Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 13 • Number 3 • 28th January 2009
Canadian Delegation in Brussels to Stop Proposed Seal Ban
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Canadian officials were in Brussels last week in an attempt to persuade the European Union to abandon its proposed plan to ban imports of seal products. If passed, the proposal would ban seal products from countries whose hunting practices involve ‘unnecessary pain’.
Rumours of a vote on the EU proposal are not new. However, recent moves from Canada suggest that they feel a vote is imminent. Canadian officials say that the EU may attempt a vote before its annual seal hunt gets underway in March of this year. However, similarly timed sabre-rattling from Brussels took place in April 2008 but no vote ultimately took place (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 4 April 2008).
The Canadian delegation’s arrival in Brussels is the country’s second major move in recent weeks to convince the EU that hunting practices are not as cruel as lobbyists would have them believe. In December the Canadian government issued new rules governing the way in which hunters determined whether seals were, in fact, dead before skinning them.
The proposed EU ban is meant to “ensure that products derived from seals killed and skinned in ways that cause pain, distress and suffering are not found on the European market.” Canada’s new rules, published in the Canada Gazette – the country’s official government publication of laws – on 27 December, are specifically designed to appease European concerns.
“The method of harvesting seals in the current Regulations…would fail to meet the derogation criteria presented in the proposed European ban on seal products,” the document reads. “As a result, Canada could face a potential ban of its seal products to Europe, which would represent a loss for an export industry worth $13 [million] and a critical element of the livelihood of 6,000 sealers in rural communities across Atlantic Canada, Quebec and the North.”
The existing rules require hunters to perform a ‘blinking reflex test’, to determine whether a seal is unconscious before skinning. This test has been replaced by a ‘three-step process’ of stunning, checking, and bleeding seals for 60 seconds before processing.
Loyola Sullivan, Canada’s ambassador for fisheries conservation insists that the changes take into account recommendations of the International Veterinarians’ Working Group – a panel of nine veterinarians from Canada, France, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
Sullivan says that Canada is already considering retaliatory trade options. “Canada strongly believes that what’s proposed is in violation of WTO and GATT provisions,” Sullivan said recently. “There’s a whole host of aspects we think violates their obligations.”
The EU already has a ban on fur imports from white-coated pups. Canada lodged a complaint at the WTO dispute mechanism over the EU bans in September 2007 (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 5 October 2007). However, no panel has been established and no settlement has been notified.
Belgium and the Netherlands have already independently banned imports of seal products. While Canada is in a position to challenge the bans at the WTO, officials say they hope to resolve both the existing and proposed bans through dialogue.
“Canada ‘Tweaks’ Seal Hunt Rules to Avert EU Trade Ban,” ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE, 30 December 2008; “New Seal Regs Aim to Stave off EU Ban,” THE HILL TIMES, 14 January 2009; “Canadian delegation asks EU to drop proposed seal product ban,” CBC NEWS, 21 January 2009.
One response to “Canadian Delegation in Brussels to Stop Proposed Seal Ban”
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Very disturbing verbal diarrea coming out of Canadian
delegates. Europe and Asia should 100% ban this trade . We are no longer living in the 19th century and inhumane practices should stop.
Shame on the Canadian Government savage and barbaric for a country that practices peace they are noting but two faced liars.