BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest | Vol. 3, Number 36 | September 13, 1999
U.S. trade officials have warned the EU that its ban on the use of four antibiotics may violate international trade rules. The ban - which went into effect on 1 July - was imposed to address concerns that use of the antibiotics could build up resistance in human consumers.
EU lawmakers utilised the "precautionary principle" in justifying the ban - a principle used to allow taking preventive health safety measures when scientific evidence is inconclusive. The U.S. meanwhile has called on the EU to provide scientific justification for the ban, arguing that "in the case of the four banned products, either no objective risk assessment was carried out, or the results were ignored," according to an August letter from Peter Scher, the special agriculture negotiator for U.S. Trade Representative. Mr. Scher also expressed concern that the EU failed to notify the WTO of the ban in violation of the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) (see BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest Vol. 3, No. 27, 12 July 1999, http://www.ictsd.org/html/story8.12-07-99.htm).
Sales of the four antibiotics are worth US$350 million a year to the four manufacturers that produce and market them. More important than the monetary value of the ban, the U.S. is concerned that the ban could signal a wave of trade restrictions related to antibiotics, such as the banning of meat imports that might have been produced using antibiotics, and/or the labelling of meat products which may have been produced using antibiotics.
EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner-designate David Byrne on 3 September told the European Parliament that in cases where scientific evidence is not conclusive as to the safety of a product, the precautionary principle should be used. Mr. Byrne also endorsed the use of labelling of products containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs), including animal feed containing GMOs.
Meanwhile, Unilever - the Anglo-Dutch consumer products company - called for the creation of an independent EU food and drug regulatory body akin to the U.S. Food and Drug Agency. Unilever's chairman said a powerful and independent regulator could help restore EU consumers' confidence in food safety. The idea for a centralised agency was proposed earlier this year by Germany (see BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest Vol. 3, No. 23, 14 June 1999, http://www.ictsd.org/html/story4.14-06-99.htm), and supported by European Commission President-designate Romano Prodi. Mr. Prodi has assigned responsibility for developing plans for an EU food and drug agency to EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner-designate David Byrne.
"Scher warns EU on antibiotics ban in animal feed, seeks clarification," INSIDE US TRADE, 10 September 1999; "Food safety: demand for new agency," FINANCIAL TIMES, 7 September 1999; "Union must restore public confidence, says David Byrne," EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PRESS RELEASE, 3 September 1999; "EU to place new curbs on feed additives," WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6 September 1999.BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest:
