EU health experts tighten pet bird import rules

BRUSSELS, Jan 12 (Reuters) EU animal health experts have tightened rules for the import of live captive birds as part of the bloc's strategy to fight bird flu, the EU's executive Commission said in a statement.

''Under the regulation agreed yesterday, only specific countries or regions which have already been approved to export live commercial poultry will be allowed to export captive birds to the EU,'' it said.

The list of countries approved to export live captive birds to the EU would be limited to those already approved to export live poultry to EU markets, it said. These were Australia, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Israel, New Zealand and the United States, along with certain states in Brazil.

However, certain third countries that were geographically close to the European Union would be exempt from the new rules, it added -- Andorra, Lichtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland and Vatican City.

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