Agriculture Minister Nick Brown said:
"The government has worked hard to reach an agreement with the French authorities and this will enable British sheep meat to compete fairly in the market place. The new regulations have been brought forward to make sure that sheep meat exporters can regain their lost markets as quickly as possible."
The Specified Risk Material (Amendment) Regulations 1998 will now come into force on 8 October 1998, this was originally announced in news release 381/98. The Government's proposals were the subject of a statutory consultation exercise which ended on 3 July 1998. The Specified Risk Material Regulations 1997 currently require all carcases of sheep more than 12 months of age, or with one or more permanent incisor teeth erupted, to be split in authorised premises in the UK and the spinal cord removed.