fmd restrictions in march 2004 argentina raised concerns on two measures adopted by panama to prohibit the imports of certain products due to fmd. on 19 march 2001 panama issued a resolution to restrict the imports of animals and by-products from europe and south america with the exception of chile. on 1 august 2001 panama amended its penal code through law 44. neither measure complied with oie recommendations. however during bilateral consultations held on 16 march 2004 panama had proposed amending law 44 to eliminate these restrictions. panama confirmed the positive outcome of the bilateral meeting and indicated discussions with argentina would continue. in october 2004 argentina informed the committee that argentina had received positive news on the issue of panamas restrictions on dairy products and was hopeful of a resolution by the next committee meeting. panama stated that bilateral consultations were held with argentina prior to the committee meeting and was optimistic of resolving the issue. in march 2005 argentina recalled that in october 2004 a bilateral agreement had been negotiated with panama whereby officials from panama would carry out a visit to establish the safety of argentinas milk products. the visit had not yet taken place and argentina dairy products continued to be prevented from entering panama. panama noted that it permitted imports of agricultural products if the country of origin showed objectively that its sanitary measures guaranteed the same level of protection as the sanitary measures established in the regulations of panama. the legislation in panama required that imports of animal products from countries affected by exotic illnesses be preceded by a risk analysis undertaken by the panamanian authorities based on the methodologies recommended by the international organizations of which panama was a member. the inspection of establishments in the exporting country was part of the process to determine the sanitary situation of the country. argentina was invited to develo a plan of action so that panama could carry out the visits in argentina. in june 2005 argentina reported that the visit of the panamanian authorities had not yet taken place although argentina had responded to a questionnaire. furthermore panama subsequently added a registration requirement for firms interested in exporting dairy products to panama for tax purposes. argentina asked panama to adjust its sanitary requirements to those in the oie code and to modify its administrative requirements. panama replied that argentinas request was close to completion. registration of interested firms was indeed required and as soon as these steps were completed panamanian officials would be able to visit argentine plants to finalize the procedure. in february 2006 argentina stated that the visits to dairy plants still had not occurred. companies wishing to export to panama were required to be registered in panama and the veterinary evaluation services of an exporting country had to be authenticated by the panamanian competent authorities supposedly to avoid ghost companies. argentina reiterated its request that panama bring its regulations into line with the oie code remove the bureaucratic barriers to market access and be transparent about its administration procedures. brazil noted that it had recently had problems relating to the administrative procedures established by panama for certain brazilian products. costa rica also expressed hope that products from costa rican dairy plants still undergoing inspection would soon have access to panama. panama maintained that its sanitary risk assessment methodology was in full compliance with both the sps agreement and the oie standards. compliance with panamas requirements for the export of dairy products was not limited to the inspection of certain dairy processing plants but required the exporting country to objectively demonstrate this compliance. once pan