1.   Europe wants to give a special break to some of its former colonies by restricting banana imports from other Central American nations dominated by US corporations.

2.   Europe has openly defied the rulings, tinkering with its banana imports but never solving the problem.

3.   Future sales may also be boosted, with a bitter international tariff dispute over banana imports resolved between the European Union and the United States in early April.

4.   Instead the EU agreed to ease-up on licensing for banana imports in an attempt to allay the WTO demands.

5.   Lamy said he was using the same tactics the United States had adopted in an earlier dispute, now resolved, over European restrictions on banana imports.

6.   The EU said last month it plans to appeal against a separate WTO ruling that said its regulations for banana imports violate international free trade law.

7.   The EU currently levies a lower tax on banana imports from former European colonies in the Caribbean than on other countries.

8.   The standoff, in which the United States tried to end protectionist European limits on banana imports, dragged on throughout the Clinton administration.

9.   The U.S. is taking its dispute with the European Union over banana imports to the World Trade Organization, U.S. Trade Rep. Mickey Kantor said.

10.   They have settled one prolonged dispute over banana imports into Europe.