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    THE BridgeNews FORUM: Viewpoints
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  * Legal Quirk Would Exclude Meat From Many EU Countries,
    While Forcing France To Accept British Imports
 
 
    By David Walker, agricultural economist
    Bridge News
    NORWICH, England--After four weeks of discussion, it seemed Britain and 
France were close to resolving their dispute over the beef trade.
 
    But the French food safety agency has been slow to accept the protocol 
signed by both countries -- a document that gives the French the opportunity 
to bow out of their embarrassment gracefully.
 
    The protocol also has inadvertently added to the confusion on the 
position of other member states of the European Union, possibly creating a 
legal quagmire.
 
    The protocol indicated that all five issues raised by France -- 
traceability of beef, testing, derived products, controls and labeling -- 
were satisfactorily covered either by information provided by the British or 
through agreement on further testing, spot checks and the like.
 
    The long-running controversy arose in response to the finding of BSE 
(bovine spongiform encephalopathy), or mad cow disease, among British cattle.
 
    The most contentious issue in the latest discussions had been labeling. 
Britain was unwilling to allow its beef to be stigmatized by any French 
provision for special labeling. It transpired, however, that an existing 1997 
European regulation designed to provide traceability of British beef exported 
to other EU states satisfied the French, while allowing the British to claim 
that they had not been blackmailed into yet more draconian measures.
 
    Here the issue would have rested, were it not for France's understandable 
concern over third-party, or triangular, beef trade. Unfortunately, only 
three EU states -- France, Spain and Britain -- have met or will meet the 
EU's requirements for a traceability system for meat by Dec. 31.
 
    The legal implications of this are mind-boggling. While it is almost 
certainly illegal for any EU state to ban British beef imports, at the same 
time it is probably illegal for any member state, other than France, Spain 
and Britain, to import British beef. It may also be legal after Dec. 31 for 
any member state to ban imports of meat from another member state that does 
not have the traceability system in place.
 
    The amount of British beef crossing the English Channel is minimal, with 
just a one-tonne shipment of Scottish beef to Italy reported last week. 
Without traceability systems in place, however, there is no way for an 
importer to be fully assured that it is not receiving backdoor supplies of 
unidentified British beef from a third country.
 
    It is this issue that the French food safety agency is nominally pondering.
 
    Jean Glavany, the French agriculture minister, referred this issue to the 
food safety agency after signing the protocol. He was no doubt mindful that 
the French farm lobby would view the prospect of a ban on meat imports from 
other member states favorably, even if British beef had to be accepted.
 
    From other than a French perspective, the issue appears relatively 
straightforward. The food safety agency was embarrassed about four weeks ago 
when the European Science Steering Committee debunked its 600-page report, 
which claimed new evidence on BSE. Hence, third-party trade is a really bogus 
issue.
 
    To save the agency, in particular, and the French government, in general, 
the embarrassment of an immediate climb-down, the British entered into 
protracted discussions. These almost certainly proved more politically 
unpalatable for the British government than expected.
 
    A protocol was, however, signed, indicating agreement or accommodation, 
from either Britain or the European Commission, on all items. In addition, 
the uncovering of unsavory practices by the French livestock feed industry 
and almost daily demonstrations in Britain created so much smoke that the 
original blunder by the French agency has almost been forgotten. What more 
could the agency want?
 
    Nevertheless, when it met on Nov. 27 the agency decided not to close the 
issue by quietly agreeing to the terms of the protocol -- this being as much 
as it could reasonably expect under the circumstances.
 
    Clearly the French see things differently and are in no hurry to settle. 
They may indeed feel there is political gain to be made from the 
embarrassment they are causing.
 
    Meanwhile, back at the European Commission, there will be no early break 
to celebrate Christmas and the new Millennium. The European Parliament, which 
plays a much greater role on food safety issues than on agriculture and came 
close to censuring the commission a few years back on this BSE issue, cannot 
be pleased.
 
    Whether the commission will have time to get a regulation in place 
delaying the deadline for member states to set up meat traceability systems 
is doubtful. Such a regulation would require a nod from the European 
Parliament before being approved at the European Council's pre-Christmas 
meeting in Helsinki.
 
     It is well within the realm of possibility, however, that France will 
attempt to broker a deal at Helsinki next month on some totally unrelated 
issue on which it needs accommodation.  And with so much at stake who will 
refuse them?
 
    For the rustic wit who likes to laugh at sin, the ultimate irony would be 
a situation in which France legally bans meat imports from elsewhere, thereby 
creating a market for British beef that it cannot legally stop.
 
    DAVID WALKER, an agricultural economist, lives on his family's farm 
outside Norwich, England. He recently served as senior economist in London 
for the Home-Grown Cereals Authority and previously was executive director of 
the Alberta Grain Commission in Canada. His views are not necessarily those 
of Bridge News, whose ventures include the Internet site http://www.bridge.com/.
 
    OPINION ARTICLES and letters to the editor are welcome. Send submissions 
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    EDITORS: A color photo of the author is available from KRT Photo Service. 
  End
 
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