EU Demands `Immediate' End to Russia's Ban on Meat (Update1)
June 3 (Bloomberg)

European Union regulators demanded an immediate end to Russia's ban on meat imports from the EU, saying the restrictions may hold up Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization.

Citing health concerns, Russia on Tuesday shut its market to meat certified by individual EU governments and insisted that the central EU authorities start issuing animal health certificates.

"This kind of behavior is not the kind of behavior one would expect from a potential WTO member,'' commission spokesman Reijo Kemppinen told a news conference in Brussels. The curbs affect 1.3 billion euros ($1.6 billion) of European exports annually, he said.

The trade clash is the first since the EU expanded to Eastern Europe last month, bringing in seven former Soviet satellites. The EU on May 21 agreed to back Russia's bid for the WTO as long as Russia boosts domestic energy prices.

"We are urging Russian authorities to resume trade immediately and to set up a realistic timetable for the conclusion of technical discussions,'' Kemppinen said. He said there is no scientific rationale for the curbs.

Last September, Russia agreed to lift restrictions on U.S. poultry, beef and pork that had cut Russian imports by 43 percent to $400 million in 2002. The ban came as the U.S. introduced tariffs on steel imports from countries including Russia.

Export Certificates

Russia suspended imports after the EU missed a June 1 deadline to apply additional export certificates. Because the EU's single market now includes former communist states such as Poland and the Czech Republic, exports from one nation can be re- exported through another, making it difficult to identify the country of origin.

Denmark, the world's largest pork exporter, ships about $165 million of the meat, or almost 10 percent of its pork exports, to Russia every year. The ban will affect companies including Danish Crown AmbA, a Danish cooperative of abattoirs, as well as Dutch exporter Dumeco BV.

``That market is totally shut to us now,'' said Jesper Petersen, veterinarian adviser at the Danish Bacon and Meat Council in Copenhagen. ``We have to find a solution, but the Russian authorities feel they need more precise guarantees that products such as Danish bacon aren't being re-exported'' through another EU nation, he said.


To contact the reporter on this story:
James G. Neuger at [email protected] or
Warren Giles in Geneva at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Catherine Hickley at [email protected].
Last Updated: June 3, 2004 10:24 EDT