§ Mr. WigginTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs why the Government did not ban meat imports from South Africa between September 2000 and January 2001. [83895]
§ Mr. MorleyOn 21 September 2000 the European Commission was notified of limited outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in sixteen provinces of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The South African authorities took effective action by imposing their own export ban on meat from the infected areas. At the time the Government was content with this situation as meat from the area could not be exported.
On 17 November the Commission amended Community legislation to formally prohibit the import of fresh meat from the affected areas. This reflected the 949W self-imposed South African ban. Prior to this the Commission had not taken any action. Records show that after 21 September 2000 there were no imports of meat from South Africa into the United Kingdom.
On 20 December 2000 the Commission reported that there had been no change in the disease situation. In view of this we reviewed our action and issued a Declaration under Regulation 35 of the Products of Animal Origin (Importer and Export) Regulations 1996 on 5 January 2001 prohibiting all fresh meat of FMD susceptible species from the whole of South Africa unless it was produced before 15 September 2000. A note explaining the situation was sent to trade interests on 8 January, as was a letter to all Border Inspection Posts at ports and airports. Scotland and Northern Ireland took similar action shortly afterwards.
Since then the Government has followed a policy of issuing such a Declaration whenever a suspension of imports is necessary, even in advance of Community action.