Protect dairy sector under India-EU FTA, urged Parliamentary Panel

The Committee on Agriculture in its latest report asked the government to take necessary steps for protecting the interest of domestic dairy sector under the proposed India-EU bilateral free trade agreement.

The panel suggested the government, "to not only ensure a level-playing field to the local industry but also  prevail upon the EU accord concessions for their domestic dairy producers."

Since June 2007 India and the EU have been negotiating on the Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) and have missed several deadlines to conclude the talks due to differences on the level of opening up of the markets. The next ministerial meeting is scheduled for June 2013.

When the committee sought to know about the proposed FTA with EU and the government's stand on dairy issue, it was informed that "India oppose any tariff concessions to EU for their dairy produce and the same has been conveyed to the Department of Commerce. The matter is under negotiation," the report said.

The Committee told that EU is not permitting the import of dairy products from India due to sanitary and phystosanitary reasons and alleged that Indian milch animals were not being maintained as per EU norms and Indian dairy products are "unfit for consumption in Europe".

The Committee was also informed that the EU on the contrary continued to export and sell its dairy products in India seeking protection under Geographical Indication (GI), while Indian products like 'lassi'(butter milk) and paneer (cottage cheese) were freely sold in Europe without giving any protection to India. GI, among other things, helps in preventing unauthorised use of products.

The European Union (EU) has protection for products like Gouda, Feta and Emmenthal under GI. According to the report, the Department of Animal Husbandry has informed the Committee that procuring GI for Indian products like lassi and paneer "may not be feasible" since these products are generic products and their production is not limited to any particular geographical location. By far, India has protected the dairy sector in all the free trade pacts it has signed including the ones with the Asean countries, Japan and South Korea.