London/Hong Kong CNN —The European Union has lifted all import restrictions on food, including fish, produced near the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan just as Tokyo prepares to release treated radioactive wastewater into the ocean.
The bloc’s move follows positive results from tests carried out on the products by the Japanese authorities and EU member states, the European Commission said in a statement Thursday.
After the Fukushima plant melted down in 2011 following an earthquake and tsunami, the EU restricted food imports from 10 prefectures in Japan and started requiring pre-export tests on food products for radioactivity.
It has since regularly reviewed the measures and progressively eased them “as risks declined,” the European Commission said.
On Wednesday, Hong Kong, one of the world’s top buyers of Japan’s fish, said it would ban seafood imports from 10 prefectures in the country if Tokyo pressed ahead with the wastewater release.
Persons:
“, Ursula von der Leyen, — Mohammed Tawfeeq
Organizations:
Hong Kong CNN, European, European Commission, International Atomic Energy Agency, ”
Locations:
Hong Kong, Japan, Tokyo, United States, South Korea, China, Fukushima, Atlanta