GENEVA (AP) – The World Trade Organization established a panel Monday to investigate antidumping duties that America applies on 52 European products, from ball bearings to pasta, in the latest trans-Atlantic trade dispute.

The European Union says Washington’s continued use of a complicated procedure for determining dumping fees violates global trade rules. American officials say, however, that they are already reconsidering how levies are calculated and called the EU litigation unnecessary.

“The (EU) would have preferred to avoid a further dispute but, in these circumstances, finds no alternative,” said Raimund Raith, a trade negotiator for the 27-nation bloc.

Washington blocked the EU’s first request for an investigation at a meeting last month. Under WTO rules, a panel’s establishment can only be delayed once.

Governments investigate dumping when they suspect that producers are exporting products at below-market price in their own country – usually because exports have been subsidized – or if it is believed that there is an attempt to corner the market.

The WTO has chided America in disputes with the EU, Canada and others for how it determines antidumping fees, known in trade jargon as “zeroing.” Experts have consistently found that zeroing leads to artificial and inflated margins of dumping, and thus higher duties.

Juan Millan, an American trade lawyer, said the EU’s action was premature because America was already assessing the practice in a separate dispute. Washington has until December in that dispute to inform the WTO of how it will adjust its antidumping calculations, he said.

Mr. Millan also criticized the EU for including a number of issues in its complaint without first consulting America.

But Mr. Raith said the fees – which also apply to a number of stainless steel products – show that America has “refused to draw the inevitable consequences” of previous WTO decisions.

A WTO case can result in punitive sanctions, but panels take many months and sometimes years to reach a decision.