March 22, 2011

South Korea, Canada close to reach beef agreement

South Korea and Canada are almost near in arriving at an understanding that could lift the beef import ban imposed by Seoul since May 2003 to Canada, said a government source on Monday (Mar 21).

The two countries have almost ironed out outstanding differences in key issues since they started negotiations in October, said the source. If there are no unexpected developments, a formal agreement that would permit Canadian beef to reach local markets could be settled by April at the latest, he said.

Seoul had banned Canadian beef imports after the first mad cow case was reported in the North American country eight years ago. Since 2003, talks had made little headway with Ottawa confirming 18 sick animals.

Mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is suspected of causing the fatal brain-wasting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.

Without going into details, the government official, said meat from Canadian cattle under 30 months old may be shipped to South Korea, but strict restrictions are to be maintained on other cattle by-products.

Seoul had insisted on the "30 month rule," which is imposed on US beef brought into the country, since most BSE cases occur in older animals.

If a final agreement is reached, it would make it possible to stop ongoing dispute settlement proceedings at the World Trade Organization (WTO) that were started in April 2009.

Ottawa had called on the WTO to look into South Korea's ban even though the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) categorised Canada as a "BSE controlled risk" country in 2007 along with the US.

The OIE recommends no restrictions on beef exports from countries that receive its controlled risk categorisation.