The World Trade Organisation has chosen three arbitrators to settle the banana regime dispute between the EU and six Latin American countries.

The move by WTO director-general Supachai Panitchpakdi will find favour with the Latin American lobby - Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama - which has been calling for a dispute panel of three, rather than a single arbitrator as proposed by the EU.

Supachai selected John Weekes, Canada’s former ambassador to the WTO, as well as Australian John Lockhart and Yasuhei Taniguchi of Japan, who are both members of the WTO’s appeals body.

The panel will rule on the dispute before the end of July. If the WTO arbitrators decide that the proposed EU duty of e230 is too high, the European Commission will have only 10 days to put forward an alternative. If the six Latin American nations are still not satisfied they can ask the panel for a new ruling within a month of the arbitration panel’s original decision.

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