Geneva, Sep 29 (Xinhua) The World Trade Organisation (WTO) Thursday decided to form a panel of experts to investigate whether the US had indeed removed illegal cotton subsidies after a 2004 WTO ruling.

The request for the panel was made by Brazil, which insisted that the US has not complied fully with the WTO ruling.

The ruling said that huge US subsidies for cotton growers broke WTO trade rules and should be abolished.

The WTO also said that the US subsidies, which amounted to billions of dollars, led to a severe distortion of the world's cotton trade.

Brazil first requested the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) to set up the panel on Sep 1, but the request was blocked by the US.

At Thursday's DSB meeting, Brazil made the request again, so a decision was made automatically by the DSB to set up the panel.

The panel investigation will take at least 90 days. If it wins, Brazil could be entitled to levy billions of dollars of retaliatory sanctions against US goods.