Full export ban on Hungarian pork due to African swine fever

26.4.2018

Question for written answer P-002345-18
to the Commission
Rule 130
Norbert Erdős (PPE)

The Hungarian food safety authority announced on 21 April that African Swine Fever (ASF) had been detected in the carcass of a wild boar found in Heves County.

In accordance with European Union regulations, the authority locked down the infected area from a veterinary point of view and also designated a monitoring zone around it. In accordance with European Union rules and, in particular, the principle of regionality, an export ban could be imposed on the infected area only.

Nonetheless, the ban on Hungarian pork and products of pork origin recently introduced by Serbia, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea applies to the whole territory of Hungary and all Hungarian exporters. An agreement could only be reached with Singapore on the provision that if no other infected animals are found, the market will be reopened to meat companies in regions outside Heves County.

Hungarian meat rendering companies are being hit quite hard by the loss of Asian customers, because Far East countries, such as Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, have become one of their main markets in recent years.

Why can third countries completely ignore the principle of regionality in the case of animal diseases, and why do they apply an export ban to the whole territory of the country concerned?

What steps does the Commission plan to take to convince these countries that they should only apply the ban to Heves County and not to the whole country of Hungary?

Could the principle of regionality not be integrated into the documents of the free trade negotiations currently underway?