Intellectual Property Rights Attorneys Association petitions British envoy over mango ban

CHENNAI: With the British Parliament scheduled to debate EU ban on mango imports from India on May 8, the city-based Intellectual Property Rights Attorneys Association ( IPRAA) has written to the British high Commissioner in India seeking UK's intervention in the matter. Association President and advocate P Sanjai Gandhi said the ban which would be in force for two seasons till December 2015, "subject to a review", will cause about Rs 50 crore loss to farmers in Maharashtra region alone.

"This ban, coupled with crop losses due to inclement weather conditions in the state, will add to the farming community woes," he said urging the Centre also to take steps to revoke the ban.

The EU has banned the import of Alphonso mangoes, the king of fruits, and four vegetables from India for the period from May 1 to December 2015 after authorities found consignments infested with fruit flies. Noting that there are 36 scheduled food products monitored by Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), he said all products including fresh mangoes exported from India are duly screened by the APEDA.

He said Indian exporters were already following the procedures as required by law, and alleged that the latest ban had been clamped for some other reason. "There are significant shortcomings in the 'phytosanitary certification system' of such products exported to the EU," he said. British parliament is to debate the issue on May 8 following the initiatives of Leicester MP Keith Vaz, who has already written to the European Commission President to try to lift the ban on the import of mangoes from India, Gandhi said.

"On behalf of the people of India, we request you to convey these facts to all the members of the British Parliament in order to revoke the ban on the import of mangoes, including Alphonso variety of the fruit, imposed by the EU," the IPRAA said in its letter to the British High Commissioner in India, a copy of which was released here.