Geneva - The United States insisted that the European Union must move fast to drop its ban on imports of hormone-treated beef in the wake of a trade panel decision that Brussels was breaking global trading rules.
U.S. ambassador to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Rita Hayes told reporters that Brussels appeared to be trying to "draw this procedure out" to postpone any change in the nine- year-old ban.
"I will tell you emphatically that the United States expects and intends for the EU to comply with the WTO ruling), and to comply immediately," declared Hayes, who formally took up her post in Geneva this month.
She said she was "amazed" to hear EU officials saying they now only needed to carry out a risk assessment study to underpin their argument that eating beef from cattle treated with fattening growth hormones could be harmful to humans.
The two powers have been squabbling since last week over the meaning of findings by a WTO appeals board overturning some aspects of an earlier panel ruling which went clearly against Brussels in the long-running case.
But the board found that Brussels was in the wrong for not carrying out a risk assessment before introducing the ban.
While Washington says the three appeals judges left no doubt that the import veto had to go, Brussels argues that their decision meant that if it carried out a risk assessment and proved a danger existed the ban could stay.
Hayes, known for her feisty approach in her former job as top U.S. textile negotiator, said Washington would not "let the EU drag their feet" with the Brussels' focus on the assessment.
"There is no wiggle room here. The EU has to comply within the timeframe needed. They need to do it immediately and the United States expects them to do it immediately."
U.S. officials -- whose original complaint to the WTO was joined by Canada and supported by Australia, New Zealand and Norway -- argue that several scientific studies have already shown hormone-treated beef does not present a health risk.
Canada has also said it sees the appeals ruling as calling for quick removal of the ban.
But the chief spokesman for the EU's executive Commission, Nikolaus van der Pas, told reporters on Wednesday that the EU was standing firm. "The Americans have said we're wrong and we disagree completely with the Americans," he said.
EU Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan has also said the ban -- which the U.S. beef argues has been costing it around $250 million a year in lost sales since it was introduced in 1989 -- would not be lifted.
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