February 8, 2007

Ireland may face EU action for UK bird flu ban

Ireland could face legal action by the European Commission for imposing a partial ban on British poultry after bird flu was reported in the UK, an EU official said on Wednesday.

Ireland announced on Monday it was not allowing imports of poultry from Britain for "gatherings and shows".

The ban did not include birds from British-ruled Northern Ireland.

Any ban by an EU country against another EU member is illegal, a spokeswoman for EU health chief Markos Kyprianou said.

The EU's executive arm issues two warnings to countries before the case is brought to Europe's highest court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) 

Ireland imposed a ban on live poultry from Britain for events such as pigeon racing and agricultural shows and Irish officials insisted they "had acted within EU laws".

British poultry was banned in at least 4 countries after news of bird flu in a turkey farm run by Europe's largest Turkey producer, Bernard Matthews surfaced.

The European Commission said the bans were unnecessary and said it was satisfied with the measures taken by the British authorities.