June 10, 2013

 

Canada to act against US commodities in response to COOL regulations

 

 

The Canadian Pork Council (CPC) welcomes an official list of US commodities, including agricultural and food products, which are being targeted as part of Canada's response against the US' Country of Origin (COOL) regulations.

 

"Minsters Ed Fast and Gerry Ritz have stated that the US response to WTO condemnation does not meet its obligations," said the Canadian Pork Council's chair Jean-Guy Vincent.

 

"The new rule, if anything, increases the discrimination against imported animals and we believe that a legislative change is required to fix COOL," he added.  "The release of the list of potential targets by the federal government is a clear indication of how determined Canada is to see COOL fixed.  The government is standing up for our rights in this dispute. US legislators, who were content to do nothing, will now have an incentive to legislate a solution, hopefully in their next Farm Bill."  

 

Regulations implementing the 2008 Farm Bill provisions on COOL for beef and pork also place a heavy burden on American feeding operations, processors and retailers, and effectively require that cattle or hogs born or raised in Canada be completely segregated from US cattle and hogs. The regulations, amended on May 23, 2013, removed the limited flexibilities in the original measure, rendering the situation less favourable than what the original 2008 regulations allowed.

 

"We commissioned an analysis that shows the COOL impact on the Canadian hog sector from lost exports alone is CAD500 million (US$490.34 million) annually," added CPC's former chair, Jurgen Preugschas.  "This does not include any other impacts on Canada's hog producers such as domestic price suppression or additional impact from the new COOL rule that went into effect in May."

 

Since COOL was introduced in 2008, exports of Canadian hogs to the US have fallen by 41% and exports of cattle by 46%. Estimated total damages, due to price declines, lost sales and added costs to the Canadian livestock sector, exceed CAD1 billion (US$980.67 million) per year. The amended COOL regulations will worsen such damages.

 

The WTO found that the COOL requirements created arbitrary and unjustifiable discrimination against Canadian cattle and hogs. The amendments to the COOL regulations will not bring the US into compliance with its international trade obligations.

 

In May 2013, the American Meat Institute (AMI), together with seven other meat, poultry and retail associations, requested for the deferment of the country-of-origin labelling (COOL) implementation until the WTO determines if it would bring the US into compliance with international trade laws.

 

In April 2012, more than 35,600 people in US signed a petition calling for the integrity of COOL to be protected from WTO scrutiny.

 

"People have the right to know where the food they feed their families comes from and the proposed COOL rules significantly improve the disclosure of information to consumers," Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, said at the time.