Brussels, 27/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has welcomed the decision by the United States on Friday 27 May to end the trade sanctions imposed on a number of goods imported from the EU in the bilateral dispute over hormone-treated beef. “We welcome this step by which the US is moving forward ahead of time in their implementation of the memorandum of understanding on High Quality Beef - this is a very positive signal and welcome step forwards the settlement of this dispute”, says John Clancy, the spokesman for Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht in a press release. Clancy states that the EU is preparing a proposal whereby the EU will further increase market access opportunities for non-hormone-treated US beef. The US authorities indicated in the federal register on Friday that they were ending sanctions against a number of European products, imposed in the lasting transatlantic dispute over hormone-treated beef, which is on its way to being resolved after the agreement of 6 May 2009, when the EU accepted an increase in its import quota of high quality beef to 45,000 tonnes (see EUROPE 9896, 9903 and 9940). (E.H./transl.rt)