ISDS Case Map
food safety | SPS
A visiting high-ranking US official said Thursday that Taiwan's ban on the importation of specific American beef products is a challenging issue that needs to be addressed before talks can resume over the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) between the two sides.
Taiwan is in no hurry to lift the ban on a lean growth-enhancing agent, the cause of a major trade dispute with the US, as the international food standards setting body again failed to advance maximum residue limits (MRLs) for the additive, government officials said yesterday.
The lingering beef dispute was why Taiwan has been unable to hold a new round of high-level trade talks with the United States and why it has lost congressional support for the negotiation, according to a US official Tuesday.
Taiwan has been informed that the import ban on US beef products containing ractopamine residue could have repercussions for the nation’s long-standing request to be included in the US visa-waiver program
The Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) talks were postponed by the United States in January after Taiwan blocked some shipments of US beef upon finding that they contained residue of ractopamine, an animal feed additive banned in Taiwan
The US has decided to postpone a trade meeting with Taiwan later this month amid a dispute over US beef, the Central News Agency reported yesterday, citing unnamed Taiwanese officials.
Free trade agreements aggravate the animal pandemic further by preventing one country from rooting it out fundamentally because of mandatory import and consumption of foreign meat products.
EU regulations on food safety have undergone many tests with the latest farm-to-fork traceability demand, putting pressure on developing states to adjust their sanitary and phytosanitary control systems to match the European standards.
In recent bilateral talks during US President Barack Obama's visit to India, the Agriculture Ministry made it clear that India will subject US dairy products to the same protocol and veterinary certification as was applicable to other countries, and that India would have to be sensitive to religious sentiments.
This paper from ICTSD sets out a common vision on issues that could constitute sanitary, phytosanitary and technical barriers in EPAs and investigates how abusive use of these provisions could be an obstacle to market access.
