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For Immediate Release: Unilever Applies to The Supreme Court of
Canada on Quebec Margarine Colour
Ruling
December 1, 2003 (Toronto) – Unilever Canada has asked
the Supreme Court of Canada to hear the company’s arguments that Quebec’s
margarine colour regulation is invalid and should be repealed. Unilever will argue that given Quebec’s obligations under
international trade treaties and interprovincial trade agreements, the province
does not have the authority to enact regulations solely for the purpose of
protecting the dairy industry. Furthermore,
the company will argue that the regulation contravenes the North American Free
Trade Agreement, the World Trade Organization and the Agreement on Internal
Trade. Unilever will also argue that the regulation should be
declared invalid on the grounds that it is unreasonable, violates the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and contravenes the trade and commerce
provisions of the Canadian Constitution. In its application, Unilever has argued that the Supreme
Court of Canada should hear the case as the issues raised are fundamental to the
harmonization and implementation of international and interprovincial norms and
to the regulation of trade in a Canadian context with ramifications far beyond
the colouration of margarine. The case also involves other matters of public importance
including the negative impact on western Canadian oilseed growers and processors
due to depressed margarine sales in Quebec
and the infringement of freedom of expression in terms of industrial and
commercial design of products. In 1997, Unilever Canada imported yellow margarine into
Quebec to initiate the legal challenge of the margarine colour regulation.
In 1999, Quebec Superior Court dismissed the Quebec government’s
argument that the regulation was necessary to protect against consumer
confusion, but the Court did not declare the regulation invalid.
In October 2003, a judgment from the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld the
Superior Court’s decision. Unilever Canada, a
subsidiary of Unilever, is a diversified consumer products company with sales
of $1.6 billion in 2002, employing 2,300 people across Canada.
Unilever Canada is best known by brands such as becel, Imperial, Lipton,
Slim-Fast, Hellmann’s, Knorr, Breyer’s Popsicle, Bertolli, Dove, Sunlight,
AXE, Vaseline and Q-Tips. -- 30 -- For Information: Sean McPhee |
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