. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/USA/1890 
22 December 2008  
 (08-6256) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
 
 
 
NOTIFICATION  
 
1. Notifying Member:  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 products 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable: 
[ X ] All trading partners, or [   ] Specific regions or countries:    
5. Title of the notified document:  Uniform Compliance Date for Food Labelling 
Regulations  Language:  English  Number of pages:   2   
6. Description of content:  The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is establishing 
1 January 2012, as the uniform compliance date  for new meat and poultry product labelling 
regulations that are issued between 1 January 2009, and 31 December 2010.  FSIS periodically announces uniform compliance dates for new meat and poultry product labelling regulations to minimize the economic impact of label changes. 
7. Objective and rationale:  [ X ] food safety, [   ] animal health, [   ] plant protection, 
[ X ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [   ] protect territory from 
other damage from pests.    
8. Is there a relevant international stan dard?  If so, identify the standard:  
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission (e.g.  title or serial number of Codex standard 
or related text)    
[   ] World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (e.g. Terrestrial or Aquatic 
Animal Health Code, chapter number)     
[   ] International Plant Protection Convention (e.g.  ISPM N°)     
[ X ] None Does this proposed regulation conform to the relevant international standard?   
 [   ] Yes   [ X ] No 
 If no, describe, whenever possible, how and why it deviates from the 
international standard:    G/SPS/N/USA/1890 
Page 2  
 
  9. Other relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  Federal 
Register:  12 December 2008 (Volume 73, Number 240), Rules and Regulations, Page 75564-75566, http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FRPubs/2008-0040.htm
 
10. Proposed date of adoption (dd/mm/yy) :  1 January 2012 
Propose date of publication ( dd/mm/yy) :  12 December 2008 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  [   ] Six months from date of publication , and/or  
(dd/mm/yy) :  12 December 2008 
[ X ] Trade facilitating measure  
12. Final date for comments: [   ] Sixty days from the date of circulation of the 
notification and/or ( dd/mm/yy ):  1 December 2009 
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [   ] National Notification 
Authority, [ X ] National Enquiry Point.  Address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:    
Mail, including floppy disks or CD-ROMs, and hand- or courier-delivered items:  Send to 
Docket Clerk, US Department of  Agricultu re, Food Safety and Inspection Service, 1400 
Independence Avenue, SW., Room 2534, South Agriculture Building, Washington, DC 
20250-3700.  This Web site provides the ability to type short comments directly into the 
comment field on this Web page or attach a file for lengthier comments.  Go to 
www.regulations.gov
.  Follow the online instructions at that site for submitting comments. 
13. Texts available from:  [ X ] National Notification Authority, [   ] National Enquiry 
Point.  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 Division (IRSD), Stop 1027, Washington D.C. 
20250;  Tel:  +(1 202) 720 1301;  Fax:  +(1 202) 720 0433;  E-mail:  
us.spsenquirypoint@fas.usda.gov