INTERNATIONAL

U.S., EC resolve Meat Plant Dispute: The United States and the European Community have settled a year-long dispute that threatened to virtually shut off U.S. meat exports to Europe, U.S. Trade Representative Carla Anderson Hills said. The dispute centered on standards that meat packers and processors would have to meet to be certified to ship meat to EC customers. The U.S. meat industry filed a trade complaint with Hills in October, 1991, contending that the EC was using the rules to erect a trade barrier in disguise. Under the agreement signed by U.S. and EC leaders, the two sides adopt the findings of a group of experts and agree to a schedule for settling the remaining points. It also sets interim rules expected to facilitate EC approval of additional U.S. plants.