To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to ensure that imported pork, bacon and ham supplied to its own and local authority catering services complies to the same standards as that to which pig producers in Scotland are obliged to comply with. Neither the Treaty of Rome nor the rules of the World Trade Organisation allow Scotland to ban the import of meat products that have not been produced to the same husbandry standards as required here.However, a new EC Directive, agreed in June 1998 and which must be implemented by the end of this year, will encourage a more level playingfield by requiring minimum standards on welfare, inspection, feeding etc for all farmed animals.That same Directive also recognises the importance of widening consensus on animals welfare, requiring the European Commission to produce a report comparing EU welfare conditions with those of third country suppliers.