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ndonesia, the world'€™s biggest clove cigarette producer, has demanded that the World Trade Organization (WTO) authorize its request for trade sanctions on the United States (US) for failing to comply with a tobacco dispute ruling.

Indonesia has officially approached the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the global commerce governing body late last week after the US failed to respond a request for compensation consultation until the deadline.

'€œWe have asked the DSB to authorize our request for retaliation. We are trying to exert our right to do so,'€ said Iman Pambagyo, director general for international trade with the Trade Ministry.

Earlier last month, Indonesia sought compensation from the US '€” which had not revised its discriminative tobacco rule to comply with the WTO'€™s ruling by the deadline on July 23.

Under the WTO norms, compensation usually materializes in a tariff cut equal to the value lost by the losing country.

Iman said on Friday that Indonesia was disappointed over the US'€™ claims that it had already complied with the WTO ruling by doing, among others, a public health campaign on the danger of menthol cigarettes.

The trade organization'€™s appellate body ruled in favor of Indonesia in April last year, declaring that the US Tobacco Control Act of 2009 is discriminatory as it prohibits circulation of clove cigarettes while still allowing trade of similar products, particularly menthol cigarettes, widely produced by US cigarette makers, such as Lorillard Inc, the Philip Morris USA unit of Altria Group, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co of Reynolds American Incand Liggett Vector Brands LLC.

'€œThe efforts actually do not change the situation. In fact, menthol cigarettes can still be sold in the US, while our clove cigarettes cannot be sold there. For us that is non-compliance,'€ Iman said.

The ban has caused significant injury to Indonesian producers, which had shipped more than 90 percent of the US'€™ clove cigarettes with annual exports potentially worth up to US$200 million.

Iman further said that trade officials were assessing concessions that it would aim to retaliate.

Retaliation, a form of trade sanction imposed by the complaining side on its trade partner, usually '€” not necessarily '€” come following a disagreement on compensation between disputing parties.

The WTO is slated to send the dispute to arbitration over the potential remedies Indonesia desires in retaliation against the US'€™ ban on clove cigarettes.

Troy Pederson, press attaché at the US Embassy in Jakarta, failed to elaborate on the US'€™ response to Indonesia'€™s request for retaliation to the WTO.

'€œThe US announced on July 23 that it had implemented the recommendations and rulings of the Dispute Settlement Body,'€ he told The Jakarta Post in a text message.

In the announcement, the US claimed it had carried out the appropriate measures to obey the recommendations of the DSB through campaigns on public health challenges caused by menthol cigarettes.

One of the campaigns comes by way of a scientific review rolled out by the US Food and Drug Administration. It says that menthol cigarettes are likely to be more addictive than regular cigarettes, thereby, posing a public health risk above that seen with non-menthol cigarettes.