Poultry with a European passport

Exports of poultry
and down and feathers
from the EU

The European Union and Japan have a long history of developing economic relations. The most important bilateral agreements are:

  • The EU-Japan Mutual Recognition Agreement (January 2002)
  • An Agreement on Co-operation on Anti-competitive Activities (June 2003)
  • A Science and Technology Agreement between the EU and Japan (November 2009)
  • The Agreement on Co-operation and Mutual Administrative Assistance (February 2008)
  • Economic Partnership Agreement, (February 2019)

The dynamics of the international trade in goods between Japan and the EU have significantly increased as a result of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between these areas. Japan and the EU have created a common economic zone worth almost one third of world GDP. The agreement entered into force on 1 February 2019. It is now the main document regulating trade between the two partners. A detailed description of the agreement can be found at: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1684

This agreement mainly relates to tariffs and the regulation of matters and disputes of a financial or economic nature.

As a result of these measures, the current tariffs on poultry products are as follows:

Rates of duty
Code (CN)
Product description
For the EU
General
For preferred
countries
Is the duty
being
reduced
2
Chapter two - meat and edible meat offal
207
Meat and edible poultry offal, fresh, chilled and frozen
Meat of the Gallus domesticus (domestic hen) species
0207.11
Uncut (carcass), fresh or chilled
6%
14%
11.9%
yes
0207.12
Uncut (carcass), frozen
8.7%
14%
11.9%
yes
0207.13
Cuts and offal, fresh or chilled
0207.13.10
Bone-in leg
6.2%
20%
8.5%
yes
0207.13.20
Other
8.7%
12%
11.9%
yes
0207.14
Cuts and offal, frozen
0207.14.10
Livers
0%
10%
3%
Other
0207.14.21
Bone-in leg
6.2%
20%
8.5%
yes
0207.14.22
Other
6%
12%
11.9%
yes
Turkey meat:
0207.24
Uncut (carcass), chilled
0%
5%
3%
0207.25
Uncut (carcass), frozen
0%
5%
3%
0207.26
Cuts and offal, fresh or chilled
0%
5%
3%
0207.27
Cuts and offal, frozen
0207.27.10
Livers
0%
10%
3%
0207.27.20
Other
0%
5%
3%
Duck meat:
0207.41
Uncut (carcass), fresh or chilled
0%
10%
9.6%
0207.42
Uncut (carcass), frozen
0%
10%
9/6%
0207.43
Fatty livers (foie gras), fresh or chilled
0%
5%
3%
0207.44
Other, fresh or chilled
4.8%
10%
9.6%
yes
0207.45
Other, frozen:
0207.45.01
Livers
0%
10%
3%
0207.45.09
Other
0%
10%
9.6%
Goose meat:
0207.51
Uncut (carcass), fresh or chilled
0%
12.5%
9.6%
0207.52
Uncut (carcass), frozen
0%
12.5%
9.6%
0207.53
Fatty livers (foie gras), fresh or chilled
0%
5%
3%
0207.54
Other, fresh or chilled
0%
12.5%
9.6%
0207.55
Other, frozen:
0207.55.10
Livers
0%
10%
3%
0207.55.20
Other
0%
12.5%
9.6%
0207.60
Guinea fowl meat:
0207.60.10
Liver, frozen
0%
10%
3%
0207.60.20
Other
0%
12.5%
9.6%

Source: https://madb.europa.eu/madb/atDutyOverviewPubli.htm?hscode=0207&countries=JP#

Feathers and down, like goose meat, are subject to zero duty. These products fall within CN code 0505.10 – feathers for stuffing.

Under the Agreement, customs duties on poultry meat and products will be progressively reduced until they reach zero. Especially big changes will take place in the area of chicken broiler meat. These changes are as follows:

Code (CN)
Product description
Year of achievement
of 0% rate
Domestic hen meat
0207.11
Uncut (carcass), fresh or chilled
2023
0207.12
Uncut (carcass), frozen
2028
0207.13
Cuts and offal, fresh or chilled
0207.13.10
Bone-in leg
2028
0207.13.20
Other
2028
0207.14.21
Bone-in leg
2028
0207.14.22
Other
2023
Duck meat:
0207.44
Other, fresh or chilled
2023

For regular exporters, a simplified import system can be used (Simplified and Expedited Systems of Import Procedures of Food and Related Items). This system has the following functions:

