Both in France and at the global level, hydraulic works have remained excluded from semi-probabilistic methods and regulations and their design was, until recently, of a deterministic nature. As far as embankment hydraulic works are more specifically concerned, there are no formal rules for their design. It is based on guidelines, leading to heterogeneities in the French practice. In this context, the French Commitee on Large Dams FRCOLD - initiated, with a panel of experts from the French engineering industry and related government agencies, a research project to define a semi-probabilistic limit-state method for the design of embankment hydraulic works. This paper accounts for the work done over two years and more specifically extends the work on embankment sliding mechanism. It determines the position of embankment hydraulic works in relation to Eurocode 7. It briefly outlines the suggested semi-probabilistic limit-state method and focuses on the sliding limit-state. Applying the method to a pseudo-homogeneous dam helps comparing the standard deterministic practice, the Eurocode 7-based approach and the developed semi-probabilistic method.