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| EU Complies with WTO Ruling on Hormone Beef and
Calls on USA and Canada to Lift Trade Sanctions
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| October 2003 |
October 15, 2003 - A new EU Directive concerning the prohibition
on the use of hormones has entered into
force and as a consequence the European
Commission is now going to request the USA
and Canada to lift their trade sanctions.
The Directive implements the recommendations of the WTO ruling
condemning the EU for banning the use of
certain growth promoting hormones without
a state of the art scientific risk assessment
of the risk associated with meat consumption.
Following the WTO Appellate Body decision
in 1998, the EU carried out a thorough and
careful appraisal of the scientific evidence
available, on the basis of which the Council
and the European Parliament have adopted
the new Directive.
EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said: "Today's move shows that
we are fully committed to abiding by our
WTO obligations. We have worked hard to
get this new legislation in place and I
now call on the United States and Canada
to lift their trade sanctions against the
EU". Health and Consumer Protection
Commissioner David Byrne said: "The
EU has delivered a thorough risk assessment
based on current scientific knowledge, fully
respecting its international obligations.
Public health and consumer protection are
the core of our approach to food safety
guided by independent scientific advice".
Directive 2003/74/EC (www.feedinfo.com/ecriture/files/iee/legislation/hormone141003.pdf) implementing the WTO ruling, entered
into force on 14 October 2003 and EU Member
States must implement it within 12 months
of its entry into force.
The US and Canadian sanctions against the EU consists of an increase
in tariffs for a selected list of products
in the amount of respectively 116.8 million
USD and 11.3 million CDN$. Sanctions have
been in place since July 1999. The EU will
now commence the appropriate procedures
at the WTO to get the sanctions lifted.
The EU will now inform both the US and Canada
of the adoption of the new legislation.
The Directive will also be notified to the
WTO Dispute Settlement Body.
Background
On 16 January 1998, the WTO Appellate Body issued a report stating that
the EU legislation banning the use of certain
growth-promoting hormones was not based
on a risk assessment as required by the
WTO agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary
measures. In particular, the Appellate Body
found that the scientific material used
by the EU was too general in nature, as
it did not specifically evaluate the risks
arising from hormone residues in meat products.
In response to that ruling, the EU reviewed the available scientific
information and it sought new evidence on
the risk to human health of hormone residues
in meat products.
In 1999, the Scientific Committee on Veterinary Measures relating to
Public Health (SCVMPH) concluded that oestradiol
17â should be considered a carcinogen. For
the other 5 hormones (testosterone, progesterone,
trenbolone acetate, zeranol and melengestrol
acetate), the SCVMPH assessment was that
the current state of knowledge does not
make it possible to give a quantitative
estimate of the risk to consumers. On this
basis, in 2000 the Commission made a proposal
to amend Directive 96/22/EC concerning the
prohibition on the use in stockfarming of
certain substances having a hormonal or
thyrostatic action and of beta-agonists.
On 22 July 2003, the Council approved the
European Parliament's amendments at second
reading on the above proposal.
The new legislation amends Directive 96/22/EC and confirms the prohibition
of substances having a hormonal action for
growth promotion in farm animals. Moreover,
it drastically reduces the circumstances
under which oestradiol 17â may be administered
to food producing animals for purposes other
growth promotion. Only three uses remain
permissible on a transitional basis and
under strict veterinary control: treatment
- for animal welfare reasons - of foetus
maceration/mummification and pyometra in
cattle on the one hand, and oestrus induction
in cattle, horses, sheep and goats on the
other hand. The latter use has to be phased
out by September 2006.
As regards the other five hormones, the amended Directive maintains
the provisional prohibition, which will
apply while the Community seeks more complete
scientific information to clarify the present
state of knowledge of these substances.
The Commission will regularly review scientific
information that may become available in
the future.
Follow this link for source.
Source: Feedinfo.com
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