[WTO Case Review Series No.9] United States—Certain Country of Origin Labelling Requirements (DS384, 386): The impacts of country of origin labelling on international trade

This paper examines US-COOL, which is the third, landmark Appellate Body's ruling under the Word Trade Organization (WTO)'s Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (hereinafter "TBT Agreement") and came out in 2012.The case addressed two key obligations of the TBT Agreement (i.e., Articles 2.1 and 2.2). Its findings mainly followed the legal framework established by the previous two cases under the TBT Agreement: US-Clove Cigarettes and US-Tuna II. Thus, the Appellate Body's ruling on US-COOL does not add the legal approach under Articles 2.1 (the non-discrimination principle) and 2.2 (the necessity requirement), but it provides us an opportunity to consider the relation between Articles 2.1 and 2.2 under the TBT Agreement. While it is generally admitted that it is legitimate to provide origin information to consumers, labelling requirements can be designed to restrict trade unnecessarily. This paper discusses the implications and insights that this decision provides for labelling requirements on origin information to consumers.