미국 정부가 무역장벽에 관한 진전과 문제점을 담은 2개의 보고서를 미 의회에 제출했다는 소식입니다.
보고서에는 중국과 유럽을 포함한 국가들의 기술 및 위생검역 관련 장벽들에 관한 내용들이 들어 있다고 합니다.
미 정부가 주장하는 양돈산업의 기술 및 위생검역 장벽 중의 하나는 돼지의 살코기를 늘리기 위한 사료첨가제인 락토파민(Ractopamine)입니다.
현재 중국 및 EU 국가들은 락토파민의 사용을 금지하고 있지만, 미국이나 호주 같은 국가들은 락토파민의 사용을 허용하고 있습니다.
대만의 경우 자국내 양돈산업에서 락토파민의 사용을 금지하고 있으나, 미국산 수입 돼지고기에 대해 락토파민의 사용을 허용하는 이중적인 기준을 적용한 바 있습니다. 지난 2007년 8월 대만 농민들은 대만정부의 락토파민 사용 돼지고기 수입정책에 항의하는 대대적인 시위를 벌인바 있습니다.
미 정부 보고서에 들어간 내용 중에는 중국 정부가 PC 감시 소프트웨어인 Green Dam을 설치한 문제나, 돼지독감(신종플루) 유행 당시 미국산 돼지고기의 수입을 금지한 조치 등도 있다고 합니다.
====================================================
Two US Reports Cite Problems, Progress On Trade Barriers
By Judith Burns
출처 : Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday, March 31, 2010
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/reports-cite-problems-progress-trade-barriers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxbusiness%2Flatest+%28Text+-+Latest+News%29&utm_content=Yahoo+Search+Results
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk promised the reports in a speech last summer and made good on that promise Wednesday with new studies on technical barriers to trade and on barriers linked to sanitation and health concerns.
The reports point to progress in overcoming some technical trade barriers, including China’s decision last year to scrap a requirement for imported and domestically produced software to include Chinese-made Internet filtering software known as Green Dam. Government and industry leaders from the U.S. and other countries balked at the requirement and China announced in June that it would suspend it indefinitely.
The administration also hailed China for consolidating duplicative oversight of medical devices and for rejecting a registration plan that the U.S. said had the potential to block or delay sales of safe, high-quality medical devices to the Chinese market.
Lingering problems on the technical front include U.S. access to the European market, where stricter registration requirements for chemicals take effect in November, the administration said in its report.
On the sanitation front, the reports note U.S. trade, agriculture and other officials helped end bans on imports of U.S. pork and pork products sparked by unfounded concerns that pork might be linked to the H1N1 flu virus, dubbed “swine flu.”
Dozens of countries that bought more than $900 million of U.S. pork and pork products in 2008 imposed bans on U.S. pork and pork products after the H1N1 flu emerged in the U.S. However, nearly all of them abandoned the bans after being urged to base such decisions on scientific evidence, the administration said.
The reports highlight continuing sore points, including the debate over ractopamine, a veterinary drug approved for use in the U.S. and elsewhere on pigs, cattle and turkeys. Despite scientific evidence attesting to the drug’s safety, the administration said a number of U.S. trading partners continue to ban imports of pork and pork products containing residues of ractopamine, posing a significant barrier to trade in such products.
The report said the U.S. is continuing to work to remove these restrictions on the drug–an additive that promotes leanness in meat–along with restrictions on imports of U.S. cattle and beef products linked to concerns about bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or “mad cow” disease.
