Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 112: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she will ensure that food imports into Ireland can be stood up as having the same high standards of traceability, hormone use limitations, country of origin labelling and so on particularly following forthcoming World Trade Organisation agreement. [24630/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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As a member of the EU and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ireland is in a position to avail of opportunities for trade that are essential for the development of our open economy. Membership of these organizations also brings reciprocal trade obligations. All imports must come from third countries or areas of third countries that have been approved by the EU authorities for export to the EU.

In the current WTO discussions in the Council, I have pressed strongly the non-trade aspect of market access, which I regard as a crucial element in the overall negotiations. I have taken every opportunity to remind the Commission of the importance of equivalence in standards, particularly in relation to all exporting countries. These are standards the European Community has worked hard to establish in order to guarantee the safety of food for consumers and ensure the welfare of producers, their resources and the environment. I am concerned that the Commission takes all the necessary steps in terms of existing monitoring, control and certification mechanisms to ensure as level a playing field as between the standard of EU produced livestock products as those imported into the EU.

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 have been in direct contact with 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.

The Commissioner has assured me that the Commission will not hesitate to take the appropriate protection measures if a product, imported from a third country or produced in the domestic market represents a risk for the health of EC consumers, livestock or plants. He has pointed to the adoption of safeguard measures in relation to imports, for example in the matter of dealing with the risk to the EU of the spread of high pathogenic avian influenza, in the finding of residues of unauthorised substances in poultry meat and in the quick and proportionate protective measures applied to imports of beef as a result of the recent outbreaks of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) demonstrate the Commission's primary objective of maintaining the high sanitary status of the Community and respecting the EU's commitment under the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS agreement).

I have more recently brought the attention of the Commissioner to the findings of an Irish delegation of farmers and journalists who visited the meat producing regions in Brazil and my Department is seeking assurances from the Commission that the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) will undertake further missions to Brazil to evaluate the implementation of action plans submitted by the Brazilian authorities following FVO missions carried out last year. At a recent meeting of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health where the matter was again raised by Ireland, the Commission indicated to Ireland that a FVO mission is being planned to take place some time before the end of the summer.

In the meantime additional health certification requirements have been introduced for imported beef from Brazil under Commission Decision 2006/259/EC requiring guarantees concerning animal contacts, vaccination programmes and surveillance. These certification provisions took effect from 31 March 2006 and they are checked by the EU approved Border Inspection Posts through which all 3rd country imports must first be submitted.