Geneva, Feb 26 - Ecuador has stepped up its fight with the European Union over banana import tariffs and asked the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to rule on whether European barriers remain too high.
According to an official advisory sent to WTO member states on Monday, Ecuador has formally asked for the setting-up of a WTO panel to investigate its complaint.
The WTO dispute settlement body will meet on March 8 to discuss the request, which the EU is likely to block at the first time of asking. At the second request, the panel of three trade judges will be automatically set up.
Late last year, Ecuador sought consultations with Brussels, the first step towards a formal complaint, over the EU's single import tariff for bananas of 176 euros ($229.1) a tonne, in force since January 2006.
The duty was revised after Brussels lost a previous case over bananas in 2001, in which Ecuador was backed by the United States in the so-called "banana wars".
The European Commission, which negotiates foreign trade on behalf of the EU's 25 countries, says the new import rules comply with that 2001 ruling.
Bananas are a sensitive issue for the EU, which gives preferential access to producer countries in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group, mainly ex-colonies of Britain, France and Portugal.
A number of other Latin American producers have also sought consultations with the EU over the levy, but it was not immediately clear whether they were joining Ecuador in the new dispute.