This Regulatory Visit aims at demonstrating the robustness of the EU regulatory systems applied to the production and exportation of pork meat and pork products to Thailand. This activity is aiming to improve a better mutual understanding of the EU sanitary rules and control systems in place and to improve conditions for the EU meat industry to access the Thai market.

Due to Covid-19, some unforeseen issues that have emerged are affecting the market access protocols. The official inspections are an important step in the market access which are usually performed by the competent authorities of the non-EU countries in the European establishments. These inspections have been suspended for more than 2 years now.

A team of officials from Thailand Department of Livestock Development (DLD), Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives visited some establishments and discuss with their counterparts in the European Union, EU MS and Reference Laboratories.

This first regulatory dialogue visit was organised in Spain. The Spanish competent authorities were requested to provide speakers and experts to discuss the relevant topic defined in the event program and high-level Officials were invited to meet the delegation of Thai officials during their visit in order to discuss important topics, issues and comments on the Thai market access.

The visit also served to inform the Thai authorities on the harmonised application of EU food law, related official controls and assurances given by the European pork producers in general.

This Regulatory Visit aimed at demonstrating the robustness of the EU regulatory systems applied to the production and exportation of beef meat and beef products to Thailand. This activity improves a better mutual understanding of the EU sanitary rules and control systems in place and to improve conditions for the EU meat industry to access the Thai market.

In the period of 14th March to 1st April 2022, a team of officials from Thailand Department of Livestock Development (DLD), Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives visited several establishments in Spain and Ireland and discuss with their counterparts in the European Union, EU MS and Reference Laboratories. Besides, the competent authorities in Spain and Ireland invited speakers and experts to discuss the relevant topic defined in the event program and high-level Officials were invited to meet the delegation of Thai officials during their visit in order to discuss important topics, issues and comments in the Thai market access.

The visit also informed the Thai authorities on the harmonised application of EU food law, related official controls and assurances given by the European beef producers in general. The visit will hopefully lead to the authorisation of more establishments exporting products to Thailand.

This regulatory visit aimed at providing an opportunity for Thai officials to conduct an audit on fresh pears (pyrus communis). The objective of these audits was to assess the pear plantations in major production areas, inspection of packing facilities, traceability standards, export inspection, certification procedures and pest control programme for quarantine pests.

Two different delegations of Thai auditors visited Belgium and Netherlands in a first visit from 28th August to 1st September 2023 and Italy and Portugal in a second visit from 4th to 8th September 2023. They met with the concerned competent authorities and visited a total of 30 establishments including farms, packing centres and storage companies to observe control measures all along the food chain. The delegates obtained clarifications on the pest surveillance techniques in place, could check the manual on pests in visited establishments, and noted the application of cold disinfestation treatment as the main procedure to control the infestation from Mediterranean fruit fly. Clarifications were brought to EU MS competent authorities on the obligation from Thai authorities of a “Certificate of calibration for in transit cold disinfestation treatment in self-refrigerated container, as well as the importance of a proper placement of the temperature sensors.