HC Deb 17 December 1992 vol 216 cc342-5W
Mr. Patrick Thompson

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress has been made in completing the single market in the areas for which his Department has responsibility.

Mr. Curry

Considerable progress has been made to complete the single market within the agriculture, fisheries and food sectors. Most internal frontier controls will be removed from 1 January 1993 and there will be some substantial changes in the way trade between member states is carried out.

For trade in live animals, regulations will be made implementing in Great Britain the live animals veterinary checks directives—90/425/EEC and 91/496/EEC—from 1 January 1993. Under these arrangements, veterinary checks on intra-Community trade will be eliminated at internal EC frontiers on certain live animals and genetic material. A system of intensified checks at points of origin and spot checks at points of destination will be substituted for the present border controls. All consignments, when entering intra-EC trade, should be accompanied by health certificates or other documentation as required under the EC rules. Live animals entering the Community from third countries may only enter through an approved border inspection post and must be subject to documentary, identity and physical checks before entering free circulation within the Community.

In order to protect the health of the United Kingdom bee population, imports of bees are limited to countries of high bee health status free from varroasis. Ministers will be reviewing these controls in the light of agreement on EC bee health controls under directive 92/65/EEC, legislation on animals not covered by specific requirements under directive 90/425/EEC, due to come into operation on 1 January 1994. Until alternative measures are approved by the Commission under this directive, existing United Kingdom health measures will remain in force.

On the protection of animals in transport, further Community rules remain to be adopted to supplement those in directive 91/628/EEC which applies from 1 January 1993. As announced in the reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Brighton, Kemptown (Mr. Bowden) on 10 December at columns 762–63, existing national measures will be maintained in the areas concerned pending further decisions in the Community. Our controls on trade in horses will remain in place.

Our existing measures of protection against the introduction of rabies will continue unchanged, as my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food made clear in a written answer to a parliamentary question on 16 June at columns 455–56.

Border checks for animal health and public health purposes on meat and animal products will cease at the internal borders of the Community on 1 January 1993. Under directive 89/662/EEC, as amended, they will be replaced by a system of checks on the products at their origin, backed up with non-discriminatory checks when the products reach their destination. Under directive 90/675/EEC, as amended, imports of meat and animal products from outside the Community will be checked at the first point of entry into the Community. Where animal health and public health rules are still unharmonised, member states will retain their own trade rules. The United Kingdom will continue to retain its high standards of protection against the introduction of exotic animal diseases pending full harmonisation. New regulations to implement two directives on the hygiene conditions for production and placing on the market of fishery—directive 91/493/EEC—and shellfish—directive 91/492/EEC—products come into effect on 1 January 1993. The directives set common standards of handling and quality, eliminating trade barriers and providing assurance to the consumer.

Regulations to implement directive 91/67/EEC on the animal health conditions governing the placing on the market of farmed fish and shellfish will be laid before Parliament shortly. These will contain measures designed to prevent the introduction and spread of serious diseases and will provide important safeguards for the future health and well-being of our fish and shellfish stocks.

All major decisions necessary for the introduction of the single market on plant health, including a plant passport, have now been taken and published. Implementation is planned from 1 June 1993. This gives growers a short breathing-space to prepare a smooth introduction of the new regime, which represents a significant reduction in the burdens of intra-Community trade.

The introduction of the single market will not, however, fundamentally affect the veterinary medicines sector. Under Community law, a United Kingdom product licence will still be required before any veterinary medicinal product can be imported and marketed in the United Kingdom, whether from an EC member state or not. Detailed arrangements will shortly be published by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate.

The Community's food law harmonisation programme removes barriers to trade, sets high standards of food safety and improves food labelling, thus offering important benefits to industry and consumers. The foundations of the single market in foodstuffs are firmly in place. The main framework directives on labelling, additives, flavourings, contact materials, special dietary foods and food inspection have already been adopted. The Council agreed a common position on contaminants in September and is expected to do the same with the food hygiene directive, the key United Kingdom priority in this area, on 17 and 18 December. A common position is also expected on additional enforcement measures which I regard as particularly important for the achievement of a level playing field. Although some issues remain to be resolved, the harmonisation programme is well established and the single market in foodstuffs will operate effectively from the start of 1993.

Interim measures for the banana market will be necessary from 1 January 1993 to ensure that the United Kingdom can continue to fulfil its obligations under the Lomé convention to our traditional suppliers in the Commonweath Caribbean. These measures will in due course be superseded by Community-wide arrangements for the banana market.

Under our interim measures, a DTI import licence will still be required for dollar bananas, including those in free circulation in another member state, after 1 January 1993. It will continue to be an offence to import dollar fruit into the United Kingdom without a licence. Her Majesty's Customs and Excise will enhance its intelligence-led, anti-smuggling actions on bananas. In addition, there will be a new regulatory framework for banana ripeners. They will be required to register their ripening rooms by 14 January 1993, and keep records of all consignments of dollar bananas handled. They will have to allow authorised officers access to inspect their ripening rooms and records. This new regulatory framework will be operated by my officials and those from the other Agriculture Departments. I shall soon be laying before the House the necessary regulations to bring this new framework into force.

Other single market issues, including agrimonetary arrangements, are on the agenda of this week's Agriculture Council which is continuing in Brussels this morning.