Food safety and enlargement of the EU
Speaking to business leaders on June 6th 2002 the EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection highlighted the challenge of bringing 'standards in candidate countries up to the current EU standards' when the Union is enlarged, given the objective of ensuring that European consumers have access to the safest possible food supply in the world. He pointed out how in the sphere of food safety the process of enlargement has implications for the external border-inspection capacity of the governments managing the new frontiers of the enlarged EU, given the potential threat from imports to public health, animal health and plant health. Commissioner Byrne highlighted how, from a public health perspective, it was essential that 'candidate countries adopt and enforce the same rules applicable within the Union, prior to accession'. A major area of concern highlighted by the Commissioner was the upgrading of agri-food establishments in the candidate countries to the required EU standards. He emphasised that the reward for compliance was access to the huge EU market but also that the sanctions for non-compliance would be heavy indeed. The EU is supporting a number of measures in this regard but more still needs to be done. Comment: If candidate countries still have a long way to go to secure the full benefits of participation in the large economic area created by the expansion of the EU, for ACP countries the journey towards compliance with increasingly strict EU standardshas barely begun.
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| Format: | News Item biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
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Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
2002
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/52730 http://agritrade.cta.int/Back-issues/Agriculture-monthly-news-update/2002/August-2002 |
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