News

COOL lawsuit dropped

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has dismissed a lawsuit against Country of Origin Labeling. The American Meat Institute filed suit against USDA in July of 2013 saying COOL violates the constitution by mandating speech and that it creates unnecessary and costly burdens for producers and packers.

The U.S. District Court had rejected a request for injunction in September of 2013. That ruling was then affirmed by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in the D.C. Circuit the following March.  Last July the entire court upheld the legality of COOL.  The American Meat Institute filed papers to withdraw the suit on Monday.

This by no means ends the dispute over COOL. Canada and Mexico had filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization charging the labeling requirement was causing financial harm to livestock producers in their countries.  The WTO ruled in their favor, the U.S. reformed some of the rules, Canada and Mexico were still not happy and filed another complaint.  The WTO ruled in their favor again and ordered the U.S. to change it or face retaliatory tariffs.  The U.S. has appealed that ruling and is awaiting a decision.

That omnibus spending bill passed by Congress last December and signed into law requires the Secretary of Agriculture to make recommendations on how to fix the rule to bring the country into compliance. Those recommendations are to be submitted no more than 15 days after the WTO rules on this latest appeal or by May 1^st, whichever comes first.

A couple of weeks ago a study from Auburn University, using USDA-collected data demonstrated the rule has done no financial harm to Canadian or Mexican livestock interests. Roger Johnson of the National Farmers Union says there can be no retaliatory tariffs if there has been no loss suffered.