Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 446: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she is satisfied that sufficient steps are being taken at EU level to monitor the importation of beef from Brazil; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that beef is being imported into Brazil from other countries with no tagging and no traceability; if she is further satisfied that the industry here and especially the consumers here are fully safeguarded; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34196/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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While there is free movement for trade within the EU all consignments from third countries must first be landed at a border inspection post, BIP, that has been approved by the Food and Veterinary Office of the EU, FVO, and must undergo documentary, identity and physical checks. These are carried out at frequencies laid down in EU law. In Ireland BIPs approved for the processing of imports of animal products are located at Dublin Port and Shannon Airport. The FVO carries out monitoring and inspection of each member state's BIPs to ensure the conditions for import of animal products into Europe, provided under the harmonised legislation, are being correctly applied. Once it has been established that imported animal product has met all the required conditions it is released for free circulation within the community. Copies of the BIP clearance document and the health certificate must accompany the consignment to its destination. Imports failing to comply with these veterinary control checks may be detained for further examination. If non-compliance is established they are returned to the exporting country or destroyed.

Imported animal products must meet standards at least equivalent to those required for production in, and trade between, member states. All such imports must come from third countries or areas of third countries that have been approved for export to the EU.

In order to be approved as an exporter to EU a third country must appear on a list drawn up and updated on the basis of audits by the FVO and guarantees given by the competent authority of the exporting country; have veterinary controls equivalent to those applicable in the EU, particularly in terms of legislation, hygiene conditions, animal health status, veterinary medicines controls, zoonoses controls and other food law; be a member of the International Office for Animal Diseases, OIE — and have systems in place for the rapid detection, reporting and confirmation of List A OIE diseases, such as foot and mouth disease; and have in place a residues programme approved by the European Commission.

The animal products must be sourced from establishments that are approved and must bear an EU approved health mark. Exporting establishments are required to have standards equivalent to the requirements for EU export establishments; effective control systems and supervision by the competent authorities; and traceability labelling in accordance with the systems approved by the FVO and accepted and notified to the EU member states.

The FVO carries out inspections in third countries to ensure that only establishments that meet hygiene and health standards equivalent to those operating within the EU are approved. It reports findings to the EU Commission which may propose to the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health, SCoFCAH, comprising the administrative and professional representatives of all the member states, an amendment to the approval status of a third country. Where the FVO considers that public health requirements are not being met, an establishment may be removed from the EU approved list. If outbreaks of animal diseases occur in a third country approval to export to the EU is suspended for the infected regions of the country, or the whole country, as appropriate, until the disease risk has been eliminated.

The FVO has reported its findings on production and residue controls in operation in Brazil on three occasions during the 2001 to 2004 period. These reports are available on the European Commission's website. Following confirmation of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in cattle and pigs on a farm in the Eldorado district of Mato Grosso do Sul in the southern part of Brazil, the European Commission presented a proposal on 12 October to suspend imports of de-boned and matured beef from the regions of Mato Grosso do Sul, Parana, and also Sao Paulo. The Commission extended the scope of the measure to include the region of Sao Paulo on the basis of concerns in relation to the possible movement of animals from the area where the outbreak occurred. The proposal was adopted at a meeting of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health at which my Department is represented. Accordingly, beef produced in the affected regions from cattle slaughtered since 29 September 2005 may not now be traded. The measures have immediate effect throughout the EU and are being applied to direct imports of beef by my Department's approved border inspection posts.

I fully support the policy that animal products imported into the EU from third countries meet standards at least equivalent to those required for production in, and trade between, EU member states. In this context I wrote last month to the Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, Mr. Markos Kyprianou, concerning the sanitary rules applying to the import of livestock products, especially beef, into the European Union. In the letter, I raised the matter of "equivalence" on the specific and important issues of animal traceability, controls on veterinary medicines, prohibited substances and residue monitoring programmes in these countries and in particular with regard to Brazilian beef in view of its increasing presence on the European market. I requested the Commission to consider the matter and invited it to put forward appropriate proposals before SCoFCAH.

Irish farmers are required to ensure that their production systems and farm practices fully comply with a wide range of EU directives on important matters including traceability, animal health and welfare and consumer protection. These all have significant in-built cost factors, and bearing in mind that our beef farmers are in competition on European and international markets with beef from low cost producers such as Brazil, I will continue to seek real equivalence in these areas, both in discussions within the EU and in the context of the WTO talks on market access.