(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission said Tuesday that it would make a proposal aimed at lifting an EU import ban on US poultry, adopted due to health fears over a chlorine washing process.

"The European Commission will, before the EU-US summit in June, propose changes to EU regulations that will allow the importation of poultry meat processed using pathogen reduction treatments," a statement said.

The EU's executive arm also said it would propose that the Union's 27 member states also consider "the use of such treatments... in the production of poultry meat for consumption in the EU".

Officials have said the proposal would link health conditions to the lifting of the ban, including a requirement for the US industry to rinse the meat in drinking water after it has been disinfected with chlorine or sodium solutions.

The properly treated chickens would then be clearly marked to inform European consumers, according to the draft version of the proposal, to be presented on May 28, according to these sources.

The lifting of the ban was made possible after a European Food Safety Authority assessment last month.

It found that the four antimicrobial substances used in the US for cleaning poultry carcasses -- chlorine dioxide, acidified sodium chlorite, trisodium phosphate and peroxyacids -- represented "no safety concern within the proposed conditions of use".

The US poultry ban, which was imposed in 1997, would initially be lifted for two years, during which fresh scientific opinions will be sought.

The US food industry uses the chlorine washing process on its poultry to kill off bacteria, including salmonella, before it reaches consumers' plates.

EU veterinary experts favour hygiene controls throughout the hatching and rearing cycle to better ensure that the bacteria does not develop in the first place.

The proposal from the commission, which expressed its determination to resolve the issue by the next European autumn, is likely to face criticism from EU governments unwilling to upset public opinion and their own farm lobbies.

France, Europe's biggest poultry producer, reaffirmed its opposition Tuesday to any lifting of the embargo.

"France opposes any resumption of US chicken imports because European consumers don't want to see any poultry put on the market which has undergone a treatment of this kind," an agriculture ministry spokeswoman told AFP.

"France has opted for measures that manage the risk at each step of the chain, from the breeder to the consumer," she said.

The commission statement was released after a EU-US Transatlantic Economic Council -- which aims to achieve barrier-free and secure trade -- met in Brussels.

A high-level US delegation led by Daniel Price, international economic affairs assistant to US President George W. Bush, held talks with a European team led by EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen.

Last November, at the inaugural Transatlantic Economic Council meeting, Verheugen promised to reconsider the poultry issue on the basis of scientific advice.

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