New Zealand announced it had notified the Canadian Government and other Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) members that it was triggering mandatory negotiations in a dairy dispute with Canada.
In September last year, a Panel of Arbitrators ruled on the issue, agreeing with two of New Zealand's complaints but rejected the others. Both countries claimed victory at the time.
New Zealand contends Canada has failed to comply with the ruling and under the Agreement the next step is to request formal negotiations.
Under the CPTPP dispute settlement process, negotiations must commence within 15 days of New Zealand's October 18 notification.
In a statement Canada's Ministers of International Trade, Mary Ng, and of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lawrence MacAulay, said:
"Canada is very disappointed that New Zealand has decided to continue to challenge Canada's dairy TRQ system. We have been through this before and have consistently and successfully defended our dairy sector and supply management from trade challenges under CUSMA and the CPTPP."
"New Zealand continues to be an important, like-minded partner for Canada and we will engage in the process in good faith. We are confident that Canada's new policies fulfill Canada's obligation to eliminate the non-conformity identified by the panel."