May 14, 2008

EU executive body proposes lifting ban on US chicken

The European Commission Tuesday proposed the lifting of an 11-year ban on US poultry imports.

Speaking at the end of Transatlantic Economic Council meeting, the European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry Guenter Verheugen said the commission was going to propose an end to the ban to the European Council and the Parliament and there was "strong support to solve the problem."

The ban was dopted in 1997 over the chlorine washing process in US chickens, which the EU said made the chickens unsafe for human consumption.

Daniel Price, a trade advisor to the US president, said he was hopeful North American chicken would start arriving in the EU by October.

The lifting of the ban would be a test case of the new Transatlantic Economic Council, formed to resolve trade disputes between the EU and the US.