Japan Won’t Budge On Apple Quarantine

Responding to U.S. complaints, Japan’s agriculture minister said Tuesday he has no intention of easing quarantine requirements on several varieties of American apples.

“Sufficient quarantine is necessary for imports, and no free pass can be given,” Takao Fujimoto said.

The United States filed a complaint against Japan on Monday with the World Trade Organization, accusing Japan of unfairly blocking U.S. apples from entering its market.

Two varieties of Delicious apples from the United States are currently approved for import, and the United States wants Japan to approve five more types without quarantine testing.

It says test data for the previous two kinds should be applicable for other apple varieties, But Japan says each variety has different bugs and must be examined separately.

Fujimoto said Japan will decide whether to offer a counter argument to the WTO after examining the U.S. complaint more thoroughly.