CORRECTION

The article ''Fruit & vegetables from Cameroon suspended on EU market'' in Newsletter 565, (publication date: 07/05/2018) was incorrectly titled.
CTA Brussels was notified that no decision has been made about banning fruit and vegetables from Cameroon on the European market. Consequently, the original headline was corrected as follows ''Fruit & vegetables from Cameroon could face suspension on EU market'' to underline the hypothetical outcome of the situation.

We would like to apologize for any inconvenience this error may have caused.

CTA Brussels Office

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Fruit & vegetables from Cameroon could face suspension on EU market

If nothing changes, fruit and vegetables from Cameroon could soon be banned from the European market, because of their questionable quality and in particular due to shortcomings in the national sanitary and phytosanitary monitoring systems. “Many elements required to meet international and European Union standards are currently missing from this system. There are significant weaknesses in its organisation and implementation, undermining its overall efficiency. As a result, pre-export checks cannot be considered reliable when it comes to ensuring compliance with import conditions set by the European Union,” the Intégration newspaper revealed, quoting extracts from the audit carried out by the European Union between 8 and 18 May 2017 on Cameroon's sanitary and phytosanitary control systems. Indeed, it appears that, despite exporters being issued with certificates of conformity following checks on their products, significant concentrations of residues and other substances, harmful to both health and the environment, often remain in fruit and vegetables from Cameroon. “Between 2015 and 2017, 159 interceptions were recorded and notified to Cameroon,” Cole-ACP expert Babacar Samb told Intégration, having led a workshop on the issue in the Cameroonian capital Yaoundé in early April 2018. Some members of the corporation of fruit and vegetable producers and exporters say that since the beginning of this year, Cameroon has been notified of new interceptions, and is working hard to improve its monitoring system in order to maintain access to the European market for Cameroonian exporters (fruit and vegetables represent 15% of Cameroon’s exports to Europe).

Source: Agence Ecofin