Moving Forward With Country Of Origin Labeling Compliance

Discussion on U.S. Country of Origin Labeling, or COOL, now focuses on how the U.S. should comply with the World Trade Organization dispute settlement. The U.S. has until late May to make the way it administers COOL W-T-O compliant. Chief Counsel, Tom Rief, for the U.S Trade Representatives Office says the conversations have already begun between trade and governmental organizations.

"Those conversations, in all candor, are going to have to become more intensified and they're gonna need to become more specific as we look to creating a landing zone for us to work within the deadline."

The WTO ruled last summer that how the U.S. was administering COOL was not compliant with the rules governing imports from countries like Canada and Mexico, in the context of how it was gathering information for use in packaging.