Brussels, 08/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 8 February, the United Kingdom announced that it was calling on the European Commission to bring forward a proposal to ban the import of seal skins into the EU, just like as the European Parliament in a recent written statement (see EUROPE 9262). The United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands have all introduced measures to ban the import of seal products into their countries.
In a written statement to British MPs, Foreign Office Minister (Trade) Ian McCartney said the government was concerned about seal hunting in Canada and he said that he wanted the European Commission “to propose EU-wide measures to ban the import of listed harp and hooded seal products”. During the debate on dog and cat skins in the EU Council of Ministers, EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou opposed this radical move, believing the EU ban on the trade in baby seal products, in place since 1983, was sufficient (see EUROPE 9355). The Commission has yet to be convinced by the reports on hunting methods, which it feels are often contradictory, and points out that this animal does not figure on the international list of species threatened with extinction. The EP accepts that the import of baby harp “white coat” and “hooded blueback” seal skins and derived fur trade products has been banned in the EU since 1983. To back up its call for a ban, however, it says that the hunters wait a few days until the seals have moulted to be able to market (and this includes within the EU) products from these animals. (lc)