import restrictions on fresh pork meat and beef in october 2009 brazil raised concerns regarding us import restrictions on fresh pork beef and beef products from brazil. brazil had requested the us authorities to begin a risk assessment on beef products in 1999 but despite bilateral exchanges of information for a decade the risk assessment had still not been finished. in january of 2009 the united states had informed brazil that it was giving full attention to the issue of brazilian beef but brazil was still waiting for the result of the risk assessment process. regarding pork in 2006 brazil had been informed that their national inspection system was eligible for consideration under the risk assessment process due to its well-known safety and biosecurity standards. in 2007 brazil requested access for the state of santa catarina since it was an fmd-free zone without vaccination as recognized by the oie in 2007. all technical information was forwarded to the us authorities in 2007. at the beginning of 2009 brazil was informed of the conclusion of the risk analysis technical process and approved the working plan for pork meat. since then brazil had been waiting for the publication of the proposed rule. according to the us legislation however after the publication of the proposed rule effective market access could still take from 18 months to 2 years. this unjustifiable administrative delay had motivated brazil to raise a specific trade concern on the matter in april 2008 as it was important to have a predictable and reliable timetable for the conclusion of the risk analysis process. the united states stated that the risk evaluations were completed and usda was currently drafting a proposed rule to recognize santa catarina as eligible to shi pork to the united states. regarding beef the united states was working to complete the review of the fmd risk mitigation measures. the united states recognized the importance of the request and would continue to work closely with brazil to complete the rulemaking processes for fresh pork and beef as expeditiously as possible. in november 2017 the secretariat informed that in september 2017 it had contacted all members who had raised specific trade concerns stcs that had not been discussed in the previous year to request an update on their status. in furtherance of this request information was received from brazil on the resolution of this stc. the secretariat indicated that the information received had been circulated in document rd sps 28 of 31 october 2017 and that the sps ims would be updated on this basis using the date of the november 2017 sps committee meeting as the date of resolution of the relevant stcs