WASHINGTON – Global efforts to end the cruel and fraudulent trade in cat and dog fur received a strong boost today with news that there is clear jurisdiction for the European Union to take action on the issue. Internationally recognized British barrister Philippe Sands has issued a legal opinion that there is a European Community (EC) treaty basis under which the European Union (EU) can ban cat and dog fur.

This development comes on the heels of a May 21 decision by the Australian government to ban the production and sale of cat and dog fur and skins in response to intense public pressure and a Humane Society International (HSI) investigation into the practice. Humane Society International, the international arm of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), is now calling on the European Commission to follow Australia’s lead and issue an immediate ban on the trade in cat and dog fur.

For the past three years, despite strong public pressure and support from a majority of both the European Parliament and the Council of Agriculture Ministers to seek a ban, EU Consumer Affairs Commissioner David Byrne has claimed he has no authority to act on this matter. Sands reviewed EU law at the request of HSI’s European office and has determined that Article 95 of the EC Treaty gives the Commission the justification to ban the production and sale within the EU of cat and dog furs and skins on the basis that “such a measure is necessary to remove an obstacle in the functioning of the internal market,” he noted. Sands, a barrister with Matrix Chambers and director of the Centre of International Courts and Tribunals at University College London, also determined that under Article 133 (ex. 113) the Commission also has the authority to ban their export.

“What these legal points underscore,” said HSI Executive Director Neil Trent, “is that Commissioner Byrne has been hiding behind a mound of excuses not to take action. The European public has had enough of these stalling tactics. He cannot seek refuge behind unfounded statements any longer now that the EC treaty provisions on taking action are staring him in the face. With ten new countries in the EU and a growing likelihood that the Australian ban will shift even more of these exports to Europe, Byrne needs to act quickly.”

In 1998, The HSUS undertook an 18 month investigation into the cruel raising and inhumane slaughter of millions of cat and dogs in Asia solely for their furs and skins. Close to 2 million animal skins and furs were being shipped to the U.S., EU and Russia in clothing and other articles. Consumers had no way of knowing this because Asian dealers utilized fraudulent labeling, dyed items to resemble faux fur or did not label them at all. The U.S. Congress banned the fur in 2002. Most of the Asian trade appears to have shifted to the European Union to make up for lost revenues. Along with this fraud, some of the fur items have tested positive for excessive levels of chromium. Chromium can affect DNA in children. Now that Australia has banned these items, it is likely that more of these cruel, fraudulent and potentially toxic items will be heading to the EU. During an undercover investigation in Asia in 1998, HSUS officials found warehouses in China piled high with these skins and furs awaiting shipment abroad.

Scottish member of the European Parliament (MEP) Struan Stevenson, who has been supporting the Humane Society International campaign for the last four years to highlight the cruel rearing and slaughter of cats and dogs in Asia solely for their fur and skins, also weighed in on Mr. Sands’ challenge to Byrne’s position on the issue, stating: “Despite following due Parliamentary process and securing the support of the majority of the European Parliament, the Brussels bureaucrats still flaunt the rules by refusing to bring in to force legislation outlawing this barbaric practice. Australia has followed America’s bold lead in stamping out this unwanted and unnecessary trade. I am urging the European Commission to do likewise and bring an immediate halt to the unnecessary suffering of the animals we refer to as pets.”