Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) Updated: September 20, 2010
First Round of WTO Hearings into U.S. COOL Concludes in Geneva
The first substantive meeting was held at the WTO in Geneva, Switzerland September 14th-16th, 2010. The meeting provided the first opportunity for the complaining and responding countries to make arguments in support of their case in front of the Dispute Settlement Panel.
Canada presented a strong case to show how U.S. COOL has violated WTO commitments by causing economic harm for Canadian livestock producers. Extensive evidence to support the case was presented by Canada.
In the upcoming weeks, Canada will provide written answers to questions posed by the Panel. At the end of October, Canada will file its second submission with the WTO. A second substantive meeting is scheduled to take place in Geneva in December.
The WTO process is lengthy and it is expected the Final Report of the Panel will be complete during the summer of 2011.
World Trade Organization Panel Process Canada’s request for the formation of a dispute settlement panel on U.S. Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) was accepted by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in late 2009. Since that time, the Government of Canada has been preparing Canada’s case and collecting evidence in support of Canada’s submission. The Government had also been working within the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to select the members of the dispute settlement panel on COOL, through a negotiating process with the United States.
WTO Panels may be selected through a negotiating process between the countries in dispute. There are two parallel cases on the COOL measure, brought by Canada and Mexico against the United States. It was agreed that the two cases would be heard by the same WTO Panel in joint meetings. Therefore, the negotiations on panel composition have involved three WTO Members. If an agreement cannot be reached by the three countries on the panelists, the WTO Director General can be asked to appoint the Panel. Panels normally consist of three members and these panelists are responsible for reviewing the legal arguments and the evidence and deciding the case. The Panel report may be appealed by either party to the WTO Appellate Body on points of law. In the absence of an appeal, the Panel report will be adopted by the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB). The DSB can only overturn the Panel’s decision by consensus, which has never happened.
Once the Panel is in place, a schedule of submission deadlines and meetings is issued by the Panel to the parties. Canada and Mexico will be expected to make first written submissions about three to six weeks after the dispute settlement panel schedule is released. The United States will be expected to file its first written submission two to three weeks after Canada’s and Mexico’s submissions.
One to two weeks after the filing of the written submission of the United States, Canada, Mexico, the U.S. and third parties will attend the first substantive meeting with the Panel to present arguments. This will be an opportunity for the parties to present oral arguments and to answer questions from the Panel. After the meeting, all parties will be expected to provide written answers to written questions from the Panel.
The three parties will be expected to file their second written submissions two to three weeks after the first substantive meeting. A second meeting of the parties with the Panel will be held one to two weeks after the filing of the second written submissions. This will be an opportunity for the parties to make further oral arguments supporting their case and to answer further oral questions from the Panel. Again, the parties will be expected to provide written answers to written questions from the Panel after the meeting.
Approximately 6 months following the establishment of a panel, a final report of the Panel will become publicly available. However, before that there will be an opportunity for the parties to comment first on the descriptive part of the report (stating the history of the dispute) and later on the “interim report”, which includes the decision of the Panel. The descriptive part and the interim report are provided to the parties only, on a confidential basis.
Background
Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) was implemented in the U.S. on September 30th, 2008 under an Interim Final Rule. The rule will be enforced at the retail level, requiring retailers to label covered commodities according to their country of origin. Commodities affected by the current rule include muscle cuts of pork, beef/veal, lamb, goat and chicken; ground pork, ground beef, ground lamb, ground goat, and ground chicken; fish and shellfish; perishable agricultural commodities; peanuts; ginseng, pecans and macadamia nuts. Processed foods are exempt from COOL, as are foods sold in the food service (restaurant) industry. COOL Final Rule Issued
On January 12th, the USDA issued an advance Federal Register notice of the Final Rule for COOL. This Final Rule was published on January 15th and implemented 60 days following publication, on March 16th, 2009.
WTO Process to Date On November 19th, the Government of Canada announced that the World Trade Organization has approved Canada’s second request for the formation of a dispute settlement panel on U.S. Country of Origin Labelling. The initial request for a dispute settlement panel, made on October 7th, was vetoed by the U.S.
The WTO process began in December 2008, with an initial request by Canada for consultations with the U.S. to discuss the Interim Final Rule for COOL. A second round of consultations was held in June and covered the Interim Final Rule, the Final Rule and a letter from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that asked U.S. processors to comply with stricter COOL standards than what is outlined in the Final Rule.
On April 30th, 2010, Canada and Mexico requested that the World Trade Organization (WTO) appoint panelists to the dispute settlement panel that will determine whether U.S. Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) rules are a violation of international trade laws.
The WTO has since appointed a three-member panel that will be tasked with reviewing the COOL requirements imposed by the United States in September 2008. The WTO appointed Christian Haeberli as Chair and panelists Manzoor Ahmad and Joao Magalhaes. All three have extensive experience in international trade matters. Hearings regarding COOL at the WTO began in September 2010. A second meeting at the WTO is scheduled for December 2010.
Ontario Pork is continuing work with the Canadian Pork Council and other Canadian pork organizations to document evidence of harm to the pork industry as a result of COOL. Any evidence of harm will be forwarded to the Government of Canada.
Implementation of COOL
Although COOL was implemented as originally outlined in the Final Rule on March 16th, USDA Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack sent a letter to U.S. Industry Representatives in conjunction with this implementation. Vilsack is asking that processors voluntarily comply with stricter COOL standards than what is outlined within the Final Rule. Specifically, Vilsack is asking processors to adhere to the following guidelines:
(1) “voluntarily include information about what production step occurred in each country when multiple countries appear on the label”;
(2) extend COOL to processed products (ones subject to curing, cooking, smoking, etc.); and
(3) a reduction in the inventory allowance for ground meat from 60 to 10 days.
The USDA has indicated that it will monitor industry compliance with COOL as well as industry performance in relation to the voluntary guidelines suggested by Vilsack. This monitoring will help the USDA to decide whether modifications to the COOL Rule are necessary.
What does COOL mean for producers?
Producers shipping directly to a U.S. processor on contract should have received documentation forms from the plant that will be required for future swine shipments. The documentation will serve as proof of origin. For producers whose hogs are shipped to the U.S. on Pool loads, Ontario Pork will be responsible for providing origin documentation on behalf of these producers.
Label Requirements
Requirements for labelling muscle cuts of pork (and other meats) are broken into four categories, outlined below. The ‘label notation’ column designates the acceptable label for each category of meat, as the label will change depending on whether product has been mixed with meat products from other categories. The label for non-mixed meat for each category is noted in bold font.
DATE
TITLE
Mar 23,2009
Executive Summary of the Final Rule for COOL
Jan15,2009
Federal Register American Marketing Service COOL Rules and Regulations January 15, 2009
Nov 6,2008
USDA COOL Brochure for Producers
Oct 7,2008
COOL Response to U.S. from Canadian Livestock Producers
Sept 29,2008
Canadian Pork Council and Canadian Cattlemen’s Association Joint Comments to USDA on COOL Interim Final Rule
Sept 26,2008
USDA Country of Origin Labeling Frequently Asked Questions
Sept 5, 2008
Government of Canada Comments to the USDA on COOL Interim Final Rule
Aug1, 2008
Interim Final Rule Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling, August 1st, 2008
More Info
www.meatcool.info
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