible in the case of the JAA ATPL - A 747 Captain with 15,000 hours still has to pass all of the ground exams.
flying gunman - There was no warning to the CAA that this was going to happen so they can hardly be blamed for not warning anyone else. I agree that the CAA are, in general, a bunch of incompetent bureaucrats but, in fairness, all this vitriol should be directed to the JAA where it belongs.
As to the credit for IMC holders - the following is from the latest policy update, dated 30/01/2001, on the FCL website:
Holders of JAR-FCL licences (including the JAR-FCL CPL (Restricted)), may
not benefit from the 12 hours credit based on the IMC rating, but a JAR-FCL
CPL holder would be eligible for the 5 hour reduction in accordance
with Appendix 1 to JAR-FCL 1.205.
Seems clear enough to me.