restrictions on ya pears imports in march 2005 china reported that at the end of 2003 the us animal and plant health inspection service aphis had suspended imports of ya pears from china on the grounds that new species of the fungus alternaria sp. had been found. the chinese government had undertaken cooperative studies with the united states and finally obtained a result satisfactory to both chinese and us specialists. however us authorities had not yet made any decision based on the above results and imports of pears from china were still suspended. the european communities noted that it was also experiencing lengthy decision-making procedures when trying to export some plant products to the united states and invited the united states to review its internal administrative procedures. the united states clarified that imports of ya pears from china were suspended in december 2003 due to repeated detections of the exotic fungus alternaria sp.and that imports of these pears had already been suspended in previous years for a similar problem. in may 2004 china had been provided with a document describing the status of this organism as a pest of quarantine significance and the united states had been working closely with china to develo conditions that would allow the reopening of the market. after several bilateral discussions agreement had been reached in november 2004 on a work plan stipulating that chinese scientists would cooperate with us scientists to develo possible measures to mitigate the fungus. a protocol had been agreed in december 2004 to enable a test shipment of ya pears to be imported for research purposes into the united states to evaluate the various mitigation measures.. unfortunately the collaborative research showed that even with all the mitigation measures in place the infestation rate still significantly exceeded the one specified in the work plan of november 2004. alternaria sp. was a newly identified species not known to exist in the united states and a better understanding of this organism was necessary to develo appropriate mitigation measures. the united states would continue work with china to identify measures to reduce the level of infestation to an acceptable level so that the market might be reopened.