September 16, 2005

EU allows resumption of Russian poultry imports

The EU has allowed a resumption of Russian poultry imports, based on a system in which poultry exports would not be banned from the country as a whole, but only from regions hit by bird flu, Russia's government said.

The European Commission had earlier banned Russian poultry imports in mid-August due to the bird flu outbreaks in central and eastern Russia.

Russia's government has welcomed the move as it opened the door not just for poultry exports, but also for Russian grain exports to EU countries. The government said that when an exporting country was hit by bird flu, an importing country could also ban feed grain imports from that country as a safety measure.