Brussels, 01/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - Mid-October, the Union is expected to finalise the legislative process aimed at placing a ban on hormoned meat in conformity with the conclusions of the WTO ruling in the transatlantic dispute lasting nearly a decade. In so doing, it is therefore preparing to maintain the reviewed and corrected embargo and, when the time comes, to call for a lifting of US and Canadian sanctions that for the past four years have put a strain on its export performances at a cost of around $125 million. The matter is not settled, however, and it cannot be ruled out that it will not be brought up again in Geneva in the near future, at Washington's initiative.
The memo that Commissioners Lamy, Fischler and Byrne were to present to the College on the day when the new directive was published, initially scheduled for Wednesday, was finally deferred for two weeks, the spokesperson said. The directive, proposed in May 2000 - a few months after US retaliatory measures were begun - reached the end of its legislative course in July this year after three years of discussions (see EUROPE of 21 July 2003). Contrary to the regime that they plan to modify and that the WTO had considered scientifically unfounded, the new provisions were carefully weighed up in the light of the opinion by scientific experts who had confirmed that there was a more or less serious risk for consumers eating hormoned meat. They aim to: - gradually phase out the use of estradiol 17 Beta from livestock farming, a substance whose genotoxic and carcinogenic effects have been established, as well as its steroid by-products; - maintain a provisional ban on five other growth hormones (testosterone, progesterone, trenbolone acetate, zeranol and megestrol acetate), pending the availability of more complete scientific data on their potential dangers; - authorise the administration of such substances among farm animals for therapeutic purposes or with a view to zootechnic treatment, on condition that it does not present a risk for public health. These Community provisions will of course also apply to imports from third countries, the aim of the EU being twofold: to better guarantee consumer health and to conform to the decision by the World Trade Organisation calling on it to modify the current regime. However, although the EU considers it has done the necessary to comply with the rules, the United States is not convinced. The EU, it says, believes that the new legislation will bring it into conformity with the rules of the WTO but "we would not be inclined to agree", official American sources said on Wednesday.