The EU Commission has agreed upon the proposal with conditions that the 100% inspection shall be fully implemented by 15 March 2011 onwards and, most importantly, the problem shall “NOT” be intercepted, upon arrival at all EU ports, over 5 consignments within one year otherwise the EU Commission will initiate banning procedure. That means a very tiny margin of error could be found to those 16 vegetables originated from Thailand.
Currently, the Thai authority is in the process to set up inspection procedural for 16 vegetables that exporting to the EU, Norway, and Switzerland. In brief, from 14 March 2011 onwards, only authorised exporters/packing houses will be able to export 16 vegetables in question to those countries. There are several strict quality control procedures from farm to airport, which exporters/packing houses need to follow. The authority will run 100 % inspection in all consignments destine to those countries. During this preparatory process, exportation of those 16 vegetables from Thailand will be “temporarily disturbed,” which means products will not be available in the European market for a certain period until all processes are successfully operationalized.
Thailand Trade Office/Office of Commercial Affairs, Royal Thai Embassy, the Hague, and the Office of Agricultural Affairs, in Brussels, would like to reiterate to all Thai vegetable friends, including importers, supermarkets, Thai restaurants, Thai food lovers etc., that working together is an only way to keep Thai products sustainable available in the market. Please inform your business partners in Thailand that their strong cooperation with Thai authority is utmost important.
