. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/USA/1521 
16 April 2007 
 (07-1519) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  UNITED STATES
 
If applicable, name of local government involved:   
2. Agency responsible:  US Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where applicable):   Meat and poultry  
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected , to the extent relevant or practicable:  
Domestic United States and countries exporting to the United States 
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  Uniform Compliance 
Date for Food Labelling Regulations (a vailable in English;  2 pages) 
6. Description of content: The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is establishing 
1 January 2010, as the uniform compliance date for new food labeling regulations that are issued between 1 January 2007, and 31 December 2008.  FSIS periodically announces 
uniform compliance dates for new meat a nd poultry food labelling requirements to 
minimize the economic impact of label changes.   On 14 December 2004, FSIS issued a final 
rule announcing that it will adopt uniform comp liance dates and estab lished 1 January 2008, 
as the uniform compliance date for food labelli ng regulations that were issued between 1 
January 2005, and 31 December 2006. 
7. Objective and rationale: [ X ] food safety,  [   ] animal health,  [   ] plant protection, 
[   ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [   ] protect territory from other damage from pests   
8. International standard, guideline or recommendation: 
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission,  [   ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [   ] International Plant Protection Convention,  [ X ] None 
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:   
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  Federal Register:  
5 March 2007 (Volume 72, Number 42), Pag es 9651-9652. Available in English at:  
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Frame/FrameRedir ect.asp?main=http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPD
E/rdad/FRPubs/2006-0045.htm 
10. Proposed date of adoption:  5 March 2007 G/SPS/N/USA/1521 
Page 2  
 
  11. Proposed date of entry into force:  To be determined 
12. Final date for comments:  4 April 2007 
Agency or authority designated to handle comments: Food Safety and Inspection Service 
[   ] National notification authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, or address, fax 
number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:   
Mail, including floppy disks or CD-ROM's, a nd hand-or courier- delivered items:  Send to 
Docket Clerk, U.S. Department of Agricultu re, Food Safety and Inspection Service, 300 
12th Street, SW., Room 102 Cotton Annex, Washington, DC 20250. Federal eRulemaking Portal: This Web site provides the ability to t ype short comments directly into the comment 
field on this Web page or attach a file for lengthier comments. Go to http://www.regulations.gov . 
Follow the online instructions at that site for submitting comments.  Electronic mail: 
fsis.regulationscomments@fsis.usda.gov
. 
13. Texts available from:  [ X ] National notifi cation authority, [   ] National enquiry 
point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:  United 
States SPS National Notification Authority, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, International Regulations and Standards Divi sion, Washington, D.C., 20250.  Tel:  (202) 
690-2937; Fax (202) 690-3982