U.S., Mexico and Canada agree to delay appeal of WTO ruling on labeling

The Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreed on January 5, 2012 to extend to March 23, 2012 the deadline for the adoption or appeal of the panel reports in the case about the United States' country of origin labelling (COOL) requirements.

In a decision published on November 18, 2011 the WTO determined that the U.S. country of origin labeling rules (COOL) for meat violate global trade rules.

A WTO dispute settlement panel had been established in November 2009 to hear Canada and Mexico's challenge to the U.S. legislation imposing mandatory country-of-origin labelling for beef, pork, lamb, chicken and goat meat, and certain perishable commodities sold at retail outlets in the U.S.

Under the WTO's Dispute Settlement Understanding the 60-day period within which the DSB is obliged to adopt a panel report that is not appealed would have expired on January 18.

Canada, the U.S. and Mexico said that the requests for a delay were made to take into account the current workload of the Appellate Body. Canada said that while there had been several such decisions in recent months, they were and must remain exceptional in nature.

The U.S. also views decisions of this nature to be exceptional and taken in response to the unusual circumstances in which members and the Appellate Body found themselves.

Mexico would have preferred to have the ordinary timetable of disputes but was ready to cooperate, taking into account this special situation regarding the Appellate Body workload.

The WTO ruling may affect as many as 70 other WTO members, including the European Union, that have mandatory labeling requirements. Compulsory country-of-origin labeling in the EU applies to beef, fruit and vegetables, honey and olive oil. The EU had planned to extend the rules to fresh pig, sheep and goat meat as well as poultry.