Japan made a commitment to the U.S., Johanns said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires, to review international standards with an eye toward revising its restrictions on U.S. beef.

The U.S. and Japan agreed on Oct. 23, 2004, to work toward opening beef trade, but only from the very young cattle. Then, once that occurred and limited amounts of beef were being traded, the two countries agreed to begin a review of applicable international standards on beef safety.

In that 2004 agreement, the plan to eventually allow in U.S. beef under the cattle-age restriction was meant only for "an interim time period."

Japan banned U.S. beef in December, 2003, after the U.S. announced finding its first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease.

Japan began importing U.S. beef again in December, 2005, with the under-21-month cattle restriction, but about a month later trade halted again after vertebral column - prohibited by Japan in U.S. exports - was discovered in a veal shipment.

Source: Agriculture Online