§ Mr. HealdTo ask the Minister of Agriculture. Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the outcome of the Agriculture Council held on 15 and 16 June.
§ Mr. GummerI represented the United Kingdom at this meeting of the Council together with my hon. Friend the Minister of State in my Department.
As regards rabies, strict conditions were agreed for the commercial import of dogs and cats into the United Kingdom from 1 July 1994. Imports will be limited to registered traders, and involve vaccination and a blood test to authenticate its success; tight controls will be imposed on the origin, transport, destination and identification of the animals concerned. These arrangements are at least as strict as our present quarantine arrangements. It was also agreed that if any proposal is made to change quarantine requirements for pets it must provide at least the same level of protection as for traded animals. This represents a most satisfactory result on what was potentially one of the most serious problems of the single market.
The Council adopted a directive on milk hygiene which sets strict standards for production and trade in milk and milk products. This represents a further useful step towards the single market. However, allowance is also made for the manufacture of products with traditional characteristics such as soft cheeses. This responds entirely satisfactorily to concerns that were widely expressed that the directive could render such products unmarketable.
The Council discussed certain details of the CAP reform package agreed last month. I stressed there could be no question of amending that agreement to provide concessions for certain countries. Implementing texts are expected to be adopted at the next meeting of the Council which will now start on 30 June.