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Question for written answer E-005239/2020 to the Commission Rule 138 Yannick Jadot (Verts/ALE), Benoît Biteau (Verts/ALE), Claude Gruffat (Verts/ALE), François Alfonsi (Verts/ALE), Damien Carême (Verts/ALE), Caroline Roose (Verts/ALE), Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE), Marie Toussaint (Verts/ALE), Karima Delli (Verts/ALE), David Cormand (Verts/ALE), Michèle Rivasi (Verts/ALE), Mounir Satouri (Verts/ALE), Salima Yenbou (Verts/ALE), Saskia Bricmont (Verts/ALE), Tilly Metz (Verts/ALE) Subject: CETA and hormone-treated beef: ‘failures’ in checking Canadian beef imports to Europe On 25 May 2020, the Commission released the findings of a September 2019 audit1 of Canadian cattle farms producing meat for the European market. The auditors' conclusions are worrying: shortcomings in ensuring livestock traceability, Canadian databases that do not allow the effective tracking of animals in the ‘hormone-free’ chain, possible conflicts of interest among veterinarians responsible for assessing compliance with health standards, among other issues. The auditors conclude that the current system ‘is not able to provide the guarantees that only fully compliant establishments continue to be listed for export to the EU’. Given that growth hormones are banned in the EU: 1. When does the European Commission plan to suspend Canadian beef imports, so as to enforce EU law? 2. What does the Commission intend to do to recall and dispose of non-compliant Canadian meat entering the EU? 3. What legal and inspection safeguards will the Commission provide to ensure product traceability in the context of EU trade agreements? 1 https://ec.europa.eu/food/audits-analysis/audit_reports/details.cfm?rep_id=4287 PE659.153v01-00.

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