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For
Immediate Release: Unilever
Appeals Quebec Margarine Colour Decision September 9, 1999 (Toronto) --
Unilever Canada Limited confirmed today that the company
has appealed a recent Quebec Superior Court decision upholding the Quebec
margarine colour ban. The appeal
was filed on June 24, 1999 before the Quebec Court of Appeal.
“Although the Quebec Superior Court
did not go as far as we wanted in terms of repealing the colour regulation,
several findings in the judgement support important arguments we have been
making, thus forming an excellent basis for appeal,” said Bruce I.
Mactaggart, Vice-President, General Counsel and Secretary of Unilever Canada
Limited. “Justice Guthrie clearly dismissed the
position of the government and the milk producers that the colour ban is
necessary to prevent consumer confusion, and ruled that the regulation is solely
designed to protect the butter industry against competition,” added Mactaggart. The Superior Court judgement also
strongly suggested that the Quebec Government’s failure to repeal the
regulation as promised under the Agreement on Internal Trade was politically
motivated because it wanted “to avoid the inconvenience of the producers of
milk of the rural districts of Quebec during the electoral year 1998.” “The judgement supports our view that
in bowing to the political pressure of the dairy lobby the Quebec government has
deliberately chosen to ignore the interests of consumers,” added Mactaggart. In its appeal, Unilever will argue that
the margarine colour restriction should be rendered invalid because protection
of the dairy industry is not reasonable under Quebec or Canadian law.
Neither the Quebec Government nor the milk producers asserted
that the colour regulation was in place to protect the dairy industry.
Further, the Quebec
Government itself acknowledged that protection of the dairy industry was not
reasonable when it tabled a draft regulation to repeal the colour regulation in
1997. The appeal will further argue that,
contrary to the judgement, key free
trade agreements such as NAFTA and those under the World Trade Organization (WTO),
are in fact incorporated into
Quebec domestic law. 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, Loders Croklaan, BlueWater Seafoods, DiverseyLever Canada,
Calvin Klein Cosmetics (Canada), Elizabeth Arden Canada, and Bertolli Canada
Inc.. -30- For
information: Gerald
Tremblay Sean
McPhee
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