| Author (Person) | Carroll, Freda | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Publisher | ProQuest Information and Learning | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series Title | In Focus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series Details | 8.10.02 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publication Date | 08/10/2002 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content Type | News, Overview, Topic Guide | In Focus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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On Wednesday 2 October 2002, three years after it should have been lifted, the French Prime Minister finally announced his intention to lift the ban on the import of British beef into France. The European Commission imposed a ban on all exports of British beef on 27 March 1996, after the United Kingdom identified a new variant form of CJD (the human form of the disease caused by exposure to BSE). This ban was progressively lifted from June 1998 and completely lifted on 1 August 1999. Since then British beef could be exported under the DBES system (date-based export scheme) which sets strict conditions (for example only de-boned meat of bovines between 6-30 months of age complying with very detailed requirements and originating in dedicated meat plants). France, however, continued to ban British beef, despite the objections of both the European Commission and the United Kingdom government. Since 1996 about 4.5 million cattle in the United Kingdom have been slaughtered to prevent the spread of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) at a cost of £1.4 billion in compensation to farmers and £575 million for disposal of carcases. Since vCJD was identified in 1995, 110 people have died. The beef industry in the UK has suffered huge losses from which it has still not recovered. Several European countries, in which there had previously been little known incidence of BSE, have recorded a steadily increasing number of cases. While these are never likely to be as great as those in the UK, this has sparked a renewed sense of unease amongst European consumers about the safety of beef and calls for tighter controls on what is fed to cows and stricter checking procedures for discovering cattle with the disease. UK beef exports still remain at a fraction of their pre-1996 levels. Before the first ban on British beef in March 1996, farmers were exporting 274,000 tonnes of beef a year, with a value of about £520m. France accounted for nearly half of Britain's beef exports - about 100,000 tonnes worth £240m a year. However, restrictions imposed after the ban was lifted in 1999 meant total British exports fell to only 500 tonnes a year. French position France maintained its ban, after 1 August 1999, on the import of British beef into France, citing claims by its own food safety agency that the risk of human infection could not be excluded. The French food safety agency, Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire des Aliments (AFSSA), was only established in April 1999 and is an independent organisation whose views, under French law, must be taken into account by the relevant ministries of agriculture, health and consumer affairs. AFSSA has continued to express its doubts about the effectiveness of the measures in the UK and the EU to control BSE and its concern about the possible harmful effect for consumers. In particular, it complained about testing for BSE in the UK being limited to certain categories of cattle and the lack of a traceability system in the EU. On the basis of AFSSA's opinion France refused to lift its ban and simply authorised the transit of British beef and veal on its territory. France wanted Britain to introduce mandatory testing of all cattle older than 30 months to allow a more accurate picture to be drawn of the status of BSE, of which there have been more than 180,000 cases in the UK. Only animals destined for food production were tested, although the UK also tested random samples of other cattle. Jean Glavany, the French agriculture minister, referred to a recent report from the European Commission's Food and Veterinary Office that cast doubt on the true picture of BSE in the UK. The report had concluded: 'As active surveillance is practically not performed, it has to be assumed that the BSE incidence for Great Britain has to be seen with a considerable degree of uncertainty.' Action by the European Commission The European Commission reacted promptly to the French refusal to lift its ban on British beef and started the established infringement procedure (letters, formal notices, reasoned opinions etc.).
Judgment of the Court of Justice After repeated warnings, the European Commission referred the matter to the Court of Justice, but it a was full year before the judgment was delivered. Case 1/00 (Commission v. France) was registered with the Court on December 2000 and hearings began in June 2001. The Commission's lawyers said France's 'simple blanket refusal' to respect an EU decision lifting the ban was 'brazen and utterly unjustified'. Lawyers for the French government told the court that the case was of 'crucial importance' for human and animal health throughout the EU, where more than 100 probable or confirmed cases of new variant CJD have been recorded. France also argued that the Commission did not allow it time to respond to legal warnings and failed to give its concerns a serious hearing. The French Government claimed that the conditions for lifting the ban were not met because:
Advocate General J. Mischo delivered his Opinion on 20 September 2001. He proposed that the Court should 'declare that, by prohibiting the direct import from the United Kingdom of products eligible under the date-based export scheme, the French Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations'. The French government could not refuse meat imported directly from the UK. However, he said France could be justified in prohibiting British beef imported via another country, because of the lack of an EU-wide tracing system for beef in 1999, when British beef exports resumed. The Judgment of the Court, based on this Opinion, was given on 13 December 2001. The full texts of the Opinion and Judgment are available on the Court's website. There is also a summary of the judgment in case C-1/00 in Proceedings of the Court of Justice, no 33/01 (week 10 -14 December 2001). In effect, the court found that the French ban breached EU rules, but concluded that France had some justification for its concerns because the EU did not have a reliable tracing system in place when it allowed British exports to resume in 1999. Further Infringement proceedings The French government refused to take a decision until it had studied the judgment and analysed the latest state of knowledge on BSE and measures being undertaken in the UK. 'The decision will be based on the respect of the precautionary principle which has consistently guided the government's action in its public health policy.' Article 228 of the EU Treaty established the legal procedure to follow if a Member State does not comply with a Court of Justice judgment. After a letter of formal notice, a reasoned opinion is addressed to the Member State concerned. If non-compliance continues, the Commission may apply to the Court of Justice to impose a fine. The Court is free to decide the level of the fine and is not bound by any amount suggested by the Commission. On 20 March 2002 a Letter of formal notice was sent to France for non-compliance with the Court judgment, but it became clear that France was not prepared to take any decision about accepting imports of British beef until after the French general election in June. The European Commission said that unless France reversed its position, it would consider reopening infringement proceedings and ask the European Court of Justice to order the fines to be paid. On 26 June the European Commission sent France a final warning (Reasoned opinion ) that it was in breach of European Union law by maintaining its restrictions on UK beef. France had 15 days to end the ban. If it failed to do so, the Commission would refer the matter back to the court, and ask it to impose a daily fine on France until the ban is lifted. The French President then asked the French food safety agency for a further report. On 16 July the European Commission referred the matter back to the Court of Justice and asked for a financial penalty to be imposed on France for failing to comply with the order to lift its ban on British beef. France was still adamant that it had no immediate plans to lift it, even though it faced the possibility of a €158,000 daily fine for disregarding the ruling of the Court of Justice. Ban lifted On 20 September 2002 AFSSA announced that renewed imports would not endanger French consumers by exposing them to mad cow disease. It said that 'henceforth, the possibility of importing British meat would not call into question the level of safety currently guaranteed to the French consumer'. On 2 October, the French government finally announced that it would lift the ban. The National Farmers' Union of the UK, which was pursuing its own European court action against the French ban, was outraged that France could continue to defy EU law for so long, without any penalty being imposed.
Further information within European Sources Online:
Further information can be seen in these external links: EU Institutions
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Further and subsequent information on the subject of this In Focus can be found by an 'Advanced Search' in European Sources Online by inserting 'BSE' or 'beef' in the keyword field. Freda Carroll On Wednesday 2 October 2002, three years after it should have been lifted, the French Prime Minister finally announced his intention to lift the ban on the import of British beef into France. |
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