IDFA expresses “deep concern” over cheese protections in EU-Canada trade agreement

26 Sep 2017 --- The US International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) has indicated its “deep concern” about the protections afforded to five cheese names in the European Union-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which has been provisionally implemented.

The organization has issued a press release expressing its unhappiness with the automatic protection the EU has gained for five cheese names that IDFA believes to be generic: “asiago,” “feta,” “fontina,” “gorgonzola” and “munster.” IDFA believes the EU has “once again” used geographical indications (GIs) to erect trade barriers.

Under the new agreement, US cheese manufacturers that began producing those types of cheeses after 18 October 2013, will be required to add qualifiers such as “kind,” “type,” “style” and “imitation” for sales in Canada. These new limitations on the use of generic names clearly violate Canadian intellectual property procedures and existing international trade commitments, IDFA states.

Canada also reallocated 800 metric tons of its 20,412-metric-ton World Trade Organization tariff-rate quota for cheese to the EU. This reallocation further restricts the limited access that US cheese exporters have into the Canadian market, according to IDFA.

“The outcome in CETA on GIs goes against the very core of a trade agreement, which is to remove trade barriers – not erect new ones – and allow for greater competition,” says Michael Dykes, D.V.M., President and CEO of IDFA. “We are diligently working to ensure strong provisions that protect generic terms are included in NAFTA 2.0, as well as to discourage Mexico from going down the Canadian path as it negotiates a GIs list with the EU.”

The EU Trade Commissioner, Cecilia Malmström, has previously indicated that the aforementioned trade deal with Mexico is possible by the end of the year.

For its part, the European Commission describes CETA as a progressive trade agreement on its website, adding that it has: “some of the strongest commitments ever included in a trade deal to promote labor rights, environmental protection and sustainable development.”

CETA integrates the EU's and Canada's commitments to apply international rules on workers' rights, environmental protection and climate action, according to the European Commission. It adds that the obligations are binding.

The IDFA statement is the latest in a series of moves showing the US dairy industry’s dissatisfaction with what it feels are protectionist policies from Canada. In January it joined other groups in writing a letter to the president to say that Canada’s protectionist policies are in direct violation of its trade commitments under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

A number of dairy groups also joined IDFA and two other US dairy groups in asking their governments’ trade ministers to intercede in the dispute over Canada’s dairy policies back in June.