European Court puts halt to seal products ban

(OTTAWA) - The European General Court on Thursday suspended a seal products ban on the eve of the regulation coming into force, an Inuit group announced.

Restrictions on the marketing of seal products in European countries "is suspended," said court documents provided by the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, one of several Inuit organizations in Canada and Greenland that sued to stop the new law.

The interim injunction is to allow their main suit to be heard.

Legal action to annul the regulation was launched earlier this year and includes the Canadian sealing industry as plaintiffs.

The ban was announced last year by the European Parliament after a public outcry over Canada's annual commercial seal hunt, which animal rights activists denounce as cruel. The ban would prevent the import of seal products into EU countries.

"In our view, the seal ban is both illegal and immoral," Mary Simon, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, said in a statement.

"This decision is clear evidence that the EU Court is very much aware of the seriousness and principled nature of the fundamental objections of Inuit and other plaintiffs to this very unjust law," she said.

"We will continue our efforts with renewed purpose and conviction."

Simon urged the European Parliament to "see fit at this stage to do the right thing and withdraw its legislation."

Although Inuit are exempt from the ban, they claim they are nevertheless being affected.

Canada's Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said government lawyers were reviewing the court decision. "This is a positive development," she added.

Earlier, Shea said Ottawa would further press its own challenge of the ban at the World Trade Organization by asking for a dispute settlement panel to hear its case after negotiations in December failed to settle the trade row.

"We have made representations at all levels of the EU to inform them that the Canadian seal hunt is sustainable, humane and closely monitored," she said.

However, the European Parliament "has sided with radical animal rights lobbyists" and left Ottawa "no choice but to initiate a formal application for the establishment of a World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel to address the matter."

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper commented that the ban was "completely unfair" and "flagrant discrimination" against Canadian sealers who have been following established rules of animal husbandry.

"It is a disgrace that they (have been) treated this way in some countries based on no facts or information whatsoever," he told reporters.

In April, Shea increased by 50,000 the allowable catch of harp seals this past season to 330,000. But only tens of thousands were caught.

A lack of sea ice in one of the warmest Canadian winters on record and the looming EU ban were blamed for ruining what was to be a banner seal hunt.

Most of Canada's 6,000 sealers stayed home, unable to find buyers for their catch or stymied by a lack of ice floes for the first time in 60 years on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, which usually host hordes of seals birthing pups.

Only a single ship launched from the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf, while fewer than 50 sealing ships launched from Newfoundland ports further north, down from 500 in past years.

All but one of Canada's seasonal seal processing companies also remained shuttered, even though pelt prices were nearly double last year's prices, at 21 dollars.

The Canadian government is seeking to open new markets like China for seal products. According to a Canadian fisheries official, Beijing is currently assessing the safety of seal meat processed in Canada before approving its sale in China.

European Court of Justice - General Court - Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and Others v Parliament and Council - Texts - Case T-18/10 R

European Parliament Legislative Observatory - Trade in seal products