The United States and Canada contested the prohibition of the use of hormones as growth promoters in food producing animals, and in 1997 a panel of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruled that the EU measure was not in line with the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS).

The EU appealed against this ruling and, in 1998, the WTO Appellate Body reversed most of the findings of the panel. The WTO Appellate Body only upheld the finding that prohibition of imports of meat from hormone-treated animals to the EU did not comply with the requirement that such a measure should be based on a relevant assessment of the risks to human health.

In reaction to these findings, the EU mandated a new assessment of the risks to human health from hormone residues in bovine meat and meat products treated with six hormones used for growth promotion. Subsequently the EU amended Directive 96/22/EC by adoption of Directive 2003/74/EC and thus implemented its international obligations in the context of the World Trade Organisation.

• Background and History of WTO Dispute, 28 September 2001
• The SPS Agreement has been published in the Official Journal of the European Communities L 336 - 23.12.1994, pg.40
• Link to WTO and dispute settlement page