Brussels, 29/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - In a ruling issued on 25 October and published on 28 October 2010, the European General Court rejected the appeal by several seal hunting associations, seal products industrial organisations and bodies representing the Inuits in Canada, which had called for cancellation of EU Regulation 1007/2009 on the trade in seal products.
The regulation came into force in September 2009, setting out harmonised rules for the sale of seal products in the EU and banning their sale, in fact, apart from the sale of products arising from traditional hunting methods practised by Inuit and other indigenous communities for subsistence means. The embargo on the trade in seal products was introduced into the EU in July 2009, under pressure from animal welfare groups unhappy at the cruelty of seal hunting. The ban was challenged by 16 organisations, including Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), the biggest Inuit organisation of Canada, which argues that the exemption for the Inuits is meaningless. The plaintiffs argue that they have suffered imminent and substantial financial losses as a result of the embargo, which they say endangers the very means of subsistence, cultural identity and social cohesion of the Inuits. Following the appeal, in August 2010, a judge at the EU General Court decided to suspend the restrictions on the seal product trade until issuance of the order closing the appeals procedure.
The ruling has now been issued. It rejects all the arguments of the 16 associations, which failed to demonstrate any serious, imminent damages if one considers that seal-hunting is highly subsidised in Greenland and Canada. The appeal has been rejected and the embargo reinstated. The plaintiffs may yet decide to appeal again and it is not yet certain that this issue, that has been a bone of contention between the EU and Canada for many years, is over. The Canadian government has always supported the seal-hunters and criticised the embargo and is planning to ask the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to set up a special group to settle the dispute. (F.G./trans fl)