France given deadline over beef ban

Ministers and farming leaders have welcomed the European Commission’s 15-day deadline for France to lift its ban on British beef.

Failure to comply within the timescale could lead to a financial penalty being imposed by the European Court of Justice.

The EU-wide ban was lifted in August 1999, but France kept it in place, arguing that its own scientific advice suggested there were still risks of BSE in British beef exports.

National Farmers’ Union deputy president Tim Bennett said: ‘‘We hope this action will leave France in no doubt about the seriousness with which its illegal action is viewed by the entire European Union.’’

The NFU called earlier this month on the UK Government and the Commission to put further pressure on the new French administration to lift its predecessor’s illegal ban.

Mr Bennett added: ‘‘The very existence of the ban continues to cast a scandalous and unjustified slur on our product throughout Europe.

‘‘France must take heed and meet its legal obligations as soon as possible.’’

Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said: ‘‘I welcome this move by the Commission. France must understand that if it continues to flout EU law it will pay the penalty for doing so.

‘‘However, I hope that France will move swiftly to lift its illegal ban.’’

The Commission said it had today sent a ‘‘reasoned opinion’’ to France reiterating a judgment by the European Court of Justice from December last year which declared the ban unlawful.

If France does not act in the next 15 days the Commission could ask for the case to go back before the court with a suggested fine.

However, the court is free to decide what level of penalty to impose.

The amount of the fine is based on a complicated calculation, taking into account the seriousness of the breach, the duration of the ban, and the country’s gross domestic product.

The penalty would mount up each day France fails to lift the ban after the court makes its decision.

Greece is the only other country to have been fined in this way when it was brought before the court over waste management. The penalty in that case was €20,000 a day.

The French defence for not lifting the ban is that the Commission had been over-hasty and insisted that its own health and safety findings took precedence over those of the EU scientific experts.

The worldwide ban on British beef exports was issued by the Commission in March 1996, as fears grew about the possible spread of BSE.

It was lifted after the Commission accepted new British health and safety checks on exports.

A spokeswoman for David Byrne, the EC Commissioner for health and consumer protection which includes food safety, said: ‘‘There is a new French Government and they might have a different view than the last one.’’