European General Court confirms the validity of the European regulation on the marketing of seal products.
On Thursday last week (25 April), the European General Court rejected an action by seal hunters and traders seeking to overturn the regulation prohibiting the importation of seal products to the EU.
Animal welfare organisations and supportive MEPs campaigned long and hard to stop the importation of sealskin products – the end result of the notorious seal hunts on the Canadian ice floes – to the EU. Legal challenges came as no surprise and are likely to continue both in this court and at the World Trade Organisation. However, as of last week, the importing and selling of seal products remains illegal within the European Union.
The General Court has jurisdiction to hear actions brought against acts of the institutions, bodies, offices or agencies of the European Union. In this case a number of seal-hunting organisations, mainly from Canada, manufacturers and traders of seal products of various nationalities, and a single Scottish sporran-maker had challenged the measures implementing Regulation (EC) No 1007/2009 of 16 September 2009 on trade in seal products. In particular, they claimed that the principal objective of the Regulation was the protection of animal welfare and that such an objective did not fall within the exclusive competence of the EU.
Rejecting the action, however, the General Court confirmed that the objective of the basic Regulation was the improvement of the conditions of functioning of the internal market, taking into account the protection of animal welfare. This could not be satisfactorily achieved by action undertaken only in the Member States, and had therefore required action at EU level.
OneKind’s Honorary Vice-President David Martin MEP, member of the International Trade Committee and Vice-President of the European Parliament Animal Welfare Intergroup, said:
“This is a great result and I, along with numerous others, had been hoping for such an outcome."
“In September 2009 we in the European Parliament and Council adopted a regulation banning the marketing and importing of seal products. I and many of my colleagues have been urging the EU to stand strong in defence of the EU seal regulation. This stance has proved to be the right one.”
David concluded:
“Scientific evidence has concluded that it is inherently impossible to kill seals in a humane manner. Only a trade ban can ensure that this concern is addressed properly. The court has agreed with the outrage of millions of Europeans as well as their right to reject products which are the result of animal suffering.”
Court decision here.