Brussels, 02/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 1 May this year, the EU toughened the trading sanctions that it has applied to the United States since May 2005 under the terms of the Byrd Amendment, a law declared illegal by the WTO and which authorises US authorities to distribute anti-dumping duties levied by customs authorities to the US companies that filed complaints against the imports in question. Following the complaint filed by the EU and other countries, the WTO condemned Washington to amend the law. This the Congress finally did in February this year (see EUROPE 9127). Nonetheless, given that the new law will only enter into force in 2007, the EU has decided to maintain its sanctions, the amount of which is fixed annually depending on the amount of taxes redistributed by the US government to the companies involved. As the amount of duties collected on imports from the EU increased in 2005, the EU has also adjusted its sanctions upwards: from $27.8 million in 2005 to $36.9 million in 2006. Eight new products (photocopiers, paper products, etc.) have been added to the list of American imports affected by the 15% surcharge.