Strasbourg, 21/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 17 November, the European Parliament rejected the report by Karin Scheele (PES, Austria) on the proposed directive aiming to bring international standards concluded in 1996 by the EU with Russia, Canada and the United States, on "International humane animal trapping standards", into Community law. These agreements sought to create a framework for the use of traps for capturing 19 species (muskrat, sable, wolf, beaver, otter, etc), to make them more humane. The EP had rejected these agreements in June 1997, on the grounds that they did not guarantee less suffering for animals and that they mainly answered commercial objectives. But at the time, the opinion of the Parliament was not binding, and the Council went over its head, adopting these agreements in 1998. Stating that differences of opinion persisted between the national legislations, in spite of these agreements, the Commission proposed a directive, and this time, the Parliament is co-legislator. The MEPs went along with rapporteur Karin Scheele, who described the proposal as "highly unsatisfactory and difficult to change by dint of amendments". The PES, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL groups rejected the term "humane" in the title of the proposal. The Greens/EFA share the opinion of the scientific community and NGOs, which is that the proposal fails to take account of scientific evidence and does not help to reduce the suffering of trapped animals. Furthermore, this legislation may have a negative impact on the protection of animals which are not covered by the agreements, a fear expressed by French Green Marie Anne Isler Béguin. "Many threatened species, such as the mink or the Iberian lynx, are known to fall victim to traps designed for other species", she points out in a press release. Moreover, this proposal "turns European legislation upside down, as it includes on its positive list species which are protected by article 12 of the 'Habitats' directive, such as the otter, beaver and lynx". Stavros Dimas promised that the Commission would do all in its power to seek the best solution to move forward on this.