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

The US has expressed concerns to the World Trade Organization that India's dairy certificate requirements are creating an unfair disadvantage for US dairy products. It urged India to adopt less trade-restrictive measures for the import of milk and milk products while ensuring public health protection.

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 trade development  organisation (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.

Source : Dairynews7x7 April 4th 2025 The Economic Times