import restrictions on cooked poultry products from china in october 2007 china stated that the oie had explicitly pointed out in the avian influenza guideline that restrictive measures associated with avian influenza should not be applied to cooked poultry meat that had been subjected to heat treatment to destroy the virus. nonetheless the united states prohibited the importation of such cooked poultry meat processed from poultry originated in china. although the united states admitted that there was no technical problem for the importation of such cooked poultry meat and it was only a matter of legal procedure the us congress had passed in august the agriculture appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008 of which section 731 prohibited the importation of such products from china. china questioned the scientific justification behind such a decision how this section took into consideration the sps principle of minimizing negative effects on trade and the principle of risk assessment. china hoped that the united states would abolish section 731 and lift the ban as soon as possible. the united states noted that the agriculture appropriations bill had not yet passed congress and was subject to potentially substantial change before it was signed into law by the president. in april 2008 china indicated that despite numerous bilateral meetings including on the recognition of equivalence chinas cooked poultry products were still denied access to the us market. the united states had admitted that there were no technical problems with the importation of cooked poultry from china yet imports remained restricted due to legal problems. the agriculture appropriations bill which contained a specific provision to not allow imports from china had been signed into law. this prohibition was contrary to articles 2.2 and 2.3 of the sps agreement as the law was discriminatory and not science-based. this development set a bad precedent showing that sps measures could be easily overturned by legislation that paid no attention to scientific factors. the united states explained that the agriculture appropriations bill prohibited the use of federal funds by usda to continue work on this rule. chinas concerns would be brought to the attention of the appropriate authorities in washington with the aim to resolve this problem as soon as possible. in june 2008 china reported that its concerns on the us ban on imported chinese cooked poultry dated back to 2004. china had been informed that all technical issues including recognition of the equivalence of its sanitary system had been resolved during bilateral consultations. however the us agriculture appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008 section 7333 stipulated that the funds made available by that bill could not be used to establish or implement a rule allowing chinese poultry products to be imported into the united states. this legislation disregarded the fact that the usda had undertaken a risk assessment which concluded that chinese cooked poultry did not pose risks to health. china considered the law to be discriminatory and not based on science. china requested an update of the situation and an indication of when chinese cooked poultry products would be allowed into the us market. the united states indicated that her country placed great importance on the fact that its sps measures were based on science. chinas concerns would continue to be raised with the appropriate authorities within the united states with the hope that this situation could be resolved as soon as possible. in october 2008 china reiterated its concerns regarding us import restrictions on cooked poultry products from china even though there were no technical problems with these products. however the us agriculture appropriations bill banned the use of federal funds to allow poultry products to be imported from china. the united states affirmed that it would continue to raise chinas concerns with the appropriate authorities in washington a