Written answers

Tuesday, 27 June 2006

Department of Agriculture and Food

Food Safety Standards

11:00 pm

Photo of Joe CostelloJoe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 51: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food when she expects the Brazilian Government to submit an action plan in response to the recommendations of the EU FVO review of the animal health and public health control systems, traceability and certification procedures in place in Brazil; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24589/06]

Photo of Mary CoughlanMary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Commission has confirmed to my Department that the action plan in question has been received from the Brazilian Authorities and is being assessed by the Food and Veterinary Office of the European Communities (FVO). This assessment also includes a second action plan that was required from the Brazilian Authorities in response to the findings of a subsequent mission to Brazil carried out from 23 November to 1 December 2005 concerning the evaluation of the control of residues and contaminants in live animals and animal products, including controls on veterinary medical products.

The FVO will report on its assessments to the European Commission and, where action is considered necessary to ensure the safety of food and the protection of consumers and animals in the EU, appropriate proposals would be formulated and submitted to the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCoFCAH) on which my Department is represented.

In the current WTO discussions in the Council, I have pressed very 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, including Brazil.

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) as demonstrating 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 recently brought to the attention of the Commissioner the findings of an Irish delegation of farmers and journalists who visited the meat producing regions in Brazil and my Department is also seeking assurances from the Commission that the FVO will undertake further missions to Brazil to evaluate the implementation of the action plans submitted by the Brazilian authorities. 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 provisions took effect from 31 March 2006 and are checked by EU approved Border Inspection Posts through which all 3rd country imports must first be submitted.

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