The American Meat Institute (AMI) said that the U.S. must abide by a ruling from a World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body that upheld an earlier WTO finding that mandatory country of origin labeling violates U.S. WTO obligations.
“The WTO has spoken not once but twice: mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) violates our WTO obligations. While the law’s proponents continue to defend it and to challenge the WTO perspective, it’s time to ‘get over it.’ Trade has been an essential part of the U.S. livestock and meat industry’s success and our nation needs to lead in trade the trade arena by example.”
Despite the WTO ruling, the law still stands and meat packers and processors will continue to comply with it as long as it is in place. But he said it is essential that Congress act to change the law to meet our WTO obligations.
In November 2011, the WTO ruled in favor of Canada and Mexico in a complaint against the U.S. mandatory COOL law, which took effect in 2008. Following the law’s implementation, U.S. imports of Canadian cattle and hogs and Mexican cattle declined substantially. The complainants had argued that the COOL law is inconsistent with the United States' obligations under several articles of the WTO agreement.
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