Colombia follows Ecuador with challenge on EU banana rules

(GENEVA) - Colombia on Thursday became the second country to lodge a complaint at the WTO against the European Union's banana import rules, trade sources said.

Colombia formally asked for bilateral consultations with the 27-nation European bloc, the first stage in the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement process, the sources added.

The two sides technically have two months to negotiate an amicable arrangement under WTO rules.

If that fails, Colombia then has the right to ask the WTO to set up a panel of legal experts to rule on its complaint.

Details of Colombia's case were not released.

Ecuador launched a complaint against the EU targeting tariffs on bananas imported from the South American country last year. The case was forwarded to a WTO panel earlier this week.

Quito claims that the EU's new 176-euro-per-tonne customs duty added 131 million dollars to the country's export bill last year.

The complaints from Ecuador and Colombia are the first challenges to revised EU rules on banana imports, which took effect last year, from outside the African-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) zone.

They echo a similar dispute pitting Latin American countries against the EU more than six years ago, which was meant to have been resolved by a WTO ruling against Brussels.

ACP countries benefit from more favourable terms of access to EU consumer markets.