Britain hopes for FMD free zone

Britain will ask this week to be designated free of foot-and-mouth disease, so ending costly international trade sanctions imposed during last year's epidemic, officials said on Monday.

An official at the British Embassy in Paris said four representatives from the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs would arrive on Tuesday in Paris to formally apply to the OIE international animal health organisation.

An OIE spokeswoman confirmed that British officials were due to submit an application at 1300 GMT on Tuesday to the OIE's Foot-and-Mouth Disease Commission.

The spokeswoman said the Commission, which meets each day this week to consider applications from countries wishing to have their FMD status changed, could issue a ruling on Britain's request as early as Tuesday evening.

That raises the possibility that Britain could soon be declared free of foot-and-mouth without vaccination requirements, a move that would allow exports of British meat and dairy products to resume to non-EU countries.The OIE has said that under a so-called fast-track authority, the commission could immediately accept or reject Britain's request without awaiting the approval of all OIE member states at their annual general meeting in May.

Britain last week declared that its last "at risk" region was free of the highly infectious livestock disease.

Britain's foot-and-mouth crisis, which surfaced last February and spiralled into 2,030 separate outbreaks, sent millions of animals to slaughter and resulted in costs exceeding one billion pounds.

The OIE is an intergovernmental body created in 1924 that has 158 members. One of its roles is to inform governments of the occurrence of animal diseases around the world and of ways to control outbreaks.

The OIE closely monitors foot-and-mouth, designating countries either as free of the disease with or without vaccination. It can also classify countries as having FMD-free zones with or without vaccination requirements.