31.   If not, US authorities impose an import ban.

32.   In a speech to the parliament Wednesday, EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler pledged to defend the import ban and to prepare for a clash with the United States.

33.   Major is expected to insist that the EU import ban imposed at the end of March on British beef products be eased when he attends the Florence conference.

34.   On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Washington was lifting an import ban on Persian carpets, caviar and pistachios.

35.   One House provision would prohibit the Food and Drug Administration from enforcing the import ban.

36.   Sir John Krebs said he did not believe an import ban was justified for now.

37.   She said the import ban would end at midnight Thursday.

38.   That means the cow could have been fed with old, imported rations or that Portuguese rations produced after the import ban also used bones from infected local animals.

39.   The ban on chicken imports was lifted earlier this year, but the duck import ban is still in place.

40.   The EU has talked about an import ban for years.