The north American-European Union dispute over beef produced using growth hormones: A major test for the new international trade regime

It is probably unfortunate that one of the first major disputes between the US and the European Union (EU) to be ruled on by the new, and relatively untried, disputes settlement system of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was the exceedingly complex and acrimonious issue of beef produced using growth hormones. Having this particular dispute as a test of WTO efficacy is unfortunate for a number of reasons. First, the WTO Panel had to deal with a new area of competency-sanitary and phyto-sanitary regulations. As the new Agreement on Application of Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary Measures (SPS) was negotiated during the Uruguay Round, in part because of the problems surrounding beef produced using growth hormones, the area of trade law covered was not one where the WTO could call on precedents from its progenitor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), to settle the dispute. Adjudication of more standard trade disputes would have allowed the new WTO mechanisms a chance to gain credibility. The beef hormone dispute has led to questions regarding the credibility of the WTO's disputes mechanism.