Hormone Dispute in the WTO
The United States has continued to challenge the EU’s beef hormone ban in the World Trade
Organization (WTO) and to question whether the ban is consistent with the EU’s WTO
obligations under the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement (see box). After a series of
WTO consultations, panel decisions, and appeals in the case, both the United States and the
European Union claim these formal proceedings have vindicated their respective positions in the
dispute. This case has proven so intractable in part because it involves internal national regulation
and domestic policy issues, and rules for dispute settlement and the use of SPS measures to
restrict trade, rather than routine commercial disputes over trade or customs regulations.11
Although the WTO has issued decisions that have questioned the validity of the ban, the EU has
repeatedly voted to maintain it, citing consumer worries, questions of animal welfare, meat
quality, and effects of hormones on the EU’s beef and milk sectors. The laws governing the EU’s