The Debate Over C.O.O.L. Heats Up With U.S. Appeal of WTO Decision

Country-of-Origin Labeling (or C.O.O.L for short) has been a long-debated topic on the international level.  U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules promulgated under 2008 legislation passed by Congress require country-of-origin labeling on packaged cuts of meat, as well as some fruits and vegetables.  (See the USDA's fact sheet here regarding labeling for meat and chicken.)  These rules have been targeted by Canada and Mexico, who claim that the labeling requirements put their products at a disadvantage with American consumers.  These countries won success in a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling 3 years ago, which held that the U.S. rules were illegal in their discrimination against imported meat, according to a recent article from Reuters News here. 

The U.S. appealed the initial ruling and new labeling regulations were promulgated by the USDA in 2013 (see the recent article published by AgWeek).  However, the most recent WTO ruling in October 2014 determined that the new regulations were still non-compliant.  On November 28, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative appealed this subsequent ruling. 

According to an article by the Minnesota Star-Tribune, the appeal and the labeling requirements are supported by the National Farmers Union, while many meatpackers oppose C.O.O.L. because it increases costs and paperwork.  A blog post (written by the President of the National Farmers Union) on "The Hill" Blog indicates that the majority of Americans support the labeling, based on a public opinion poll.

Interested in more information about international trade and agriculture?  Consider one of the following titles available in the McKusick Law Library:

International Trade and Economic Relations in a Nutshell / by Ralph H. Folsom, Michael Wallace Gordon, John A. Spanogle, & Michael P. Van Alstine

Agriculture in the New Global Economy / by William Coleman, Wyn Grant & Tim Josling