The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has ruled against dolphin-safe labels for canned tuna following Mexico’s complaint that amended US labelling rules are discriminatory.
The ruling supports Mexico’s claims that labels are discriminatory because they exclude Mexican tuna from bearing dolphin-safe labels, unlike other countries’ tuna.
United States representatives said they ruled against the labels, stating that the amended tuna measure “brought it into conformity with the rulings and recommendations”. In addition, the United States argued that certain aspects of Mexico’s complaint were “outside the panel's terms of reference because they related to aspects of the measure that were unchanged from the original proceedings”.
The panel accepted that the amended tuna measure had a “detrimental impact on the competitive opportunities of Mexican tuna and tuna products in the United States”, but “the different harms caused by setting on dolphins on the one hand and other tuna fishing methods on the other hand justified the United States' decision to treat those fishing methods differently”.
The United States has 60 days to appeal the decision, in which case the final result of this dispute would be made known by the end of 2015. If the United States does not appeal the report or if today’s decision is affirmed in the eventual appeal process, Mexico will have the right to suspend benefits to the United States until the latter eliminates discriminatory aspects of its dolphin-safe labelling system.
The Mexican Ministry of Economy says the decision of the WTO is another important victory not only for Mexico, but for the environment and all marine species, as well as for consumers who trust in the accuracy of environmental labelling.
The decision reinforces Mexico’s commitment to fish for tuna in a sustainable way and offer consumers a product that is traceable from the point of capture to the point of sale in order to verify the level of protection for dolphins.
