US will lift EU beef ban, says Coveney

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney has predicted the US will move to lift its ban on EU beef, once procedural requirements around the publication of BSE rules are completed.

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.”