The World Trade Organization is to set up a panel to look into China's complaints over the EU's tariffs on poultry products.

A disputes panel was established on Monday (20 July), an update on the WTO website said. Beijing requested in June a panel be formed to look into its objections about the EU's tariffs but the request was deferred.

China formally asked the WTO to act in April, arguing the tariffs contravene trade rules.

At the time, China's Ministry of Commerce said Chinese exporters "pay higher tariffs" to sell their products to Europe. According to the Chinese government, Chinese poultry exporters to Europe have to pay around 40% more in tariffs than some of their competitors.

"China has decided to sue the EU with the aim of defending the principle of free trade and the interest of our poultry businesses," Chen Fuli, deputy director for China's department of treaty and law within the Ministry of Commerce, said in a televised press conference in Beijing.

The EU has a quota for low-tariff poultry imports, with the majority of the quota – 96% – going to Thailand and Brazil. China's share of the quota was lowered in 2013 following an outbreak of bird flu in the country.

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