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he US and New Zealand have requested the establishment of a dispute settlement panel at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to resolve their disagreements with Indonesia over horticulture and animal trade.

The proposed panel would examine Indonesia'€™s wide-ranging import rules, which both countries consider '€œimport restrictions'€, on fruits and vegetables, such as apples, grapes and potatoes, animal products, particularly beef and poultry, and other agricultural products, according to a statement from the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR).

Among the measures it pointed to were a ban on imports of poultry and certain meat products and an import licensing system for horticultural products.

USTR Michael Froman said that Indonesia'€™s measures had '€œunfairly limited opportunities'€ for US farmers and ranchers to ship their products to its large and growing market.

'€œI'€™m proud to take this action today standing up on behalf of farmers and ranchers across the US who have been shouldering unfair export barriers to the fourth-largest country in the world, Indonesia,'€ Froman said in the statement released on Wednesday.

He added that the US had been working closely with New Zealand in this case and that its partner had made a similar demand to the global trade governing body.

Indonesia, home to 250 million people, in 2012 put in place a set of regulations to restructure horticultural imports, comprising a restriction on import gateways and special Trade Ministry import permits for horticultural produce.

The country'€™s largest port, Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta, which processes more than half of all horticultural imports, was closed as its capacity overload had led to poor supervision of imports and outbreaks of disease in some parts of the sprawling archipelago

The country also imposed several restrictions on animal imports as a result of health concerns. The measures include requiring importers to register, granting special import licenses and tightening up scrutiny of imported animals.

The US has already once taken Indonesia to the WTO, with the latter agreeing to address some of the concerns by revising its licensing procedures for horticultural imports, such as through a one-stop online import licensing service.

However, apparently still dissatisfied, the US renewed its complaint to the WTO in May last year, joining forces with New Zealand.

The US, which pays sizeable annual agricultural subsidies, registered an all-time high US$155.1 billion of agricultural shipments worldwide last year, supporting more than a million farmers.

Nearly $200 million worth of its agricultural exports were affected by Indonesia'€™s licensing regime last year.

Exports of the affected horticultural products to Southeast Asia'€™s top economy surpassed $122 million, including $50 million of apples and more than $37 million of grapes, while sales of the affected animals and animal products reached $63.2 million.

In addition to the US and New Zealand, Indonesia may face another challenge by Brazil, which has already lodged one failed complaint.

In response to the US and New Zealand'€™s dispute settlement proposal, Indonesian Ambassador to the WTO Iman Pambagyo said that Indonesia would follow settlement procedures under the adjudication of the WTO and was prepared to defend its policies.

 '€œOur policies do not violate WTO rules and we leave it to the panel to decide,'€ he said.

Indonesia, according to the USTR, has breached the WTO'€™s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994) and Agreement on Agriculture.