President Victor Yushchenko has asked parliamentarians to re-consider the Law on the Moratorium to Import Meat and Sub-products of Poultry, the President’s press office told.
The Head of State believes this six-month moratorium can negatively affect Ukraine’s WTO accession. Article 1 of the Law imposing the moratorium, is not consistent with international norms and provisions of the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. According to this document, such measures can only be taken to protect lives of people, animals and plants, and should be scientifically substantiated.
The Head of State added that reasons to ban imported animal products in case of epidemic were stipulated by Article 52 of the Law on Quality and Safety of Food Products and Food Raw Materials. Yushchenko claims that our budget will also lose about 60 million hrivna to pay import duties.
The moratorium has been imposed to prevent the spread of bird flu, but the law does not ban to import wild birds, incubator eggs and chickens, while these products can transmit the virus and other diseases.
Agrarian Minister Alexander Baranivsky was commissioned to present all these propositions at Verkhovna Rada
