The European Commission said today it was relaunching steps to impose sanctions on the United States over a controversial US trade law.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled the law, the 1916 anti-dumping act, illegal. The EU agreed in 2002 to suspend the steps that could lead to sanctions to give Washington time to repeal the bill, but this has not happened.
"The EU considers retaliatory measures as a last resort and has given the US more than enough time to comply with the WTO decision in this dispute," European Trade Commissioner Mr Pascal Lamy said in a statement.
"The time has come for the US to show diligence and commitments to its WTO obligations," he added, saying the EU had now asked the WTO to restart the sanctions process.
The EU has asked the WTO for permission to impose duties equivalent to three times the amount of damage suffered by EU companies on products of US companies found to dump goods in the EU.
The WTO ruled the US law illegal as it provides for fines and imprisonment for the dumping of goods on the US market, far more Draconian punishments than the standard practice of levying extra duties on the dumped products.
The EU move comes a week after world trade talks collapsed in Cancun, Mexico.
Other transatlantic disputes over US steel tariffs and US export tax breaks are set to resurface in the coming months, both involving possible EU sanctions on US goods.