Brussels, 28/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 27 February, the Council of the EU decided remove retaliatory trade measures which the EU introduced in 1993 (regulation 1461/93) against the United States on public contract tenders in the telecommunications market. In 1993, Washington imposed sanctions on the EU, because it considered that EU directive 93/38/EEC on public procurement in utilities created an unwarranted discrimination against US telecommunication equipment suppliers. The EU reacted immediately by imposing counter-sanctions on the United States. Following the liberalisation of the European telecommunications market, in 2004 the EU adopted a new directive on public procurement (directive 2004/17/EC) which the Americans consider to have removed the discrimination contained in the 1993 regulation. Washington, therefore, decided to remove sanctions from 1st March 2006, causing the EU to put an end to its counter-measures from the same date.