Global food and consumer goods conglomerate Unilever is preparing to defend the colour of its margarine in a highly unusual court case.
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Toronto-based Unilever Canada is to appear in the Quebec Court of Appeal on Monday to present arguments in the hope of annulling the province’s ban on using the same hue of butter to colour margarine.
The Quebec government, which is the only jurisdiction in Canada to implement such a regulation, say that it is necessary in order to avoid consumer confusion. In 1999, a lower court dismissed this argument saying the regulation served only to protect the butter industry, but the measure has yet to be repealed.
Unilever Canada is preparing to tell the court that the colour ban is unreasonable, discriminatory and in violation of three trade pacts signed by the Québecois government; the North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Agreement on Internal Trade and the World Trade Organization.
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