Brussels, 19/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - According to the Advocate General, Juliane Kokott, the General Court of the EU ruled in favour in its decision (T-526/10) of April 2013 of Regulation 737/2010 implementing the regulation on the trade in sealed product derivatives (1007/2009). In the conclusions made on Thursday 19 March (C-398/13 P), Kokott therefore recommends that the Court rejects the appeal against this ruling made by the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Association, representing the interests of the Canadian Inuit.
Unable to quash the 1007/2009 regulation (see EUROPE 10454), the association unsuccessfully called for its application regulation to be annulled, which was confirmed by the General Court (see EUROPE 10836). It contested this ruling at the European Court of Justice on the grounds that there were disparities between the legal and administrative provisions of member states and that the trade in seal products within the EU were not sufficiently substantial to warrant a European regulation.
The Advocate General proposes that the Court reject this appeal on the grounds that the General Court had correctly concluded the validity and need for harmonisation through a regulation. Kokott considers that the General Court correctly pointed out at the time of the adoption of Regulation 1007/2009 that national regulations on the trade in seal products were so disparate that EU level harmonisation was required. She also believed that there was no provision under Union law covering minimum volumes of trade below which the Union legislator would be unable to adopt harmonisation measures, even if the volume in this trade were insignificant.
With regard to the allegation that the General Court had violated the property rights of the appellants by not taking into account their interests in pursuing the trade in seal products in the EU, Kokott decided that the General Court had appropriately concluded that the simple hope of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and other appellants to be able to continue trading the same quantities of seal products in the EU was not protected by property law. (Francesco Gariazzo)