Vol. 527 No. 3
64 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the procedures in place to differentiate between meat imports coming via the UK to ensure that any meat imported is not of UK origin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28461/00]
Under the provisions of the European Communities (Importation of Bovine Animals and Products obtained from Bovine Animals from the United Kingdom) Regulations, 1996 (S.I. No. 87 of 1996) the importation of bovine products of United Kingdom origin was prohibited. By Commission Decision 96/239/EC dated 27 March 1996, as amended by Commission Decision 96/362/EC of 11 June 1996, the exportation from the UK of meat products not derived from bovines slaughtered in the UK was permitted. In effect, this allowed meat products of non UK origin to be processed in the UK under certain conditions and certified for export. The onus and legal responsibility for ensuring that only meat products of non-UK origin were certified for export was thereby placed on the UK authority.
With the introduction of the European Communities (Importation of Bovine Animals and Products obtained from Bovine Animals from the United Kingdom) Regulations, 1999 (S.I. No. 464 of 1999), S.I. No. 87 of 1996 was revoked. The 1999 regulations permit the importation of deboned fresh beef, minced meat, meat preparations and meat products of UK origin provided that the products are sourced under the EU approved date-based export scheme and approved premises in the UK and from bovines under the export certified herd scheme in Northern Ireland.
In accordance with Council Decision 98/256/EC, as amended, products of UK origin and of foreign origin must comply with special marking and labelling conditions and be sourced from designated slaughter plants and processing premises. All such products must be processed in export approved premises and only such goods may be dispatched from the UK from officially approved establishments. There is no requirement to identify the country of origin under the labelling conditions. However, through the UK certification procedure it is possible to trace the origin of the product.
The regulations maintain the prohibition on the importation of live bovines, bovine embryos, bone-in beef, meat and bone meal and bovine meat products not in compliance with Council Decision 98/256/EC, as amended.
