European Union-More time given on beef hormone case.

EUROPEAN UNION-A TIME GAP TO SORT THINGS OUT.

The European Union welcomed Friday a US decision to postpone by one month the introduction of new tariffs on EU products in a row over the use of beef hormones.

"We welcome the US decision to postpone the introduction of these sanctions," EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton said in a statement.

"The EU and United States are engaged in negotiations to find a way forward on this issue, and I am confident we will find a solution very soon," she said.

US authorities announced Thursday that they would delay until April 23 the introduction of new tariffs on European products in retaliation for an EU ban on US hormone-treated beef, in the hope a solution could be found.

The move would see US penalties triple in the case of French-produced Roquefort cheese.

The EU has had a ban on hormone-treated beef in place since the early 1980s which has long been a source of trade disputes with partners such as the United States and Canada.

The World Trade Organization in 1998 ruled that the EU had violated trade rules by banning the hormone-treated beef, thereby allowing the United States and Canada to impose trade sanctions on the bloc.

But the EU argued in 2003 that it had scientific grounds for the ban, making it valid under trade rules. But the argument was rejected by the United States and Canada and the two countries maintained trade sanctions against the bloc.