The World Trade organisation (WTO) has confirmed that Australia is to lodge an appeal against a ruling that said its long-standing restrictions on New Zealand apple imports break international trade rules.
According to reports in the country, the WTO had been set to adopt the ruling, making it binding, at a meeting earlier in September.
The WTO's appellate body now has two to three months to review the case.
Australia has imposed restrictions on importing New Zealand's apples since 1921, in a bid to protect its own apple trees from the threat of fire blight, with New Zealand challenging the restrictions on the grounds that the reasoning was unscientific.
