Day 070 - 20 Dec 94 - Page 18


     
     1        So I will give a short ruling on this matter.
     2
     3                  (See separate transcript for ruling)
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   What about US domestic beef specifications?
     6
     7   MR. MORRIS:  Could we have a five-minute break?
     8
     9   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    10
    11                       (Short Adjournment)
    12
    13   MR. MORRIS:  The domestic beef specifications:  there were, as
    14        far as I saw, two things that we have been asking for a
    15        long time and were raised by Dr. Gomez Gonzalez, which is,
    16        he had seen documents going back to the 1950s of both the
    17        internal US specifications, which we have now got a
    18        document from 1967, and nothing since or before, apart from
    19        the documents already disclosed.
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  When you say "US domestic beef
    22        specifications", do you mean McDonald's specifications?
    23
    24   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  Sorry.
    25
    26   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What, an earlier edition of something like
    27        the addendum which came out originally in 1973 and we saw
    28        most recently produced in 1989.
    29
    30   MR. MORRIS:  That was the international specification addendum.
    31        That was also sought.
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  There was an addendum to the US
    34        specification.  It was for international purposes, an
    35        addendum for international purposes.
    36
    37   MR. MORRIS:  While we have something which does go back into the
    38        60s now -- 1967, apparently -- which is helpful, although
    39        I believe there could be further material, or
    40        Dr. Gomez Gonzalez believes there could be further
    41        material, on the international side, yes, the international
    42        addendum, we still have not got anything for 1989.
    43
    44   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What do you say about that, Mr. Rampton?  Is
    45        that one of Dr. Gomez Gonzalez' loose ends?
    46
    47   MR. RAMPTON:  I do not know whether it is or whether it is not.
    48        There is, of course, this enormous distinction between the
    49        United States domestic specifications and the international
    50        specification.  The distinction is this, that the 
    51        United States specifications decree that the beef must be, 
    52        as it were, beef grown within the continental borders of 
    53        the United States of America.
    54
    55        The international specification has no such condition in
    56        it.  The relevance of the international specification is
    57        that that 1989 version contains an explicit reference to
    58        the rainforest policy.
    59
    60        As I said earlier, the US domestic beef issue is a

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