May 25, 2007

OIE decision prompts South Korea to review its conditions on US beef

As the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) finalised its "controlled risk" decision on US and Canadian beef, the US has officially requested South Korea to revise its sanitary regulation on beef exports where South Korean officials are expected to analyse the OIE's eight-level validity of terms.

The US beef is expected to be imported from September, 2007, at the earliest.

According to the current OIE regulation, no restrictions whether on the age and parts of the meat, are imposed during the trade only if Specified Risk Materials (SRM) are removed from the beef produced from the countries subjected to "controlled risk."

Among the SRMs, amygdala and ends of the small intestine must be removed from the meat regardless of the cow's age. However, removal of skull and backbone is not mandatory if the cow is younger than 30 months old.

Presently, there is a high possibility that US will request Korea to ease its conditions which were agreed by both nations in January 2006 and to end on May or early June depending on the OIE's conclusion.

On the other hand, Canada has officially noticed the South Korean embassy in January 2006 to request South Korea to clarify its intention of imposing embargo on the importation of Canadian beef, stating that it violates the World Trade Organization (WTO) Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures.