Brussels, 04/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Monday 2 March, the internal market and consumer protection committee of the European Parliament came out in favour of a virtually total ban on the trade in seal products in the EU, whether skin, fur, meat, blubber, going against the opinion of rapporteur Diana Wallis (ALDE, UK). As an alternative to a general ban, Wallis suggested labelling, guaranteeing consumers that the products being bought came from seals which had been killed as humanely as possible.
The regulation which the committee was discussing in first reading was proposed by the European Commission in July 2008 putting an EU ban on the marketing, importation, transit and export of all products from seals killed and skinned using methods that caused the animals unnecessary suffering and distress (see EUROPE 9709). The committee has gone much further, calling for the ban to apply to all seal products, including bags, hats, boots, gloves used by motor cyclists, skiers and boxers and parapharmaceutical products sold as Omega 3 fatty acid supplements, no matter the conditions under which the animals were killed.
MEPs not only refused exceptions to the general ban where the seals were killed without their being caused unnecessary distress and suffering, but also excluded any possibility of a national exemption being granted at the request of a state. In both cases, they said it would be impossible to monitor observance of the conditions needed for a derogation to be granted. The only exception they would agree to is for Inuits and other aboriginal communities for whom seal hunting is a means of subsistence and part of their traditions and culture. Such a derogation, which would be conditional on certain conditions being met, would only apply to products from traditional subsistence hunting, and able to be traded for cultural, educational, and/or ceremonial purposes.
The position was adopted by 25 votes to 7, including that of the rapporteur, who is concerned about the compatibility of a ban with multilateral trade rules and feels that a labelling system would be more effective in guaranteeing consumers that high levels of animal welfare have been respected. Most MEPs shared the view of Christel Schaldemose (PES, Denmark) that “this debate is not about a legal, but a political, issue, to which Parliament has to give a political response”. Caroline Lucas (Greens, UK) and Carl Schlyter (Greens, Sweden) hailed the committee vote as “long-awaited progress”, given that some member states (Belgium and the Netherlands) already ban the marketing of all seal products and “successive petitions have shown that this issue is an important one for many people”. The European Parliament will vote on the issue in plenary session in April. (A.N./transl.rt)