US will lift EU beef ban, says Coveney
He said he welcomed the publication in March by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) of their draft BSE Rule, which essentially proposes to align US BSE rules with those of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the internationally-recognised forum for developing and setting guidelines and standards for animal health and trade in animal products.
“This would mean that the US would base its beef import policy for a particular country on that country’s BSE risk classification as determined by the OIE’s risk evaluation.”
“At present, Ireland, like most other EU member states has the same ‘controlled risk’ status for BSE as the USA and Canada. This is an important first step in a process which should allow for the resumption in Irish and EU beef exports to the US.”
“The publication of the draft BSE rule on March 16 marked the start of a public consultation period that was originally scheduled to end on May 15, but was extended to June 14, due to the level of interest shown in the rule.”
Mr Coveney said he raised the subject of access to the US market for Irish beef, when he met with US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on June 26, and asked that the US finalise the BSE rule as soon as possible.
He said Secretary Vilsack was broadly supportive of the use of OIE categorisation as a basis for regulating international trade in beef, and explained that it was critically important from the point of view of ensuring that a finalised BSE rule was legally robust, to adhere strictly to the consultation and other procedural requirements.
In that context, his Department would be required to give proper consideration to all of submissions made during the public consultation.
