End in sight for French ban of British beef
unilateral ban on British beef due to mad cow fears would be ruled
as illegal.
Britain's farmers expressed confidence on Tuesday that France's unilateral ban on British beef due to mad cow fears would be ruled as illegal by the end of the week, laying to rest a long-running trade stand-off.
The National Farmers' Union said it expected Europe's top court, the European Court of Justice, to rule against France's refusal to comply with an EU Commission decision in 1999 to ease a more than three-year ban on British beef.
Britain, blamed for exporting mad cow disease, or BSE, to other European countries and beyond, has said farmers have suffered losses of hundreds of millions of pounds due to the ban, which France maintains is necessary to protect consumers.
"We are confident that the European Court of Justice will rule against France's unjust ban," Tim Bennett, deputy president at the NFU, said in a statement.
"The French government must then act decisively to lift its embargo and restore exports of British beef. Our farmers have waited long enough for justice."
Earlier this year an influential advisor to the court said the ban was illegal after Britain had taken the necessary measures to safeguard consumers against the human form of the brain-wasting illness, which has killed more than 100 people.
Britain first uncovered BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in its national herd in 1986 and a decade later linked the disease to the human form, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
France has said UK beef could still carry BSE and has maintained its embargo, in what has become a major trade row, prompting British officials to urge tit-for-tat blockades against French goods.
Bennett said the ban had cost beef farmers more than 300 million pounds ($430.4 million) and the union hoped a separate legal action would gain the industry compensation.
"The court - based in Luxembourg - will not impose a fine on Thursday, even if France's action is ruled illegal," the NFU said.
"However the European Commission can do so and the NFU will be pressing to ensure this happens if France does not comply immediately."
