STC Number - 384
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General import restrictions due to African swine fever

Maintained by: Unspecified
Raised by: European Union
Supported by:
First date raised: March 2015 G/SPS/R/78 para. 3.4
Dates subsequently raised:
Number of times subsequently raised: 0
Relevant documents: G/SPS/GEN/1159
Products covered: 01 Live animals
Primary subject keyword: Animal Health
Keywords: Animal health; International Standards / Harmonization; Pest- or Disease- free Regions / Regionalization; African Swine Fever (ASF)
Status: Not reported
Solution:
Date reported as resolved:

Extracts from SPS Committee meeting summary reports

In March 2015, the European Union appreciated those trading partners that had not taken any import measures due to the African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks, trusting the strict EU control system. At the same time the European Union expressed concerns with the country-wide bans imposed by several other trading partners and stressed the importance and effectiveness of regionalization measures. The European Union had demonstrated that it took all outbreaks of ASF very seriously, ensuring delivery of safe pork meat and products both to the EU market and to third countries. The robustness of the EU system, including its surveillance and control measures, had been detailed earlier in the meeting. The European Union reminded Members of their regionalization obligations under Article 6 of the SPS Agreement and referred to document G/SPS/GEN/1159, where it had described how regionalization for animal diseases could be implemented successfully. The European Union invited all WTO Members keeping disproportionately trade-restrictive measures to respect their regionalization obligations and to lift all country-wide bans.