Taiwan’s envoy to the WTO, Lai Shin-yuan, says WTO rules allow Taiwan to impose temporary regulations on food imports from Japan.
Taiwan has banned food imports from five Japanese prefectures since the 2011 Fukushima disaster over fears of radiation.
On Friday, Taiwan also introduced requirements that all Japanese food imports bear certificates of origin. Certain classes of products considered “high risk” will also have to bear radiation safety certificates. The new rules have drawn strong protest from Japan.
Lai’s statement comes amid Japanese threats to bring objections to the new regulations before the WTO. Lai said Japan can demand that Taiwan bring forward scientific proof that Japanese food imports constitute at health danger.
However, Lai said the WTO’s sanitary and phytosanitary measures allow member countries to impose temporary restrictions on food imports, allowing them time to investigate potential risks. Lai said that the measures do not include any rules on how soon such restrictions must be lifted. Lai said that China and South Korea have both kept similar regulations on Japanese foodstuffs in place despite repeated Japanese protests.