US RETAILERS of wool apparel want Australia's voluntary National Wool Declaration made compulsory.

In a letter to the Australian Wool Exchange and to Agriculture Minister Tony Burke, the US National Retail Federation, which was a signatory to the 2010 deadline for an end to surgical mulesing, wants the NWD made compulsory by December this year.

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It is also asking the Australian wool industry to develop a strategic plan with immeasurable milestones to end mulesing by 2013.

"In our view, filing the NWD does not pose an onerous administrative burden and there is no convincing reason why growers should not complete and submit a declaration," the federation said.

"Therefore, if growers are unwilling to file the NWD voluntarily, we believe the point has been reached where AWEX should require it as a condition for selling wool on the exchange."

While the current NWD allows growers to declare whether they have ceased mulesing, used a pain-relief treatment at mulesing, or whether the wool was off non-mulesed sheep, the NRF is also asking that wool from mulesed sheep should also be declared.

NRF vice president Erik Autor said the NWD was critical if the Australian wool industry wanted to retain US retailers and brands as partners in wool.

The NRF is also suggesting that if AWEX hasn't the power to make the declarations compulsory, the federal and state governments should use what ever powers they have to do so.

AWEX chief executive Mark Grave said it would be difficult to make the NWD mandatory.

But Mr Grave said the real issue for the Australian wool industry was to show the US retailers there was an increase in the adoption rate in the declarations for the mulesing status of clips.

The joint declaration covering both the Dark and Medullated Fibre Risk scheme and the mulesing status was introduced two years ago.

According to the latest AWEX receival data, 12 per cent of the 2009-10 auction bales have a mulesing status declaration, while 46 per cent of eligible Merino wools have been declared for the dark and medullated fibres.

The latest letter from the NRF, along with lobbying from British retailers, represents a ramping up in retail pressure as they both "reaffirm the need for Australia to expeditiously identify and adopt viable alternatives to surgical mulesing with the objective to achieve this goal by the end of 2013".