Yes. Thank you for the question.
The COOL legislation is particularly damaging to the hog and cattle sectors because they were so integrated. It has effectively taken away significant markets from our producers. Since the beginning, since the 2002 farm bill, we've been fighting this rule. Together with provinces and in working groups with industry, we have been undertaking some significant advocacy work in the U.S., both at the state level and at the national level. Those efforts proved ineffective. Last November, we asked the WTO to establish a dispute settlement panel.
In September we had the first hearing. I can't report on our arguments there, but you've heard one interpretation. We think we're on the right side on this issue. There's another panel in December of this year, where we will be mounting further arguments. What we hope for is a speedy resolution and a speedy reaction from the panel. That should come to governments sometime in June, with a final report sometime in July.
So we're not looking at an immediate resolution in December, but at another seven to eight months, unfortunately. After that, there are several paths that can occur in terms of resolving it. The United States could accept and implement a positive ruling that would allow access and effectively neutralize COOL. They could appeal, in which case we're looking at a resolution some time in 2012. Or they could refuse to implement a positive recommendation, in which case, there's opportunity both for Canada and for Mexico, frankly, to undertake steps towards damages against the U.S.
Unfortunately, that's not a story that anyone really wants to hear. We'd prefer a much swifter resolution, but we've also had signals from the U.S. administration that their intention is that if there's anything to change, it would be in a 2012 farm bill, which is not fast enough for us.