Memo: BSE: Prospects for lifting current restrictions on the trade of cattle and beef from the UK

A total ban on the export of live cattle and all cattle products from the UK had been introduced at EU level in March 1996 as a result of the BSE crisis, which affected the UK to a much larger extent than the other EU Member States. The first restrictions had been put in place already in 1989, prohibiting the export of certain live cattle from the UK. The European Commission on 28 September 2005 announced that under certain conditions it was willing to open negotiations with Member States on lifting the UK embargo.