Luis de la Calle, Mexico's top trade negotiator under the Economy Ministry, told a press conference that the appeal to the mid-June ruling was logged ten days ago.

In the latest in a series of rulings in the four-year-long dispute, the WTO panel said that Mexico had failed to implement the recommendations of an original WTO decision issued early last year.

The appeal came at the same time as a separate panel under the North American Free Trade Agreement - also set up to revise the legality of the anti-dumping duties - ruled in harmony with the WTO panel, de la Calle said.

"The decision on the fructose anti-dumping duties by the Nafta panel (on the Chapter 19 dispute) was released ten days ago, and followed the line of the WTO panel, which we have just appealed," said de la Calle.

He said Mexico now would analyze the Nafta panel decision, for which they have two months to decide on whether to appeal or accept the ruling as final. There was no immediate details as to the exact wording of the Nafta panel ruling.

Panel Found That Dumping "Inconsistency" Remains

The original WTO panel found that Mexico's methods of implementing the anti-dumping duties were "inconsistent" with international trade laws, even though it agreed that U.S. dumping of the controversial sweetener took place.

That panel, however, didn't order Mexico to cease using the anti-dumping duties, but ruled that the country "bring into conformity" the use of the anti-dumping order, a detail which trade analysts say is important because it means the U.S. cannot demand the duties removed.

The latest WTO panel was set up to revise whether Mexico had implemented the previous ruling, which the WTO released in January 2000. Like the original ruling, the latest WTO panel said that "inconsistencies" remained on Mexico's part, but it didn't order the country to stop using the controversial duties.

The dispute between Mexico's sugar industry and U.S. corn refiners started in June 1997, when Mexico slapped stiff preliminary anti-dumping duties on imports of HFCS from the U.S., following complaints by the Mexican Sugar and Alcohol Chamber that led to a government investigation.

Mexico imposed anti-dumping duties ranging from $55.37 to $175.50 per metric ton for different grades of HFCS in January 1998. The corn syrup sweetener is used mostly by the soft drinks industry and in bakery products.

The U.S. Corn Refiners Association charged that Mexico was setting up a protective barrier and acting against free trade practices, and complained to the U.S. Trade Representative's office, which took the case to the WTO.

Meanwhile, de la Calle said that the formal setting up of a separate Nafta dispute settlement panel, dealing with a related bilateral sweetener row, was expected to be completed soon.

This other Nafta panel is expected to start processing legal investigations "within a couple of weeks" into whether a side-letter agreement to Nafta can limit the size of Mexico's duty-free sugar exports to the U.S.

The side-letter agreement was added to the trade accord after the original sugar chapter of Nafta had been approved. Under that chapter Mexico was granted the right to export all of its "surplus production" and a roof on the amount of sugar that it can export to the U.S. duty-free was established.

But two different versions of the side-letter agreement exist, hence its legality being called into question.