ISDS Case Map
food safety | SPS
The United States made no specific request for relaxing Japan's beef import restrictions over mad cow disease at a two-day bilateral working-level meeting that ended in San Francisco on Wednesday, Japanese officials said Thursday.
Japan will maintain its stance on restricting some U.S. beef when officials from the two countries hold talks next week, the agriculture ministry said today.
The Trade & Economic Relations Committee (TERC), headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has directed the commerce ministry and its negotiators to guard against possible trade diversion and creation of inverted duty structures by India’s FTA partners.
Experts say measures implemented after the 2008 candlelight vigil demonstrations may be sacrificed for ratification of the KORUS FTA
The EU proposes that the parties be empowered to collaborate on the practical implementation of domestic rules regulating access to genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, innovations, and practices on their territories, so as to guarantee compliance with those provisions. This is a case of interference with national sovereignty, unquestionably for the benefit of European pharmaceutical corporations.
Canada, which lost millions of dollars in beef trade opportunities with Saudi Arabia following the outbreak of mad-cow disease, is now seeking full access to this lucrative Saudi market. There is also talk of possibly holding negotiations for a free trade agreement and a general investment protection accord with the Gulf states.
The EU is starting to consider new rules on animal welfare that could have significant impacts on its trading partners.
US beef has become a political issue across East Asia. After North Korean nukes and the value of the Chinese yuan, it's one of the biggest headaches for American diplomats.
The Colombian market for Canadian beef, worth about $6 million per year, has just been reopened in the context of the proposed Canada-Colombia FTA, after being closed since 2003 due to BSE in Canadian cattle.
“For us, food safety based on Japan’s scientific standards is the priority,” Akamatsu said today. “The OIE standards are different from the Japanese scientific ones.”
