The European Union on Thursday agreed on a transitional method to allow in butter imports from New Zealand which risked disruption due to a ruling by Europe's top court earlier this year, according to Reuters. The European Court of Justice struck down an existing import quota system for New Zealand butter in July after a German trading company complained it broke EU law. After protests from New Zealand's government, the EU's executive Commission quickly found a way to allow in butter already en route for Europe but had not said until now how it would deal with the rest of the imports. Under the emergency system to operate between now and the end of the year, tenders will be held in October and November for the right to ship the remaining 14,300 tonnes of butter that New Zealand can send to the EU under its 2006 quota. The plan approved by EU agriculture experts on Thursday will require that at least six different companies are awarded the tenders, said Michael Mann, the European Commission's agriculture spokesman. That would ensure that companies other than New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra Co-operative would be able to take part, addressing a key point raised by the EU court, Mann said. No one company would be able to import more than 30 percent of the total outstanding quota, he added. "This plan does not prejudge the system that we will have in place for 2007 onwards," Mann said. "Internal discussions about that are under way already." New Zealand's government said in July the EU risked breaking its World Trade Organisation obligations over the case. Some media in Britain -- which has strong historical links to New Zealand -- were also critical of the import ban which has threatened to affect sales of the popular Anchor butter brand. New Zealand has an annual quota of 77,000 tonnes for butter exports to the EU.
