S Korea to Delay Implementing US Beef Import Rules by 7-10 Days

SEOUL, May 14 Asia Pulse - South Korea will delay the implementation of the new United States beef import rules by seven to 10 days to deal with due administrative processes, a senior policymaker said Wednesday.

Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun said it is physically impossible to post the official notification for the new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) conditions by Thursday.

He told lawmakers at a parliamentary hearing that the government received about 330 requests calling for the delay or reexamination of the new import rules agreed on April 18.

Chung said because officials must look over each request and petition and answer them individually, it may not be possible to implement the pact according to the original timetable. Most of the requests for a reexamination of the SPS rules were made by civic and farmers' groups.

He then added that the extra time is to be used to look over the country's import quarantine system and take necessary measures in case shortcomings are discovered.

"If there are no unforeseen developments the minister should post the new SPS conditions on the government gazette," said a spokesman for the ministry. He said a delay does not translate into re-negotiations or moves to change the original pact.

Under South Korean law, the agriculture minister has the authority to post the notice of the pact that will then govern sanitation inspection rules for imported meat. Seoul, however, is obliged to receive petitions and look over them carefully.

The revised SPS rules effectively allow most U.S. beef cuts, including bone-in beef and by-products to be imported if all specific risk materials are removed.

This replaces an earlier set of guidelines signed in January 2006 that only permits boneless meat from animals under 30 months old to be imported.

South Korea which has been importing U.S. beef since the 1970s placed a blanket ban after the conformation of a mad cow case in late 2003. U.S. beef were again imported for domestic consumption in April 2007, but all quarantine inspections have been halted in early October after U.S. meat packaging plants shipped banned backbones and ribs.

(Yonhap)

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