EU set to end Fukushima import restrictions on Japan food items

Radiation tests and other requirements would be abolished as early as summer

Fishermen in Fukushima prefecture separate fish other than icefish from their catch. The EU may fully lift its restrictions on seafood imports from the area, as the U.S. already has. (Photo by Mayumi Tsumita)

TAKASHI TSUJI and ANNA NISHINO, Nikkei staff writers

June 30, 2023 00:11 JST

BRUSSELS/TOKYO -- The European Union is poised to abolish its import restrictions enacted against Japanese food products after the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Nikkei has learned, in a sign of support for the country's food safety measures.

An EU source said that member countries were set to agree to the change on Thursday at the earliest, with the restrictions removed possibly this summer.