THE European Union has lodged an appeal with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against a panel finding which said its banana import policies violated WTO open trading rules.

The appeal, which had been widely expected, emerged just 24 hours before Brussels would have had to explain to the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) how it would implement the finding.

The three man panel, in a ruling that dismayed banana producing states in the Caribbean and delighted their Latin American competitors, said on April 29th that a US complaint against the EU banana regime was well founded.

The US argued the intricate web of EU regulations favouring banana imports from former European colonies - which rely on sales of the fruit for most of their foreign revenues - discriminated against US based marketing companies and favoured European companies such as Fyffes.