U.S BEGINS IMPLEMENTING BEEF HORMONES MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
News Date August 18, 2009
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) last week announced that it will begin to implement the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United States and the European Commission (EC) in the Beef Hormones dispute.
Under the terms of the MOU, the EC will provide significant access to American-produced high quality beef from cattle that have not been treated with growth-promoting hormones. During the first three years, the MOU allows for imports of US beef of up to 20,000 tons a year at zero duty, with the potential to increase to 45,000 tons in the fourth year.
The action last week by USTR begins to implement the MOU by delaying the imposition of additional tariffs on a list of European goods that had been scheduled to go into effect prior to the MOU.
The MOU, signed in May, provides a provisional solution to a decades-long dispute between the US and Europe that originally began in 1989 following Europe’s ban of hormone-treated beef imports from the U.S. and Canada. The World Trade Organization subsequently authorized the U.S .and Canada to impose punitive tariffs on imports from Europe. Text of the Federal Register notice on last week’s action is available here. (Contact: Amy Mann)