But New Zealand claims it won. It appears the Kiwis are right.
The disputes-settling panel “has made a significant finding by recognizing Canada’s sole discretion to set tariff-rate quota allocations policies,” said Ng.
“Canada is very pleased with the outcome of the panel’s report which is a clear victory,” Ng said in a statement.
But New Zealand said it “welcomes today’s decision that the way Canada implements its dairy tariff rate quotas (TRQs) is not in keeping with its commitments under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
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New Zealand’s High Commissioner to Canada, Martin Harvey, said that this is a significant moment: “It’s an important recognition that our exporters have not had fair access to the Canadian dairy market in line with what we negotiated and paid for under CPTPP.”
High Commissioner Harvey said that the report of the panel charged with ruling on the dispute makes clear that Canada’s quota administration needs to change to bring Canada into compliance with CPTPP rules.
Canada’s dairy TRQs under CPTPP have been consistently under filled since entry-into-force in 2018. This has caused real losses for New Zealand exporters.
High Commissioner Harvey noted that Aotearoa New Zealand has regularly pointed out to the Government of Canada its concerns with how Canada is administering its TRQs.
“The outcome of the panel process leaves Canada no choice but to finally make TRQs available to those market players who have an incentive to use them,” he said.
“It is now time for Canada to do the right thing and make the changes required to allow its TRQs to be fully utilised.”
This is a repeat of what happened when another panel ruled in favour of a complaint by the United States.
Ng also said then that Canada won, but later it became clear that the U.S. got the same decision New Zealand now received.
