December 16, 2005

Ukraine's parliament approves bill to ban poultry imports

Ukraine's parliament approved Thursday a bill imposing an embargo on poultry imports until the country eradicates an outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu, the parliament press service said. This is a second attempt to introduce the embargo.

The parliament voted in favour of a six-month embargo for the first time in late October due to cases of bird flu being registered in a number of neighbouring countries. But Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko vetoed the bill because it contradicted international practice and could have impeded Ukraine's access to the WTO. Moreover, Yushchenko said that the country had already banned imports from the countries where the outbreaks were registered, including Russia, Turkey and Romania.

In early December the first cases of bird flu were registered in Ukraine. Yushchenko asked the country's chief veterinary doctor Pyotr Verbitsky to step down for failure to prevent the outbreak.

Ukraine's domestic poultry production is insufficient and the country was a big importer in the first half of 2005, almost doubling imports against the same period of last year.