Humane Society International congratulated the European Parliament for voting overwhelmingly in favour of a strong ban on trade in seal products.
"The European Union has made history by ending its trade in seal products," said Rebecca Aldworth, director of Humane Society International/Canada. "This ban spells the beginning of the end of Canada's globally condemned seal slaughter."
The Parliament voted for a strong Regulation that will eliminate the placing of seal products on the EU market, closing a primary market for Canada's commercial seal hunt. The Council and Commission have already agreed to the text, making Tuesday's plenary vote the final step in achieving the regulation. In light of the overwhelming vote in favour of the agreed upon regulation by the Parliament, the regulation will go into effect in 2010.
The EU has been a primary market for the Canadian sealing industry, accounting for about one-third of reported seal skin exports. Globally, the EU accounts for one quarter of the world trade in seal products.
In recent years, eleven countries have banned their trade in seal products or announced their intentions to do so. They join the United States, which prohibited seal product trade in 1972.
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