Brussels, 27/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - In a ruling on appeal published Thursday, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) confirmed the illegal nature of the European norms for the trade name of sardines according to the Trade Barrier Agreement (see EUROPE of 4 July, p.15). The appeal court notes above all that the relevant international standard fixed by the Codex Alimentarius, namely Codex Stan 94, was not used as a basis for the Community regulation (EEC No2136 of 1989) denounced by Peru last year. The Union had underlined that this international standard was only approved by a very small number of countries, that it is under review and that the regulation in question dates to five years before. It above all denounced the panel's refusal to take into account the relevance of national legislation concerning the expectations of consumers, arguing that there is the risk of misleading consumers of tinned sardines if species other than the most common, the "sardine pilchardus", can be called by the generic name of "sardine", including Peruvian sardines, and also anchovies and herrings, etc. The court of appeal, however, also left this more sensitive aspect of the dispute to one side.