China welcomes the World Trade Organization's (WTO) final ruling that United States restrictions on Chinese poultry imports are inconsistent with WTO regulations, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Tuesday.

The ruling was announced Monday in a report from the WTO's Disputes Settlement Body (DSB).

The U.S. ban on Chinese poultry product imports has damaged China's poultry industry, undermining the interests and rights of Chinese enterprises, an unnamed official from the MOC's Department of Treaty and Law said in a statement on the MOC website.

The ruling makes it clear the U.S.'s restrictive measures lack legal basis, said the official, adding that China hopes the U.S. will scrap the ban.

In 2004, China and the U.S. stopped importing poultry products from each other because of bird flu fears.

China called off its ban on U.S poultry imports when the H1N1 bird flu alert was canceled. But the US did not end its ban on Chinese poultry product imports.

At the request of China, a WTO panel was established to investigate the case on Sept. 23, 2009.

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