With the EU’s proposed legislation due to be voted on by the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee on 2nd March (before going to plenary in April or May), the following is a history of seal trade legislation over the last four decades:
For more than 40years, opposition to the commercial slaughter of seals has gained momentum around the world, and governments are increasingly taking action to end the trade in seal products.
1972: The United States banned its trade in marine mammal products, including seal products.
1983: The European Community passed a ban on the trade in products from newborn harp seals (“whitecoats”) and hooded seal pups.
In the wake of the European ban, the largest slaughter of marine mammals on earth, in Canada, came to a virtual standstill.
Mid 1990s: However, the Canadian government invested massive subsidies in the sealing industry, allowing the seal pups to be killed when they were a few days older and had begun to moult (in this way, the sealers side-stepped the European ban). Today, products from the Canadian commercial slaughter and smaller commercial kills in other countries may legally be traded in Europe.
In response, several European nations have initiated national bans of seal products, regardless of the age of the seal when killed.
2006: The Council of Europe passed a recommendation urging its 47 member states to promote initiatives aimed at prohibiting the trade in seal products.
Shortly after observing the 2006 Canadian harp seal slaughter with Humane Society International, Swedish MEP Carl Schlyter sponsored a Written Declaration in the European Parliament, calling for a EU ban on the sale of seal fur pelts and other seal products in all (then 25, now 27) EU-member nations. By September, a record 425 members of the European Parliament signed a historic declaration calling upon the European Commission to immediately introduce legislation to prohibit the trade in seal products.
The Commission then undertook a study of the humane aspects of seal hunting, the results of which could provide the foundation to ban all seal products within the EU.
Its study completed, the EC then held a public consultation to measure international opinion on an EU-wide ban on the trade in seal products. The response was overwhelmingly in favour of a ban.
2008: In July, based on the results of the study and the consultation, the Commission put forward a proposal to ban seal product trade in the European Union. Under severe diplomatic pressure from Canada (which threatens to lodge a complaint with the World Trade Organisation), the Commission included in its proposal an exemption for products from so-called “humanely killed” seals. While standards are available for humane killing, they are almost impossible to respect on the treacherous ice floes in extreme weather conditions and equally impossible to police. Canada has announced it will change its laws to meet the “humane slaughter” conditions—but these will never be effectively enforced.
The Commission’s proposal was allocated to the following four committees of the European Parliament for their comment: Internal Market and Consumer Protection (lead committee); Agriculture; International Trade; and Environment committees (providing opinions for the lead committee to consider).
2009: In February, the Parliament’s Environment Committee voted overwhelmingly for a comprehensive ban. But the Agriculture Committee, influenced by the pro-hunting lobby, sought weaker legislation. The International Trade Committee reached no position, largely because freak weather conditions prevented MEPs from getting to the committee room in Strasbourg on time to vote.
The lead committee, Internal Market and Consumer Protection, will vote on a consolidated report on 2nd March. So far, Parliament’s lead spokeswoman, Diana Wallis, MEP, is following the Canadian line. The proposal will then go to plenary in April or May.
