Brussels to propose import ban on Canadian seal skins

(PARIS) - The European Commission will ask its member states to ban the importation of furs made from the skins of young seals hunted in Canada, the European Environment Commissioner said Thursday.

"The proposal for a trade ban is ready, I will propose it before the summer," Commissioner Stavros Dimas said during an informal meeting of EU environment ministers in Saint-Cloud, a suburb of Paris.

The Commission will make a decision when it meets on July 23, and will then look to the EU's 27 member states to approve or vote down the measure.

Dimas said he was confident the ban would be implemented. "We have strong support from the French presidency," he told AFP.

France took over the helm of the EU's rotating presidency on July 1.

Hundreds of anti-seal hunt demonstrators protested outside European Union headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday, demanding that the 27-nation bloc impose a total ban on seal products from Canada and elsewhere.

"We have come to support the European Commissioner Stravros Dimas, and to highlight the expectations of the people," Christophe Marie, a member of ex-screen icon Brigitte Bardot's foundation for the welfare of animals, said during the demonstration.

Animal rights advocates have called for a complete halt to all trade in seal furs, but World Trade Organisation rules would make such a step impossible, a European source said.

"The ban cannot be total, because we simply cannot do that," she told AFP.

Canada has increased its quota of seals to be hunted to 275,000 this year from 270,000.

The annual commercial seal hunt is often marked by confrontations between animal rights protesters and the hunters and Canadian authorities.

Belgium and the Netherlands have already banned the import of seal skins and products while several other EU nations, including Germany, have taken measures to close their own markets.

Italy has also said that it intends to close its markets to such products.