restrictions on pigmeat the european communities drew the committees attention to notification g sps n usa 214 add.1 which recognized portugal as free of african swine fever. the phrasing of the us notification gave the erroneous impression that portugal was in a region infected with classical swine fever whereas portugal was recognized as free of classical swine fever by the oie. several ec member states remained on the us list of countries infected with classical swine fever solely because of delays in the us legislative procedure for reclassification possibly for political reasons. the european communities was hopeful that the publication of a final classical swine fever rule would follow shortly. the european communities had signed a bilateral veterinary agreement with the united states in 1999 on the understanding that a final rule was imminent. the united states noted that an outbreak of african swine fever was reported in portugal in 1999 and that on 7 january 2000 the united states had notified measures taken in this regard. in spite of the change in african swine fever status the export of pork products to the united states could not commence due to the presence of other animal diseases. the united states stated that they had legitimate scientific concerns related to classical swine fever in the european communities following recent outbreaks in germany spain and luxembourg. in october 2003 the european communities stated that it had provided the necessary information and renewed its request to the united states to adhere to commitments made in the 1998 bilateral agreement between the united states and the european communities on issues relating to animal health. the united states explained that it had been working closely with the european communities and interested ec member states on this regionalization request. the united states had published a final rule in april 2003 which recognized that certain areas of the european communities were disease free. on 16 october 2003 aphis ruled that east anglia in the united kingdom was disease free and was continuing its evaluation of the status of other ec member states. outbreaks of both classical swine fever and fmd in france spain and luxembourg had complicated and delayed the response to the regionalization request.