Canada Requests Further Round of WTO Consultations on U.S. Country-of-Origin Labelling

(Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada)

The Honourable Stockwell Day, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, and the Honourable Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, today announced that the Government of Canada is taking action on behalf of Canadian farmers in the dispute over U.S. country-of-origin labelling (COOL) measures. Canada has taken the next step in the World Trade Organization dispute settlement process by formally seeking further consultations with the United States.

“We are concerned with the approach the United States is taking to implement COOL and the negative impact it is having on our exporters,” said Minister Day. “Recent instructions from the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture encouraging the U.S. industry to use very strict labelling practices have removed the flexibility previously envisioned in the legislation and this affects the ability of our cattle and hog exporters to compete fairly in the U.S. market.”

“We are standing up for Canadian producers as we always have, and always will,” said Minister Ritz. “COOL is having a significant negative impact on the Canadian livestock industry and we are taking the necessary steps to ensure that our producers are treated fairly.”

Canada initially requested WTO consultations with the U.S. on COOL in December 2008, as it believed the measures were creating undue trade restrictions, to the detriment of Canadian exporters. At that time, U.S. provisions were being implemented on an interim basis.

A Final Rule to implement COOL was published in the U.S. Federal Register on January 15, 2009. However, on February 20, 2009, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture issued an open letter to the U.S. industry, encouraging the use of stricter and broader labelling practices. According to Canadian industry representatives, those proposals will only add to the challenges they are already experiencing. They have observed that, since COOL came into effect, some U.S. processors are choosing not to buy Canadian animals, or are trying to buy them at a reduced price.

Mexico is in the process of filing a similar request at the WTO. This underscores both countries’ concerns over the impact of COOL on the integrated North American industry.

WTO consultations provide parties with an opportunity to resolve a dispute through discussions. If consultations fail to resolve the matter, the complaining party may request that the matter be referred to a WTO dispute settlement panel.