Brussels, 03/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - The Council of the EU has approved the conclusion of the amended memorandum on hormone-treated beef enabling the current stage of implementation of the 2009 agreement to be extended until August 2015.
On 28 January, the Council formally approved - without debate - the conclusion of the amended memorandum with the USA enabling an extension until August 2015 of the second phase of the 2009 agreement on the transatlantic dispute over hormone-treated meat and US trade sanctions (see EUROPE 10542).
This extension aims to clarify the modalities for the third phase, to amend the management of high quality (hormone-free) beef import licences as part of the European import quota, and to plan for the closure of the 1996 US complaint to the WTO.
Signed in May 2009, the EU-US memorandum of understanding - on the EU's ban on importing beef from hormone-treated animals and the US retaliatory measures costing European products up to €116.8 million per year - provides for three phases. The first phase, implemented between August 2009 and August 2012, brought an import quota in the EU of 20,000 tonnes of high quality beef and a drop in the level of US sanctions. During the second phase, from 1 August 2012 until 1 August 2013, the European import quota was taken to 45,000 tonnes, and the US suspended all trade sanctions. (EH/transl.fl)