Posted February 21, 2014
The World Trade Organization hearing on the U.S. Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements took place this week, according to an article by the Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest available here.
The dispute began in 2008, when Canada and Mexico “first challenged the measure as being discriminatory against their own livestock industries.”
The U.S. lost an appeal brought by Canada and Mexico in 2012, when the WTO Appellate Body found that COOL regulations violated trade agreements by giving less favorable treatment to Canadian cattle and hogs. The rule was, then, revised.
The COOL final rule, available here, became effective on May 23, 2013 and modified certain provisions of the COOL regulations after the World Trade Organization (WTO) found that aspects of the regulations violated U.S. trade obligations. The final rule requires labels on certain cuts of meat, to provide information on where it was born, raised, and slaughtered.
Canada asked the WTO to establish a compliance panel to review the new COOL regulations in August.
During the compliance panel hearing this week, the U.S. “argued that its changes to COOL have indeed brought the US into compliance with its WTO obligations, while also ‘substantially’ increasing the information provided to consumers.” The U.S. argued that the measure “provides the same amount of information in the same meaningful and accurate way for each category” of meat, making the measure non-discriminatory.
Canada and Mexico argued that the changes “exacerbate the detrimental impact on their cattle and hog industries.” The “elimination of co-mingling in the amended COOL measure undermines the competitive position of Canadian cattle and hogs in the US market” the countries argued.
For more information on COOL, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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