Brussels, 27/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 27 October, the European Commission announced an agreement with Brazil on a new regime for imports of certain poultry meats into the EU. After winning WTO dispute settlement procedure, Brazil and Thailand have compelled the EU to review its customs concessions for three poultry products. Negotiations with Brazil have come to an end with the setting in place of tariff quotas instead of the current system, which is purely a tariff system. Talks will continue with the other producer country, Thailand. The agreement satisfies the Brazilian poultry exporters although they would have preferred zero duty quotas.
Salted poultry meat: The EU opens an annual import quota of 264,245 tonnes, of which 170,807 t is for Brazil. Within this volume, a customs duty of 15.4% (identical to the current level) is applied. The duty applying to imports that would exceed this limit is fixed at €1,300 a tonne.
Turkey meat: The total quota is 103,896 tonnes including 92,300 t in favour of Brazilian producers. The customs duty within this volume remains 8.5%. If the volume is exceeded, the duty will be €1,024 per tonne.
Cooked chicken meat: The quota amounts to 230,4453 tonnes, with a customs tariff (identical to today) of 10.9%. Brazil will be allowed 73,000 tonnes with a customs tariff of €1,024 per tonne when the quota is exhausted.
The EU will manage these tariff quotas through an import licensing system. (lc)