Import Sites

U.S. Customs & Border Protection www.customs.ustreas.gov

U.S. Government Export Portal http://www.export.gov/

International Trade Administration www.ita.doc.gov

LawDog Import Export http://www.lawdog.com/transport/export/export1.htm

U.S. Treasury International http://www.treas.gov/topics/international/ 

Harmonized Tariffs Schedule http://hotdocs.usitc.gov/tariff_chapters_current/toc.html

Country of Origin Labeling (COOL)

Proposed Country of Origin (COOL) Labeling Summary  - handout for presentation by Neal D. Fortin on February 16, 2004, at the National Food Safety & Toxicology Center, Michigan State University. 

Proposed Final Rule on Country of Origin Labeling 68 Fed. Reg. 61944 (October 30, 2003)

USDA’s Country of Origin Labeling Website USDA Agricultural Marketing Service

Examples of Records for COOL Verification USDA Agricultural Marketing Service

Talks and Papers on COOL University of Nebraska

North American industry coalition sponsored COOL web site: http://www.countryoforiginlabel.org/overview.htm  

Country-of-Origin Labeling for Certain Foods--Survey Results, GAO Report GAO-03-781SP  (August 5, 2003)

Food Marketing Institute (FMI) COOL Webpage of Current Status and Recent Developments http://www.fmi.org/gr/Country_of_Origin.htm

Groups unite over voluntary COOL plan
Agriculture.com (05/25/2004) available at: http://www.agriculture.com/default.sph/AgNews.class?FNC=goDetail__ANewsindex_html___51842___1
America's cattle ranchers, pork producers, seafood producers and produce grower-shippers, as well as US food processors, wholesalers and retailers, said today they are united behind a proposed approach to implement voluntary country of origin labeling (COOL). They say the effort will create a program to identify domestic and imported fruits, vegetables, beef, pork and seafood with labels showing where they originated. National Cattlemen's Beef Association, National Pork Producers Council, United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, National Fisheries Institute, Produce Marketing Association, American Meat Institute, National Meat Association, Food Marketing Institute, National Grocers Association, and the National Food Processors Association joined together to make the statement.
    USDA was initially required by the 2002 Farm Bill to put in force, by September 30 of this year, a regulation for mandatory country of origin labeling of muscle cuts of beef (including veal), lamb, and pork; ground beef, ground lamb, and ground pork; farm-raised fish and shellfish; wild fish and shellfish; perishable agricultural commodities (fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables); and peanuts.  

MICHIGAN Farmers Union Criticizes Label Law
Paw Paw Courier Leader - Paw Paw, MI.  The Michigan Farmers Union criticized legislation introduced today that would essentially kill a law passed in 2002 that would require grocery stores to label certain food with their food with country of origin.  http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12230050&BRD=2188&PAG=461&dept_id=445633&rfi=6

VCOOL Bill
The House Agriculture Committee has scheduled a mark-up session July 22 for voluntary country-of-origin legislation introduced last month by the panel's leadership.  Dubbed VCOOL, the Food Promotion Act of 2004 (HR 4576) would repeal the current mandatory country-of-origin legislation and replace it with a voluntary program. Mandatory COOL was scheduled to take effect on Sept. 30, but a provision in an appropriations bill passed last January postponed implementation for most covered commodities until September 2006.

Voluntary Food Labeling is not Realistic
Dave Frederickson, National Farmers Union President, AgWeb.com (July 21, 2004) available at: http://www.agweb.com/news_show_news_article.asp?nodate=Y&file=AgNewsArticle_20047211342_4111&articleid=110217&newscat=TR. “How much money do you think the federal government would collect if Congress adopted voluntary taxation?  Just like voluntary taxation, voluntary country-of-origin food labeling is not realistic. Voluntary country-of-origin labeling has been available for years, but packers, processors and retailers have refused to participate. There is no reason to believe that these companies, which are profiting from importing cheaper and often lower-quality food products from other countries, would voluntarily label these products when numerous surveys show consumers prefer to buy U.S.-origin food.”

Area farmers want to keep food COOL
Tom Grace, Daily Star Online (November 27, 2004) available at: http://www.thedailystar.com/news/stories/2004/11/27/cool1127.html  Should you know which country your food comes from? Dairy farmer Cliff Brunner of Hartwick believes you should, but a federal law mandating country of origin labeling may not be funded in Congress’s 2005 appropriations bill.  That bill is scheduled to be voted on next week. "If you buy a pair of sneakers from China, it says China on the label,’’ Brunner said Friday. "If you buy a shirt from Bangladesh, it says so on the label. But when it comes to your food, something a little more important to most people, they’re saying we don’t need to know.’’  Although a country of origin label law, or COOL, has been signed into law, funding to implement the law has apparently not been included in the budget, Brunner said. . . .

Country-of-origin labeling on food likely not to happen
Libby Quaid, The Modesto Bee, Associated Press (November 27, 2004) available at: http://www.modbee.com/business/story/9511693p-10404757c.html. 
Telling consumers where their meat, fruit and vegetables came from seemed such a good idea to U.S. ranchers and farmers in competition with imports that Congress two years ago ordered the food industry to do it. But meatpackers and food processors fought the law from the start, and newly emboldened Republicans now plan to repeal it.  As part of the 2002 farm bill, country-of-origin labeling was supposed to have gone into effect this fall. Congress last year postponed it until 2006. House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said he expected the Senate to agree to repealing the measure, whose main champion two years ago was Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.  . . . Chances for repealing the law improved when Daschle, still his party's leader in the Senate, was defeated for re-election Nov. 2.