BONINO ON FACT-FINDING VISIT TO US

by Leyla Linton

CONSUMER affairs Commissioner Emmy Boning will face tough questioning when she meets representatives from the US department of agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration in Washington next week.

Boning has requested the meeting as part of a fact-finding mission to learn from the American experience as she prepares for the imminent reorganisation of the European Commission's Directorate-General for consumer policy (DGXXIV).

But American officials will have many questions of their own to put to Boning.

They are worried that the new division of responsibilities between DGXXIV and the Directorate-General for agriculture (DGVI) could hinder efforts to negotiate and implement a transatlantic agreement on plant and animal health.

Talks on the mutual recognition of hygiene standards trave dragged on for more than two

years and the deadline for an agreement - 1 April when a new Union directive harmonising member states' rules on plant and animal product imports will take effect - is fast approaching

Washington believes exports to the EU worth more than 700 million ecu are at stake and is anxious to see progress on the issue.

But a spokesman for Boning insisted the shift in responsibilities between DGXXIV and DGVI would not cause a problem. There is one administration and one Commission. Whatever commitment is given, it will be carried through," he said.