SWISS RESPONSE TO AMENDED LACEY ACT

UNCLAS BERN 000621 SENSITIVE SIPDIS GENEVA PLEASE PASS TO K.NISHIURA AND C.STROSSMAN STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR FOR J.BUNTIN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV EAID EAGR ETRD EINV BTIO SZ SUBJECT: SWISS RESPONSE TO AMENDED LACEY ACT REF: STATE 126654 ¶1. (SBU) Econoff delivered reftel points to the Swiss Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO) Americas Officer Guido Barsuglia on December 3. Barsuglia reported that the Swiss intend to file comments against the Lacey amendments, specifically in regards to the plant import declaration. The comments are not yet finalized but will be submitted to both the U.S. per the Federal Register notice and the WTO on or before the December 8 deadline. ¶2. (SBU) Barsuglia stated that the comments will be based on two points: 1) industry concerns in meeting the declaration requirement and 2) Swiss government concerns that the declaration is discriminatory in that it only applies to imports, and not to products produced and sold within the local U.S. market. ¶3. (SBU) According to SECO, the Swiss pulp and paper industry reports that it will be difficult to ascertain the point of origin of their trees because they mix trees from various sources into each batch of pulp. The textile and pharmaceutical industries have also filed concerns that it will be difficult to designate the origin of the plant product, but did not provide supporting details. ¶4. (SBU) In a previous meeting with Roche, company representatives told econoff that Roche had concerns about labeling requirements for all of their cardboard packaging and paper label inserts that accompany pharmaceuticals products. They believed the requirement to add in new text on the packaging labels would be onerous. ¶5. (U) Post can provide further details upon receipt of SECO's comments if needed. CONEWAY