European Union And The United States Submit Footwear Labels To WTO

In October 26th this year, the European Union and the United States presented a bill on labeling measures to WTO members.

The joint motion is part of the Doha round of non-agricultural market access negotiations, requiring member states to agree that certain labelling measures should be considered to be in line with WTO provisions and therefore not subject to the challenges of dispute settlement. Other labeling measures should be regarded as excessively restrictive trade and contrary to WTO regulations.

In 2004, the European Union and the United States submitted similar motions to the WTO respectively.

The joint motion aims at strengthening cooperation among all parties, effectively handling unnecessary international trade barriers, and promoting trade in textiles, clothing, footwear and travel products.

When the motion was presented in November 2004, the United States stated that the bill was designed to reduce the differences in the labeling method at that time and allow manufacturers to save time and money.

In addition to emphasizing the need for standardization of labels, the joint motion points out that labels have important functions to provide consumers with information.

The motion is based on the interpretation of WTO's agreement on technical barriers to trade.

The agreement aims to ensure that various regulations, standards, testing and certification procedures do not cause unnecessary obstacles to international trade.

Article 2.2 of the agreement stipulates that WTO members should ensure that the formulation of technical regulations does not constitute unnecessary obstacles to international trade.

Article 2.5 stipulates that WTO members must provide justifications on request if they adopt technical regulations that may have a significant impact on the trade of other members.

The bill does not consider that the labeling requirements of trade will include: fiber composition, origin and nursing instructions of textiles; main materials and origin of footwear core parts; fiber composition and origin of travel products.

The bill recommends that WTO members consider allowing non permanent labels to provide the required information, not necessarily using permanent labels.

Labeling measures deemed unnecessary barriers to trade include: prohibiting the printing of information in more than 1 languages; stipulating that labels must be pre approved, registered or approved; prohibiting labels containing information not requested by members of the WTO (for example, brand names); stipulating that labels must be made with certain or certain materials.

If a member of a WTO member wants to pass or amend the technical regulations relating to labels, he must announce his motion as early as possible and notify other members through the Secretariat of the world trade organization. During that period, he should have time for other members to make amendments and suggestions.

Members shall have at least 60 days to submit written comments.

It is unknowable whether the world trade union will accept the joint motion, but the United States and the EU jointly propose a bill, or will be more successful than the individual WTO members.

According to the Ministerial Declaration of the Doha round, WTO members are required to discuss measures to help reduce non-tariff barriers to non-agricultural products. Therefore, harmonization of labelling requirements will remain an important item on the agenda.