The United States on Friday requested the World Trade Organization (WTO) to establish a dispute settlement panel regarding customs duties that India imposes on alcoholic beverages and other imports.

"We believe the layers of customs duties India applies to U.S. products, in particular to wine and distilled spirits, are not in line with its WTO commitments," said U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab in a statement.

"We are disappointed that WTO consultations failed to resolve our concern with the duties and that we must resort to a WTO panel," she added. "The United States will continue to work toward a resolution of this issue with India but we must ensure a level playing field for U.S. products around the world."

The U.S. government said India imposes an "additional duty" of 20 to 75 percent ad valorem on imports of beer and wine and from 25 to 150 percent ad valorem on imports of distilled spirits.

In addition, India applies an "extra additional duty" of 4 percent, resulting in aggregated duties on these imports that range from approximately 150 to 550 percent.

Between 2000 and 2005, U.S. exports of wine and spirits worldwide averaged approximately 630 million dollars and 633 million dollars, respectively, making the U.S. the world's sixth largest exporter of wine and third largest exporter of spirits.

Source: Xinhua