The European Commission expressed disappointment on Thursday at a ruling by the World Trade Organization's arbitrators to reject its proposed new tariff for bananas.

The commission had proposed a single tariff of 187 euros (224 US dollars) per ton for bananas imported from countries enjoying Most Favored Nation (MFN) status -- mainly in Latin America -- as well as a duty-free quota of 775,000 tons for Africa-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) bananas, starting from Jan. 1, 2006.

"It is regrettable that the arbitrators did not use this opportunity to provide more clarity as to how this long-standing dispute could be resolved," said the commission in a news release.

The commission, the executive body of the European Union (EU), said it will study carefully the implications of the decision by the WTO arbitrators before taking further actions.

"We are surprised and disappointed that the arbitrators did not back our proposal," said Mariann Fischer Boel, EU commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.

"We believed that the system we proposed would have maintained access to our markets in a fair manner. We calculated the proposed tariff in a neutral and transparent manner, based on a comprehensive legal and economic analysis. We will now carefully study the decision before deciding how to proceed."

It is the second time that WTO arbitrators ruled against the EU. They rejected the European Commission's first proposed tariff of 230 euros (276 dollars) per ton on Aug. 1, 2005.

The commission revised down the proposed tariff to 187 euros and presented it for arbitration again on Sept. 26 after no agreement could be reached with its partners.

Source: Xinhua