Ireland is one of five EU states using tax subsidies to help export sales in violation of World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, the US has claimed. The European Union said yesterday that it would study the US charge .

"We will look at it closely and we will obviously abide by our WTO obligations," Mr Nigel Gardner, spokesman for European Trade Commissioner, Sir Leon Brittan, said.

The US has launched WTO proceedings against five European countries for what it said were prohibited tax subsidies used to help export sales.

It requested consultations with Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland and the Netherlands, the first step in trying to settle a dispute through the Geneva-based WTO. It is not clear precisely which parts of the Irish tax structure the US is objecting to. Mr Gardner said the EU already had a WTO case against the US in a similar area.

Last November, the EU complained to the WTO about billions of dollars of US exports which it said violated international trade rules and put EU companies at a disadvantage.

The EU alleged that the US subsidised exports with tax breaks worth at least $2 billion via so-called foreign sales corporations.