The European Commission will decide by Tuesday on whether to ban imports of live wild birds as demanded by Britain after a parrot died in the country of suspected bird flu.
"The Commission is currently reviewing the proposal and will take a decision shortly, by Tuesday at the latest," said Commission spokesman Stefaan de Rynck.
The British government has called on the European Union to ban live wild bird imports from anywhere in the world, after a quarantined parrot died in Britain of suspected bird flu.
The proposal, echoing a call from Germany, is expected to be discussed at a meeting of EU farm ministers in Luxemburg Monday and the EU food security committee will discuss the issue on Tuesday.
The final decision will be taken by the executive Commission.
Some EU officials had earlier voiced scepticism about the blanket ban on wild bird imports for fear it could create a black market, which would make it difficult to keep health and quarantine standards.
British officials do not yet know if the parrot died of the lethal H5N1 virus strain that has sparked alarm in Europe in recent weeks.
Traces of the highly pathogenic H5 avian flu virus were found in the parrot, which was imported from Suriname and held in quarantine with other birds from Taiwan.
More than 60 people have died in Asia from the H5N1 strain since the flu outbreak in late 2003 in South Korea.
It can be caught by people if they have had prolonged and close contact with infected birds. Some experts fear it could mutate to transfer between humans and lead to a global outbreak of flu.