U.S. dairy industry concerned about EU-Canada trade deal GI provisions
September 30, 2014 | 07:04 PM
U.S. dairy groups said Monday they are concerned that provisions in the proposed European Union-Canadian free trade agreement on geographical indications (GIs) and reallocation of a portion of the World Trade Organization tariff rate quota for cheese to the EU will create trade barriers for American cheeses.
The European Union-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) provisions on geographical indications “are particularly alarming because they grant automatic protection to the EU for ‘asiago,‘ ‘feta,‘ ‘fontina,‘ ‘gorgonzola‘ and ‘munster’ in complete disregard of Canadian intellectual property laws,” the International Dairy Foods Association, the National Milk Producers Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council said in a joint statement.
Manufacturers that produced those cheeses before October 18, 2013, will be allowed to continue to use those names, but future producers of those cheeses will have to add qualifiers, such as “kind,” “type,” “style” and “imitation,” they said.
“These new limitations on the use of generic names clearly violate Canadian intellectual property procedures and existing international trade commitments,” they maintained in a news release.
Clay Hough
“The automatic protection for five cheese names that are generic in Canada, the U.S. and globally is another example of the EU’s overreach on geographical indications,” said Clay Hough, senior group vice president of the IDFA.
“The EU’s GI strategy is incompatible with the fundamental goal of a trade negotiation, which is to remove trade barriers — not add them — and allow for greater competition,” Hough said.
As part of the agreement, Canada also reallocated 800 metric tons of its 20,412 metric ton WTO tariff rate quota for cheese to the EU. This reallocation further restricts the limited access that U.S. cheese exporters have into the Canadian market, the U.S. groups said.
Jaime Castaneda
“Canada added insult to injury by not only impairing the quality of the cheese market access U.S. exporters expect to gain through ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, but also moving to water down the small access they currently offer to U.S. exporters through Canada’s WTO quota,” said Jaime Castaneda, senior vice president for the National Milk Producers Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council.
“This is yet another example of Canada’s work at every turn to limit access into its market for highly competitive U.S. products,” Castaneda said.
The text is not yet binding and still requires a legal review and ratification and the date of full implementation of the agreement is unknown at this point, the groups added.
The agreement is posted on the European Commission website. (See link below)
The U.S. dairy industry also has been opposing the inclusion of geographical indications in the proposed TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the United States and the European Union.
▪ Draft European Union-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement
The European Union-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) provisions on geographical indications “are particularly alarming because they grant automatic protection to the EU for ‘asiago,‘ ‘feta,‘ ‘fontina,‘ ‘gorgonzola‘ and ‘munster’ in complete disregard of Canadian intellectual property laws,” the International Dairy Foods Association, the National Milk Producers Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council said in a joint statement.
Manufacturers that produced those cheeses before October 18, 2013, will be allowed to continue to use those names, but future producers of those cheeses will have to add qualifiers, such as “kind,” “type,” “style” and “imitation,” they said.
“These new limitations on the use of generic names clearly violate Canadian intellectual property procedures and existing international trade commitments,” they maintained in a news release.
“The automatic protection for five cheese names that are generic in Canada, the U.S. and globally is another example of the EU’s overreach on geographical indications,” said Clay Hough, senior group vice president of the IDFA.
“The EU’s GI strategy is incompatible with the fundamental goal of a trade negotiation, which is to remove trade barriers — not add them — and allow for greater competition,” Hough said.
As part of the agreement, Canada also reallocated 800 metric tons of its 20,412 metric ton WTO tariff rate quota for cheese to the EU. This reallocation further restricts the limited access that U.S. cheese exporters have into the Canadian market, the U.S. groups said.
“Canada added insult to injury by not only impairing the quality of the cheese market access U.S. exporters expect to gain through ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, but also moving to water down the small access they currently offer to U.S. exporters through Canada’s WTO quota,” said Jaime Castaneda, senior vice president for the National Milk Producers Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council.
“This is yet another example of Canada’s work at every turn to limit access into its market for highly competitive U.S. products,” Castaneda said.
The text is not yet binding and still requires a legal review and ratification and the date of full implementation of the agreement is unknown at this point, the groups added.
The agreement is posted on the European Commission website. (See link below)
The U.S. dairy industry also has been opposing the inclusion of geographical indications in the proposed TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the United States and the European Union.
▪ Draft European Union-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement
