us import restrictions on apples and pears in march 2018 the european union raised a concern regarding the us import restrictions on apples and pears explaining that for many years it had market access to the united states through a pre-clearance inspection system. however very limited eu exports had taken place due to the costly nature of the pre-clearance system. as an alternative the european union had applied in 2008 to export apples and pears to the united states under a systems approach. despite finalizing the scientific and technical work in 2014 there had been lengthy delays in the us approval procedure. the european union indicated that the last administrative step which was to publish the final rule had been put on hold by the united states resulting in blocked trade of apples and pears from the european union. the european union noted that this was inconsistent with the sps agreement particularly in relation to avoiding undue delays in approval procedures. the european union urged the united states to respect its sps obligations and to allow the immediate start of trade of apples and pears under a systems approach. the united states indicated that there had been considerable progress on the several requests from the european union to establish and expand access for its apple and pear exports to the us market. in 2010 seven eu member states belgium france germany italy netherlands portugal and spain had requested access to the us market using a systems approach and an additional request had been submitted by poland in 2014. the united states explained that the usda animal and plant health inspection service aphis had published a proposed rule in 2016 to authorize imports of apples and pears from eight eu member states under a systems approach that minimized pest risk. comments received from the public on the proposed rule were currently being evaluated following which the final rule would be published. the united states indicated that it had been responsive to the eu requests as it had conducted site visit audits of apple and pear production sites in four of the eight eu member states in addition to finalizing the work plan. the united states further explained that both of these activities were normally conducted only after the publication of the final rule. the united states noted that it would continue to provide regular updates to the european union and its member states on the status of the rulemaking process. in july 2018 the european union reiterated its concern regarding the us import restrictions on apples and pears and regretted that it had not received confirmation on the final phase of the applications of eight eu member states to export apples and pears to the united states under a systems approach despite many years of joint technical work. the european union added that in practice the us pre-clearance system hindered eu exports as demonstrated by the limited volumes exported from the european union to the united states. as an alternative in 2008 the european union had applied to export apples and pears to the united states under a systems approach to replace the pre-clearance system. the last administrative ste towards the adoption of the final rule by the us administration had been pending for over one year without scientific justification which was inconsistent with the sps agreement particularly in relation to avoiding undue delays in approval procedures. the european union requested the united states to respect its obligations and to allow trade of apples and pears to start immediately under the agreed systems approach conditions to immediately publish the final rule and to communicate to the european union the planned date for adoption. the united states highlighted the considerable progress made on several requests by the european union to establish and expand access for eu apple and pear exports to the us market. the united states explained that the usda animal and plant health inspection service