New Zealand back into core market

Australia's 90-year-old restrictions on imports of New Zealand apples are unscientific and break international trade rules, the World Trade Organisation's top court has ruled.

The victory for New Zealand should allow it to resume apple exports to its biggest trading partner for the first time since 1921 and clear the way for sales to other markets where its fruit is also banned.

The WTO's appellate body largely upheld the findings of a panel of experts in August that condemned the restrictions, which New Zealand says amount effectively to a ban on its fruit, and called on Australia to bring its regulations into line with international trade rules.

Australia imposed the restrictions in 1921 to protect local apple trees from fire blight, a pest that also affects pear trees and rose bushes. But New Zealand argued that the restrictions were unscientific.

New Zealand officials estimate that lifting the ban could boost apple exports by about NZ$47 million (about 22.5m) over two to three years.

A recent study by two visiting fellows at the Australian National University's Crawford School of Economics and Government, found that the ban had driven up the price of apples for Australian consumers.

The study said Australia had the second most expensive apples in the world, after Japan.