Agriculture and Food

Williams Mullen has assisted agriculture and food clients to overcome barriers that would otherwise impede access to key markets. Our advice and representation has addressed such matters as World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary Measures, quota and tariff-rate quota programs under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s regulations implementing the Bioterrorism Act. In addition, an overlap between traceability for food-safety purposes and tracking of supply chains in homeland security has enabled us to help clients achieve an economy of effort when complying with legal and other imperatives for food safety and supply-chain security.

Williams Mullen has assisted agriculture and food clients to overcome barriers that would otherwise impede access to key markets. Our advice and representation has addressed such matters as World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary Measures, quota and tariff-rate quota programs under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s regulations implementing the Bioterrorism Act. In addition, an overlap between traceability for food-safety purposes and tracking of supply chains in homeland security has enabled us to help clients achieve an economy of effort when complying with legal and other imperatives for food safety and supply-chain security.

With our assistance, clients can participate in important, ongoing food safety and security dialogues at the national and international level, thereby helping to avoid the imposition of new requirements that are unrealistic, inefficient and damaging to global commerce. These dialogues may concern: the World Customs Organization (WCO) Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade (the SAFE Framework); the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 22000 and 28000; the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point system (HACCP) adopted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); and country of origin labeling (COOL) guidelines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS).