AVEC calls on the European Commission to suspend poultry imports from Thai establishments or production chains that cannot demonstrate compliance with EU eligibility and certification requirements, until corrective measures have been implemented and their effectiveness verified following the publication of audit CT-2026-0188 on Thailand.
The findings come only months after AVEC called for a precautionary suspension of poultry imports from China following Commission audit CT-2025-0037.
The Thailand audit concludes that, although an official control system is in place, the guarantees supporting exports to the EU are undermined by “significant and systemic shortcomings”. These concern HACCP verification, traceability, separation of EU-eligible and non-EU-eligible products, veterinary controls and certification procedures.
Auditors found poultry products intended for the EU, manufactured using minced meat from an establishment not authorised for such exports. In two processing establishments, operators could not demonstrate that products intended for the EU contained exclusively eligible meat. Other findings included deficient ante-mortem and post-mortem inspections, uncontrolled water chlorination and inadequate follow-up to repeated chlorate-related food-safety alerts.
These findings follow repeated warnings from earlier Commission audits. In 2018, auditors concluded that Thailand’s official controls had become less effective since 2013, with major deficiencies going undetected in four of eight establishments visited. The 2019 follow-up found unresolved compliance problems and inadequate management of Salmonella risks. Although a 2020 public-health follow-up confirmed improvements, a separate animal-health audit that year concluded that Thailand could not provide the required export guarantees, citing serious weaknesses in avian-influenza and Newcastle-disease surveillance. This history reinforces the need for lasting, independently verified compliance.
“The issue is becoming bigger than China or Thailand individually,” said Birthe Steenberg, Secretary General of AVEC. “The question is how consistently the EU acts when its own audits conclude that the control and certification systems of third countries cannot provide sufficiently reliable guarantees.”
The Chinese audit similarly identified significant animal-welfare non-compliances, hygiene-control weaknesses, unreliable traceability information and inadequate segregation of EU and non-EU products. It concluded that official controls could not provide satisfactory guarantees supporting the public-health and animal-welfare attestations in export certificates.
Equivalent situations must lead to equivalent responses
AVEC calls on the Commission to clarify which criteria trigger precautionary measures following third-country audits and to apply those criteria transparently and consistently across all poultry suppliers.
“If systemic shortcomings undermine the guarantees behind access to the EU market, action should not depend on which country is concerned. Reciprocity and credibility require consistent enforcement,” added Steenberg.
AVEC therefore requests the targeted suspension of poultry imports from Thai establishments or production chains that cannot demonstrate EU eligibility and reliable certification. Such restrictions should remain in place until corrective measures have been implemented and their effectiveness verified.
No additional poultry concessions to Thailand
Against this background, AVEC considers additional preferential poultry quantities in the EU–Thailand free trade agreement unacceptable.
European producers are required to comply with demanding standards. Expanding preferential access while the Commission’s own findings expose serious weaknesses in existing export guarantees would undermine confidence in EU trade policy and fair competition.
Compliance must be demonstrated and sustained, not presumed from commitments or corrective action plans. The Commission must ensure that trade negotiations do not run ahead of effective regulatory enforcement.
More audits must deliver meaningful consequences
AVEC strongly welcomes and supports the additional third-country audits and reinforcement of import controls foreseen by the Commission, including the antimicrobial-compliance and poultry food-safety audits planned for Thailand in 2027.
However, stronger controls must be accompanied by timely and robust enforcement when serious non-compliance is identified, including targeted suspensions, withdrawal of export approval and other proportionate sanctions where warranted.
“Sending inspectors to third countries cannot become a paper exercise,” concluded Steenberg. “Audits must deliver more than reports and promises. Where serious failures undermine import guarantees, meaningful consequences must follow, regardless of the trading partner.”
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For further information, please contact:
Birthe Steenberg, Secretary General
Email: bs@avec-poultry.eu
Maria Nikolaidi, Communications Manager
Email: mn@avec-poultry.eu
Tel: +32468224193