Brussels, 16/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - In a ruling issued on 6 September 2011 in case T-18/10, the EU General Court said that a request for the cancellation of the 2009 European embargo on seal products (Ruling 1007/2009 - see EUROPE 9949) could not be heard. Fearing that the embargo would destroy the local indigenous people's seal-hunting, seventeen organisations, including Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), Canada's biggest Inuit group, lodged an appeal in January 2010 against the EU ruling, despite the fact the ruling offers protection for the Inuits' traditional hunting methods (and the hunting of other native American groups). The General Court rejected all the appellants' arguments, pointing out that they were not themselves as individuals concerned by the regulation they were appealing against. The ITK is critical of the court's line and has lodged a new request for cancellation with the European Court of Justice. The EU's embargo on the import of seal products is a regular point of discussion in relations between the EU and Canada, which has always criticised the EU's stance and defended its local seal industry. (FG/transl/fl)