Trade group asks White House to tread carefully on common food name flap
The Consortium for Common Food Names says it is critical that European producers not be given monopoly rights to highly contentious geographical indications and “traditional terms,” should a U.S.-EU free trade agreement move forward.
(Washington D.C., December 20, 2012) The Consortium for Common Food Names joined with key allies, including the U.S. wine and dairy industries, in sending a letter to the U.S. White House that encouraged use of a separate, issue-specific forum to deal with the protection of common food names and prevent the confiscation of these names by the European Commission. It is critical that European producers not be given monopoly rights to highly contentious geographical indications and “traditional terms,” should a U.S.-EU free trade agreement move forward.
The letter was addressed to Michael Froman, the U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs, and was prompted by continued high-level insistence from the EU that designations of origin be included in any U.S.-EU free trade negotiations. Also joining in this message was the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, two of the leading national broad-based farm groups in the U.S.