Geneva, January 5:

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has again deferred making a decision on whether the European Union (EU) broke trade rules when it banned imports of genetically modified food in 1999, WTO diplomats said.

A special group studying the issue at the WTO was meant to publish its findings before the end of 2005, but this deadline has been pushed back to the end of March at the latest, said the diplomats, who requested anonymity. The US, Canada and Argentina complained to the WTO in 2003 that an EU-imposed moratorium on imports of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), introduced in 1999, was motivated by commercial rather than health concerns. The moratorium was lifted in May 2004, but the three complainants contend that EU countries continue to restrict imports of GMOs.

A first confidential report on the issue is to be presented to the different parties in February, the diplomats said.