Advance
Notification
System
For all food and related products, the import notification can be sent 7 days before the cargo is scheduled to arrive. The exception is cargo that needs to be inspected, for which a certificate of acceptance is sent immediately after landing at a specific place.
Planned
Import system
If the product is imported regularly, it is possible to attach an import plan for the first transport. If this plan is accepted, it is possible to import for some time without additional documentation.
Inspection Results
by official
Inspection
Organizations in
Other Countries
If the cargo has been inspected by an official inspection authority in the exporting country and an inspection report is attached to the cargo, inspection at the Quarantine Station in Japan may be omitted. Unfortunately, this is not possible for products tested for microbiological activity, including poultry.
Continuous Import of Same Items
If certain products are imported regularly and the results of the inspection are positive, it is possible to skip the inspection at the Quarantine Stations for some time.
Advance
Approval of
Imported
Foods and
related
Products
If the imported food has characteristics with confirmed compliance with Food Sanitation Law, the products and producers can be registered. The nearest deliveries of these products for import may not be inspected, and a certificate of compliance will be sent immediately after the import notification document is sent for acceptance.

A list of simplified procedures can be found at: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/topics/importedfoods/1-5.html

 

Furthermore, imports of poultry meat may not take place from the excluded areas. The exclusion applies to all poultry and poultry meat species. It is worth noting that the ban on imports may vary by product – for most countries, in the event of HPAI outbreaks in poultry, imports of poultry meat and live animals are banned for the whole country, but for meat products, the ban may only apply to a specific region. The list of regions currently subject to restrictions, mainly in relation to avian influenza, can be found at: https://www.maff.go.jp/aqs/english/news/hpai.html.

According to the list (accessed on May 25, 2023: ttps://www.maff.go.jp/aqs/topix/im/hpai.html#%E3%83%95%E3%83%A9%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B9-%E7%94%9F%E3%81%8D%E3%81%9F%E5%AE%B6%E3%81%8D%E3%82%93), among the EU countries, as many as 5 countries, including Denmark, Austria, Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden, were subject to an embargo on the export of poultry meat to Japan. The principle of regionalization applies to other EU countries with confirmed outbreaks of bird flu, including: France, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria.

The process of lifting restrictions can sometimes be very long,[1] but in most cases the Japanese authorities recognise the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) regulations in this area and lift restrictions once a country has regained HPAI-free status.

In the case of heat-treated down and feathers, the Japanese authorities do not, in principle, impose import restrictions.

 

The Japanese authorities recognise the principles of compartmentalisation with regard to highly pathogenic avian influenza. This means that Japanese veterinary authorities approve not only the establishment concerned for export, but the entire process, from live birds on the farm to their transport, to all the slaughtering process and possible processing, to storage and transport. At each of these stages, the biosafety and process management measures taken are reviewed in order to minimise the risk of the introduction of the avian influenza virus. Appropriate controls ensure that the animals are reared, transported, slaughtered and processed in disease-free regions and that the production facilities themselves meet the standards for biosafety and prevention of vectors of undesirable micro-organisms or viruses. In addition, a high level of traceability of animal and meat production and strict veterinary controls in the European Union, as part of cross-compliance requirements, can guarantee compliance with the rules relating to compartmentalisation. Thanks to the application of the principle of compartmentalisation, in the event of an outbreak of HPAI in a country, establishments which have undergone the approval procedure as part of compartmentalisation are excluded from the export ban.

Please note that the exported products need to be accompanied with a health certificate in English and in the language of the exporting country issued by the competent veterinary authority. Despite the EU-Japan trade agreement, health certificates agreed bilaterally between Japan and individual EU countries still apply. The certificate contains, inter alia, the following elements:

  1. Information on the consignor
  2. Information on the consignee
  3. Information on competent central and local authorities
  4. Date of slaughter and ante-mortem and post-mortem inspection
  5. Shipment identification
  6. Information indicating that the meat comes from poultry slaughtered in slaughterhouses authorised for export
  7. Information that the country is free of avian influenza
  8. Information that the area where the meat comes from is free of Newcastle disease (ND) and other notifiable diseases

The health certificate has to be signed by an official veterinarian authorised to do so.

[1] https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2018/february/tradoc_156617.pdf

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