Brussels, 20/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Monday the European Commission adopted a draft regulation to ban the import, export and sale of cat and dog fur in the EU. Cat and dog fur, notably from China, is currently marketed on the EU market without being declared as such and is disguised as synthetic and other types of fur, explained the Commission in a press release. Several Member States have introduced their own specific legislation against cat and dog fur in but these national bans are divergent and may cause disruption to the internal market. Therefore the Commission proposal aims to create a harmonised approach, prohibiting all production, marketing and imports and exports of cat and dog fur in the EU.
Enforcing this ban on cat and dog fur will require good detection methods that can differentiate between cat and dog fur and other fur, even when the cat and dog fur is treated or dyed. Several Member States are already employing effective detection methods to check for cat and dog fur on their markets (e.g. Mass Spectrometry, DNA testing etc). The proposed Regulation states that Member States should regularly exchange information on detection methods for cat and dog fur, and share details of tests which are most efficient, so that fur imports and products on the market can be checked. For more information: http: //ec.europa.eu/food/animal/index_en.htm (hb)