The European Union is considering fully abolishing its import restrictions on Japanese food products introduced after the 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, sources said Thursday.
The EU requires certificates of radiation inspection for some products imported from 10 of Japan's 47 prefectures, including certain fishery products from Fukushima.
If the import restrictions are removed, such certifications will no longer be necessary. The lifting of the regulations would also contribute to quelling rumors about the safety of Japanese food, the sources said.
The EU's final decision on whether to lift the restrictions may be timed to coincide with a summit between Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and EU leaders to be held in Brussels in mid-July, the sources added.
The EU has relaxed in stages its import restrictions, introduced in March 2011 following the meltdowns at the plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. The current restrictions also affect mushrooms from Fukushima and edible wild plants from neighboring Miyagi Prefecture.
Japan has been urging the EU and its member countries to abolish the restrictions.
The nuclear accident led many countries to introduce import restrictions on Japanese food products. Of them, 43 economies, including the United States, Britain and Singapore, have already removed their regulations.
If Norway and Switzerland, which introduced restrictions similar to those of the EU, follow suit, such import regulations would remain in only seven, including China and South Korea.
The EU has said it will review its existing import restrictions by the end of June.
A vote was held among EU member states Thursday toward making the final decision, the sources said.