The European Commission (EC) has today vowed to appeal a World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling concluding that European Union banana import regulations broke international trade rules.

According to Reuters, the WTO ruling decided that the organisation's rules unfairly favoured Europe's former colonies in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

EC trade spokesman Peter Power told a press conference: 'Our view on the decision yesterday is that it sets a bad precedent in that it is irrelevant given that our preferences have been abolished since the beginning of the year.'

The WTO made the ruling following a complaint by the US, which does not export bananas to the EU. 'Even if the US did not have a potential export interest, its internal market for bananas could be affected by the EC regime,' a WTO statement said.

Topics