The WTO is to review this month whether the United States’ efforts to revise its “dolphinsafe” tuna labelling scheme is in full compliance with the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules with the creation of a compliance panel. The decision marks the most recent development in a longstanding dispute between the US and Mexico over the policy.
It was previously ruled by the WTO’s Appellate Body that the US’ original program violated international trade rules by unfairly discriminating against Mexican tuna products. Washington, therefore, announced last July that it would make revisions to its labelling scheme. US officials at the time said that the changes would meet WTO requirements of “evenhandedness” and would strengthen the program.
Eric Bradner, a reporter for POLITICO, a political news website says: “The WTO sided with Mexico in a 2012 ruling that ordered the United States to overhaul its dolphin-safe labelling rules. However, last July, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) responded by announcing rules that require captains of all tuna fishing vessels, not just Mexico’s, to certify that their hauls resulted in no dolphin deaths or serious injuries. It was a creative solution: rather than give Mexico the looser rules it wanted, the United States tightened the policy for everyone else.
“But the move infuriated Mexico, which for two decades has argued that the US labelling scheme is plagued with problems, and that the United States should ditch its current system and replace it with an international pact the countries signed two decades ago, which would impose regulations based on results rather than specific fishing practices.”
This is now Mexico’s second request for a compliance panel, having filed a previous one in November that was blocked. The panel will be formed by the same set of experts that reviewed the original cases. If it is found that the US has not complied with the WTO’s ruling, countermeasures may be authorized by the Dispute Settlement Body.