In its current form, Canada’s Country of Origin labelling regulations is complying with the standards set by the WTO and the Codex Alimentarius and does not affect international trade within the WTO scope. Canada’s numerous FTAs are also trading under harmonized labelling measures, although they are not immune to disputes as the COOL Requirements Case can demonstrate.
Critiques & Limitations - Demands for a Change
COOL Requirements Case - Towards Greater Integration?
Canada has been involved in an ongoing dispute with the US concerning the COOL Requirements and the eventuality of this mandatory regulations has caused significant fear amongst Canadian industry players who believe that it would « impose significant supply chain segregation costs on processors, deterring the use of Canadian products. »
By establishing stricter and more detailed regulations regarding Country of Origin labelling;
« Under this final rule, origin designations for muscle cut covered commodities derived from animals slaughtered in the United States are required to specify the production steps of birth, raising, and slaughter of the animal from which the …show more content…
Canada’s voluntary approach with the possible use of « imported for » or « imported by » statements, fails to provide consumers with the necessary tool that is accurate information and due to the abstention of the CFIA to impose mandatory labelling of Country of Origin, the general public is left to its own devices when trying to the determine the provenance of food products. Two main concerns