US raises concern at India’s dairy certificate requirement at WTO

New Delhi: The US has raised concerns that India’s dairy certificate requirements appear to “unfairly disadvantage” its dairy versus domestically produced products. In a submission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Monday, it said that India should take the least trade restrictive approach to achieve its appropriate level of public health protection.

India mandates an integrated veterinary health certificate for the import of milk and milk products into the country, confirming that it does not contain drugs, antibiotics, pesticides or heavy metal residues.

The integrated certificate needs to be certified by the exporting country’s authority for consignments being exported to India.

“We reiterate our concern that the new certificate requirements appear to unfairly disadvantage US dairy versus domestically produced products,” Washington said.

Noting that India is a “valued trade partner”, it asked India to reconsider its approach to regulating imported American dairy products to support fair and safe trade. and consider WTO national treatment commitments when developing such measures.