import restrictions on products of animal origin due to dioxin in february 2007 the european communities raised concerns regarding chinas import restrictions on products of animal origin from some ec member states due to alleged dioxin contamination. there had been an isolated incident in january 2006 at which time all potentially contaminated products had quickly been recalled. trade had been re-established and ec exports had returned to normal within weeks except with china. china was the only wto member that continued to impose restrictions because of a problem which no longer existed. the european communities had pursued bilateral contacts with chinas general administration of quality supervision inspection and quarantine aqsiq and provided all of the information requested by china. the ban on products from some ec member states was disproportionate to the potential risk as the contamination problem no longer existed. the representative of the european communities requested china to remove its restrictions or to provide a scientific justification for their maintenance. china confirmed that this issue had been the focus of technical consultations with the european communities. in belgium germany and the netherlands this was the second time there had been this type of problem. given the fluidity of movement of goods within the european communities the spread of contaminated products was very likely. china was waiting to receive the final ec investigation report on the incident so that it could complete its risk assessment and take the appropriate measure. in october 2007 the european communities reported on the resolution of the specific trade concern related to chinas import restrictions on some products of animal origin from some ec member states due to alleged dioxin contamination. import restrictions were originally introduced because of an isolated incident which affected a limited number of agriculture products and for which prompt corrective action was taken. consultations between the ec authorities and chinas aqsiq at both the bilateral and multilateral level had been successful in finally putting an end to these restrictions