990737 EU Agrees to Meat Standards With U.S.

Brussels - European Union agriculture ministers approved a long-awaited meat standards pact with the United States aimed at easing transatlantic tension and facilitating trade worth around $3 billion.

The “veterinary equivalency” agreement will set up a framework for solving disputes and provide for the mutual recognition of animal health rules.

“It will help free up trade and stop contentious issues developing into conflicts,” Gerry Kiely, spokesman for European Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler, said.

But the agreement will not help the current argument over the EU's ban on hormone-treated beef which, following a World Trade Organisation ruling last week, has led to the United States imposing $116.8 million of sanctions on EU products.

The U.S. Trade Representative's office said on Monday 100% punitive duties will affect a variety of EU pork and beef products. Other foods hit include truffles, Roquefort cheese, goose liver, roasted chicory and prepared mustard.

The tariffs, due to take effect on July 29, will hit France and Germany the hardest, but Italy and Denmark are also affected. The one EU country to escape sanctions is Britain, according to the product list published by the USTR.

Fischler said he deeply regretted the U.S. sanctions move.

The new agreement means EU and U.S. scientists can carry out inspections of domestic meat-exporting plants and issue guarantees on health standards acceptable to the other party.

It may prevent rows such as the one over U.S. hormone-free beef exports, which the EU also threatened to ban after its scientists found traces of hormones in meat. The EU has given Washington until December 15 to put checks in place to guarantee beef exports are hormone-free.

“It's been a long time coming but we're very pleased. It takes away some of the protectionist elements and puts decision-making on a scientific basis, which has to be good for trade,” Britain's Farm Minister Nick Brown said.

The pact also enshrines the principle of regionality, meaning that if there is an outbreak of swine fever, for example, in one EU country, the United States would not ban all pork products from the EU or even that one member state. Import bans would be restricted to where the outbreak occurred.

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