Brussels, 09/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - High-level agricultural representatives of the European Commission and the American Department of Agriculture kicked off their discussions on resolving the transatlantic dispute over hormone-treated beef, in Washington at the end of February (EUROPE 9820). The parties are looking into the possibility of opening up, on a temporary basis, a Community quota for high-quality Hilton beef (without hormones), in exchange for less strict American sanctions. If it proves impossible to come to an arrangement, the Americans have recently expressed their intentions of increasing pressure on the EU by standing even firmer in their application of penalties. In retaliation for the European ban on importing meat from hormone treated cattle, the United States and Canada have been applying sanctions since 1999, with a rueful WTO, in the form of additional customs duty worth an annual €125 million on a number of imported products. Before leaving office in January, the outgoing American administration decided to raise customs duty on Roquefort cheese to 300% from 23 March and to 100% on other European products. The EU, which believes that it has indisputable scientific evidence to demonstrate that the consumption of hormone-treated bovine meat is not without health risks, relaunched the dossier in Geneva in December, to try to convince the WTO that its legislation is in line with WTO rules. (E.H./transl.fl)