European Union animal health experts have extended the bloc's ban on imports of poultry products from China, Malaysia and Thailand until the end of 2007, the European Commission said on Tuesday.
"These restrictions are still deemed necessary due to the fact that the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus is still present in south-east Asia," the EU executive said in a statement. The ban had been due to expire at the end of September.
For Turkey, the experts agreed to prolong the EU's current import ban on live birds and poultry products until the same date, extending the restriction from its end-July expiry date.
Croatia, which has no EU trade ban in place, received a more favourable verdict and, in the event of a bird flu outbreak in wild birds, would only face EU import restrictions for regions where the Croatian authorities applied restrictions themselves.
The experts also extended a general EU import ban on live captive birds until the end of 2006, and added Croatia to the list of countries - Andorra, Greenland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland, and the Faeroe Islands - that were already exempt from the restrictions.
A separate EU import ban on untreated feathers from all third countries was extended until the same date, it said.
Feathers that are properly pre-treated, for example with a steam current, can continue to be imported. The EU buys both treated and untreated feathers from a wide variety of countries, although trade figures are sketchy.
Feathers from many birds - cockatoo, ostrich, pheasant, peacock, guinea, swan and rooster, for example - are used to make items like boas, fans, masks, hats, duvets and pillows.