Europe is excluding US hormone-treated beef and biotechnology farm produce without justification, the United States charged Tuesday in an annual trade review.

"Several European Union polices continue to create significant barriers to US economic interests," the US Trade Representative (USTR) office said after issuing the report.

"Among these barriers are unjustified bans on US beef from livestock treated with hormones and US poultry treated to minimize bacterial risks," it said.

The European Union has banned US beef for more than 10 years despite a World Trade Organization ruling that it flouted global trade rules, the USTR said.

Other barriers, it said, included financial support by EU countries to the aircraft industry and widely differing EU standards, testing and certification procedures.

US trade with the European Union is the largest with any trade bloc, according to the 2002 National Trade Estimate on Foreign Trade Barriers. The US deficit with the EU rose 5.9 billion dollars to 60.9 billion dollars last year, it said.

The USTR complained that it has lost "over 200 million dollars in US corn exports" annually since 1998, when several EU members imposed a "de facto moratorium" on the imports of agricultural biotechnology produce as there was no functional approval process.

"Restarting the approval process is a high priority for the United States," the trade body said.

While several European Commission officials had said the approval process would start again, the United States held out little hope that it would be this year, and said it was "evaluating options" for its next steps.

The European Commission issued proposals last July that called for new rules for biotechnology foods and introduced regulations for the first time on animal feed made from such products.

But the plans would create "complicated and extensive paperwork ... and propose a labeling regime based on consumer preferences rather than science-based factors," the United States said.