EU wins banana stay of execution

The World Trade Organisation has told the European Union it can wait until the beginning of next year before bringing its banana import policies into line with WTO regulations.

The ruling follows a demand by the United States that the EU should introduce the changes by this July.

Washington's demand was backed by Mexico, Ecuador, Honduras and Guatemala.

The WTO had already ruled that EU policy unfairly favoured imports from former British and French colonies.

The EU argued that its rules were too complicated to enable a change before next year.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service