Business
Ban on poultry products from US: India appeals against WTO ruling
New Delhi, Feb 27
The government said Friday
it had appealed against a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling that its
ban on the import of poultry products from the US due to an outbreak of
avian influenza was inconsistent with the WTO Agreement.
Commerce
and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Lok Sabha in a
written reply that the government had had moved the WTO appellate body
against the ruling.
"India has a system in place for import of poultry products through sanitary import permits (SIP)," Sitharaman said.
"SIPs
are granted for import of poultry products only after detailed risk
analysis from the angle of human and animal safety," the minister said
in her reply.
The minister said that import of poultry products
are allowed from the country which are free from highly pathogenic and
low pathogenic avian influenza.
"Moreover, at present, the
customs duty on chicken legs has been retained at India’s bound rate of
duty, which is the maximum permissible level of duty committed to the
WTO," the minister added.