restrictions due to avian influenza in march 2004 the european communities raised concerns on measures applied by india on 3 march 2004 on imports of live birds fresh poultry meat and fresh poultry meat products due to avian influenza. contrary to annex b of the sps agreement these measures had not been notified. in addition indias restriction on ec products was disproportionate to the health risks associated with these imports since the european communities was free of highly pathogenic avian influenza. the european communities reminded india of existing oie standards on avian influenza and requested that india lift the restrictions on ec products. the united states stated that it shared the concerns of the european communities. india explained that restrictions on poultry imports were temporary measures to address the emerging threat of introduction of highly pathogenic avian influenza. the measures were intended to protect farmers for whom poultry production was an essential source of income. delays in the reporting of outbreaks increased the risk of the virus spreading into other countries. in addition poultry infected by the virus did not always exhibit clinical signs of the disease. given the structure of the poultry industry in india it would be impossible to control the spread of the disease once introduced. india was taking all measures necessary to gather information on efforts to contain the disease globally and welcomed information from exporting members who were free of the disease. in june 2004 the european communities stated that india continued to apply import bans on a range of poultry products including live birds fresh meat and fresh meat products from several countries allegedly in response to highly pathogenic avian influenza hpai since february 2004. these blanket import bans were disproportionate to the risk and should be confined to imports from regions affected by the disease in accordance with oie recommendations. the european communities was officially free of this disease according to the oie criteria and had implemented safeguard measures to protect this sanitary status. the european communities asked that india review the current ban and lift all restrictions on poultry products from the european communities. india responded that measures prohibiting poultry and poultry products had been implemented as temporary measures. new outbreaks of hpai in wto members but not within the territories of the european communities had been reported as recently as 4 june 2004. since poultry production in india was typically a family-run business indian authorities were particularly concerned about potential human development of the disease. in october 2004 the european communities expressed concerns that india continued to impose a ban on some live animals and a range of products of animal origin due to the risk of entry of hpai into india. india had issued two notifications on 7 july and on 6 august informing members of the relaxation of the ban for a range of products. however the ban was disproportionate to the risk and there was no scientific basis for some of the measures imposed by india. the ban should be confined to regions affected by the disease following oie guidelines and recommendations. the european communities recalled that it was free of hpai and maintained this sanitary status. india was requested to review its ban and bring its measures into conformity with the sps agreement. india reiterated that the ban was a temporary measure which was enforced due to the outbreak of avian influenza throughout the world. the prevalence of the family-based poultry industry and the significant numbers involved in the industry would make it impossible to control the disease if it spread to india. the situation had been under constant review since the imposition of the ban in february 2004. the ban on imports of poultry with vaccination and specific pathogen free eggs was lifted in july 2004. a subsequent review by an