Commission says Friday's seal product ban stands

(BRUSSELS) - An EU ban on seal products will come into force Friday, the European Commission said after an Inuit group in Canada claimed a European court had suspended the ban.

"The embargo on seal products will come into force Friday," Commission spokeswoman Maria Kokkonen told AFP.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, one of several Inuit organizations in Canada and Greenland announced earlier that the European General Court had suspended the products ban on the eve of the regulation coming into force.

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.

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.

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

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