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For
Immediate Release: Quebec
Margarine Trial Date Set for December August
31, 1998 (Toronto) -- Unilever Canada Limited advises that Quebec Superior Court
has set a trial for the week of December 14, 1998 to hear the company's motion
against the Quebec Attorney-General regarding Quebec’s margarine colour
restriction. In
spite of its commitment under the Agreement on Internal Trade, the Quebec
government failed to repeal the colour regulation by the September 1, 1997
deadline. In November 1997,
Unilever initiated a legal process to challenge the margarine colour regulation
by importing yellow, butter-coloured margarine from the United States for sale
in Alma, Quebec. Following
the seizure of the margarine but no prosecution, Unilever filed a motion in
Quebec Superior Court in February 1998 to have the regulation declared
unenforceable. The motion also asks
the court to quash the seizure of yellow margarine from the retail outlet in
Alma. Quebec is the only jurisdiction in Canada to enforce a colour regulation. "While
we are pleased that resolution of this issue is on the horizon, I find it
regrettable that the courts must rule because of the abject failure of a
government to live up to its commitment." said Bruce Mactaggart,
Vice-President, General Counsel and Secretary of Unilever Canada Limited. In
June of 1996, Unilever began a campaign to encourage harmonization of Canadian
margarine regulations as called for by the Agreement on Internal Trade signed by
the Federal Government and all provinces, including Quebec, in 1994.
Currently, the industry is hampered by a number of interprovincial
inconsistencies -- such as the colour regulation, differing requirements for fat
levels and a diversity of approaches to blends and imitation products -- that
force additional manufacturing, marketing and distribution costs on the Canadian
margarine industry. "As
tariffs with our major trading partners such as the United States are reduced
under the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization,
Canadian interprovincial inconsistencies prevent the margarine industry from
achieving efficiencies that would enable us to compete with margarine
imports," added Mactaggart. Mr.
Gerald Tremblay, Q.C., of McCarthy Tetrault, will argue Unilever's case in
Quebec Superior Court. Unilever Canada
Limited, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Unilever, is a diversified consumer products company whose
interests in Canada include Lever Pond's, Lipton, Good Humor-Breyers, Lipton
Monarch, A & W Beverages of Canada, Loders Croklaan, Blue Water Seafoods,
DiverseyLever Canada, Calvin Klein Cosmetics (Canada), Elizabeth Arden Canada,
and Bertolli Canada. --
30 -- For
Information: Sean
McPhee
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