indonesias approval procedures for animal products and plant products in july 2018 the european union raised a concern over the lack of transparency and undue delays in indonesias approval procedures for animal products reporting that for many years european member states had not received feedback from indonesia on their export applications some of them filed in 2013. the european union noted that members states which had applied for market access to export several products of animal origin such as beef dairy and poultry products had not received any reply from indonesia to simple questions such as applicable questionnaires next steps in the approval process timeline for audits and whether additional information was required. according to the european union as indonesian import approval procedures and standards processing periods were unknown they were inconsistent with article 8 and annex c. the european union stressed that wto members should ensure that approval procedures were undertaken without undue delays and in no less favourable manner for imported than for domestic products. further the european union added that wto members should promptly examine the completeness of applications and provide the necessary feedback in case of any decision on the application and upon request provide information on the standard processing periods. the european union expressed appreciation for the preliminary feedback received from indonesia on market access applications for plant products. however the european union regretted that it had so far been unable to make progress on some of the delays faced by eu members states on market access applications. the european union was particularly concerned by the lack of feedback on market access applications for animal products and regarding restrictions related to outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza and requested clarification on the procedures to lift these restrictions. the european union regretted the lack of answers to eu comments on notification g sps n idn 121 as well as the lack of feedback on the rationale behind the new indonesian fees regulation and asked for clarification on the procedures. the european union urged indonesia to engage in discussions with the european union and to finalize pending market access applications from eu members states. brazil expressed its interest on this concern from a systemic point of view. indonesia stated that this specific trade concern demonstrated the close trade ties between the european union and indonesia and thanked the european union for the regular bilateral consultations including the last bilateral meeting that had recently been conducted in jakarta. indonesia reaffirmed its commitment to implementing the sps agreement and to respect the reciprocal treatment between indonesia and eu members states. indonesia explained that its procedures to import animal products were based on legal instruments formulated in response to the increasing need for risk analyses due to the global movement of animal products aimed at consumer health protection. indonesia added that the risk analyses on the health status of imported animal products took into consideration the status of communicable diseases in the products country of origin in line with articles 2 and 5 of the sps agreement and that the risk analyses including the arrangement for payment of related fees was in conformity with annex c of the sps agreement. moreover indonesia clarified that its licensing scheme was applied to all importing entities following the mfn principle. addressing the eu concern on transparency in indonesias approval procedures indonesia drew members attention to its efforts to raise its capacity in this area including regular monitoring of its import approval procedures inter alia on animal products. indonesia had also invited various wto members to a forum on the implementation of sps measures in indonesia underlining that inputs from members would be essential to further develo its