LUXEMBOURG - The European Commission and the UK government have agreed a new proposal which may lead to a partial easing of the 18-month-old ban on British beef exports, EU Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a meeting of farm ministers in Luxembourg, Fischler said the revised wording of the proposal from London was in tune with the EU's own scientific advice on the matter.
"There is a proposal, which is in line with the scientists," he said, adding this would be put to a key veterinary committee "within a few weeks."
The proposal is a revised working of the UK's "certified herds scheme," and takes into account previous scientific opinion which recommended an easing of the ban only in areas with a computerised database of cattle and herd movements.
Such a system is only in place in Northern Ireland.
"It is clear the adapted proposal relates only to Northern Ireland," Fischler said.
It is unclear if the proposal will be passed by the committee but, if approved, sources say it could be quickly adopted by the Commission and limited exports from Northern Ireland would then resume.
The EU imposed the ban in March 1996 after the British government revealed a potential link between Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and its deadly human equivalent Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease (CJD).
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