Mr Crean says the changes will open up more opportunities for the Australian beef industry because the old rules were against science, open to challenge, and inconsistent.

He said the Australian beef industry urged the Government to make the changes because new science was available to back up a relaxiation of the rules.

"When you've got in place something that no other country in the world has in place, is against where the science has been in the past decade and is potentially open to challenge because of its inconsistency, they're all the trade implications," Mr Crean said.

Australia claims, especially, that it has a fast-response, effective beef traceback system.

Mr Crean said the risk of BSE coming to Australia as a result of this decision was "practically nil".

"It is negligible at 0.02 per cent chance in 50 years," he said.

"If you say that that's the basis by which we stick to an outdated policy, I'm sorry I don't agree with that.

"And if you've got the industry saying a far greater risk is we get wiped out from the current rules, then we had to change.

"It's what the industry wanted rectified and urged us to change."

Mr Crean said the previous Government had the science and knowledge to go ahead and make these changes "but squibbed it".