Su told legislators that the assurances came in the form of two letters that were signed by officials of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Office of United States Trade Representative and addressed respectively to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Department of Health (DOH).

Su described the letters as legally binding internationally.

According to Su, Taiwan has adopted criteria similar to those of South Korea in opening its market wider to U.S. beef products, and "chances are very slim" that the U.S. will agree to negotiate new terms.

He admitted that there was insufficient communication within the government during the policy-making process, and he apologized to the public for the panic caused.

There have been fears of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) , or mad cow disease, entering Taiwan since the government recently signed the protocol with the United States to further liberalize its market to U.S. beef, allowing in items such as bone-in beef, ground beef, intestines and processed beef considered at risk of spreading the disease.

Before this, Taiwan only allowed imports of U.S. boneless beef from cattle younger than 30 months. BSE is very rarely found in cattle in this age group.

While officially lifting the ban on the products Nov. 2, the DOH, however, adopted other measures that will effectively bar the entry of some of those products.

The Legislative Yuan, meanwhile, is planning to amend the Act Governing Food Sanitation to forbid the import of risky beef products.

Lu Hsueh-chang, a whip of the ruling Kuomintang's legislative caucus, said Thursday that the proposed legislation will either list the banned items directly or empower the administrative branch to dictate by executive order those parts of cattle for which entry will be forbidden.

In pushing for the amendment, the legislature will make sure that it does not contravene the terms of the protocol with the United States or the guidelines of the World Trade Organization, Lu said.

Executive Yuan spokesman Su Jun-pin reiterated that the Cabinet will respect the legislature's plan as long as it is helpful to the enforcement of the government's measures to block the imports of controversial beef products and does not violate the protocol terms or the WTO rules.

(By Garfie Li, Justin Su and Y.F. Low)