Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 March 2014
369. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the outcome of the most recent meeting of chief veterinary officers of the European Union in relation to the ban by Russia on all imports of pigmeat from the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10986/14]
View answer370. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the discussions he has had with the European Union Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development and with the Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy in relation to the decision by Russia to ban all imports of pigmeat from the EU; if his attention has been drawn to the serious financial pressures on pig producers at present due to the reduction in prices; the proposals he has to deal in the immediate term with these particular difficulties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10987/14]
View answer371. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has had any discussions with the Russian authorities in relation to the need to re-open their market for the import of pigmeat from Ireland as this country is free of the disease that gave rise to the implementation of the ban; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10988/14]
View answerI propose to answer Questions Nos. 369 to 371, inclusive, together.
The Russian market for Irish pork is extremely important with exports in 2013 of approx. 20,000 tonnes (66.5% higher than 2012) and a value of €55m. It is one of our largest non-EU markets and the strong 2013 sales performance contributed greatly to the rise in value of overall pigmeat exports by 3% in 2013 to €525m. It is hugely important therefore that the current ban by Russia on the importation of pigs and pigmeat from the EU be lifted as quickly as possible.
In January 2014 the Lithuanian authorities discovered two cases of African Swine Fever (ASF) in wild boar near its border with Belarus. They put in place the required disease control measures and informed fellow member states and the EU Commission of the outbreak. The EU Commission, as competent authority for agreeing sanitary and phytosanitary matters on behalf of EU member states, informed the OIE ( the international organisation for animal health).
The EU Commission proposed, under Chapter 4 of the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code, to provisionally exclude the affected region in Lithuania from exporting pigs and pigmeat to other countries including Russia, thereby “regionalising” the outbreak and allowing EU Member States not affected by the disease to trade freely in live pigs, pigmeat and pigmeat products.
The value of the Terrestrial Code is twofold; the measures published in it are the result of consensus among the veterinary authorities of OIE members, and it constitutes a reference within the World Trade Organisation Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures as an international standard for animal health and zoonoses.
However, the Russian Federation and Customs Union refused to accept regionalisation of the disease and imposed a ban on all exports of pigs, pigmeat and pigmeat products from the EU, certified after 26 January 2013. Since then Poland notified the EU Commission of an outbreak of ASF in its territory.
Numerous meetings between the EU and the Russian Federation have taken place at political and technical level in the intervening period, in attempts to unblock the situation, but without success to date. On Friday last, 28 February EU Health Commissioner Toni Borg met with Russian Farm Minister Nikoiai Fyodorov in Moscow and additional technical briefings are being organised for this week, including a postponed meeting of experts from the EU, Russia, Belarus & Kazakhstan at the Russian African Swine Fever reference laboratory; which was originally scheduled for last week.
Talks on the resumption of market access will continue next week with another high-level meeting between Director General for the EU Commission (DG SANCO), Paolo Testori Coggi and her Russian counterpart Sergey Dankvert, Head of Rosselkhoznadzor - the Veterinary and Phytosanitary Service in Moscow. In addition, Member State veterinary experts will discuss the latest ASF developments when they meet in Brussels today and tomorrow (4 and 5 March).
I am in agreement with the EU Commission that the ban is disproportionate as it does not respect the OIE rules on regionalisation. The Commission services are currently considering instigating a WTO panel action against the Russian Federation for its non-respect of the regionalisation provision.
I spoke on the matter at the Council of Ministers meeting in Brussels last week and I confirmed that Ireland supports the Commission approach to protecting the OIE based regionalisation approach to managing animal disease outbreaks. I urged fellow Member States to continue to act as one on this issue and to show support for the Commission`s approach to dealing with the current difficulty.
I also highlighted the fact that time is running out for producers and processors in the EU and I encouraged the Commission to step up its efforts to find a solution soon. This solution needs to bring to an end to this unnecessary blanket ban on EU product while assuring the continued protection of the EU against the threat of animal disease.
Since then the EU Health Commissioner has written to me and my Council colleagues urging us to remain resolute in our support for the Commission strategy in seeking a solution which does not compromise the internationally accepted rules on regionalisation.
My Department officials are working closely with industry representatives at home and keeping them apprised of developments.
On a positive note the Russian Federation recently agreed to lift the ban on finished product containing pork subject to certain conditions and treatment of the meat before export. This however accounts for only a small proportion of Ireland’s exports to Russia.
