chinas import restrictions due to highly pathogenic avian influenza in march 2016 the european union expressed its concern over chinas import restrictions on hpai. it had raised the issue as a general stc in march 2015 and many members had lifted their bans rather quickly. china continued to maintain its import policy despite the european unions regionalization efforts. the oie standard stated that the measure could be lifted after the application of a stamping out or a regionalization policy. the european union considered chinas policy as over-restrictive and not recognising the concept of pest- or disease-free areas. the european also requested china to clarify its procedures to recognise regionalization especially given that china faced domestic hpai outbreaks and also implemented its own regionalization policies. the european union remained open to continue working with china to resolve this issue. china explained that the measures had been taken after several eu member states had reported hpai outbreaks. in accordance with oie rules china implemented zoning for lpai rather than hpai. china reaffirmed that its measures were consistent with international practice and the sps agreement. once the risk was under control china would commence a risk assessment on which basis it might consider lifting the ban. in june 2016 the european union reiterated its concerns regarding chinas import restrictions on hpai highlighting that china still maintained a country-wide ban on several eu member states despite the european unions regionalization efforts. recalling chinas intervention in the march 2016 sps committee reaffirming that its measures were consistent with international practice and the sps agreement the european requested china and other members to lift their country-wide bans and to recognize eu regionalization measures. the european union reminded the committee that the oie standard stated that hpai measures could be lifted after the application of a stamping out policy. this policy was strictly implemented in the european union whenever an outbreak occurred. the european union considered chinas policy as overly trade restrictive as it did not recognize the concept of pest- or disease-free areas. trading partners including china had been kept informed of the measures implemented to ensure safe trade as well as other information on latest developments. the european union requested china to clarify its scientific basis for the country-wide bans and its procedures to recognize regionalization especially given that china faced domestic hpai outbreaks and that it also implemented its own regionalization policies. the european union further urged china to review its import policy in order to comply with its transparency and regionalization obligations under the sps agreement. the european union remained open to continuing discussions with china in order to find a timely solution. china explained that the measure had been taken in 2015 after several eu member states had reported hpai outbreaks. china noted that the outbreak of hpai in the european union had still not ended as an outbreak of hpai had been reported in france in early 2016. two of the hpai strains h5n8 and h5n9 previously reported in outbreaks in eu member states in 2015 had never been detected in china. china indicated that it had started the process to remove the ban and in particular the hpai ban for spain had been lifted on the basis of the results of a risk assessment. china noted that its experts would shortly conduct an on-site risk assessment in the netherlands and further invited eu member states to submit an official note to chinese authorities indicating their intention to export poultry products to china following which the ban release procedure would commence taking into account the risk control measures. in october 2016 the united states noted the importance of the oie guidelines for highly pathogenic avian influenza hpai to facilitate safe trade and indicated that the united sta