The European Parliament voted Tuesday to endorse an EU ban on products derived from seals in protest at hunting methods despite threats from Canada to complain to the World Trade Organisation.
The move, backed by much of the European public and animal rights groups, was approved by 550 votes to 49 against at the parliament in Strasbourg. The ban will enter force for the next commercial seal hunt season in 2010.
The decision to reject products derived from seal hunting, especially pelts, comes on the eve of a visit to Prague by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to launch free trade talks with the European Union.
The Canadian government maintains that the 350-year-old hunt is crucial for some 6000 North Atlantic fishermen who rely on it for up to 35 percent of their total annual income.
Ottawa authorized the slaughter of 338000 seals this year, insisting the hunt does not threaten the species. But a slump in pelt prices has meant fewer hunters on ice floes off Canada's Atlantic coast.
Canada hopes that requiring training for sealers on how to humanely slaughter seals, legislating standards for seal products and taking measures to safeguard the species will silence critics of the hunt.
The EU is Canada's second-largest trading partner. Their trade relations are worth around 25 billion euros (33 billion dollars) annually, with the seal trade accounting for around 4.2 million euros.
"After many years of campaigning by European citizens I welcome the regulation which bans seal products from entering or being traded in the European Union," EU Environment Stavros Dimas said in a statement.
"By upholding the highest standards the new legislation addresses EU citizens' concerns with regard to the cruel hunting methods of seals," he said.
The commission said the new measure, already endorsed by EU nations and the bloc's executive body, would eliminate disparate national rules and consolidate the fragmented European market in seal products.
But it underlined it would allow trade in seal products derived from hunts traditionally conducted by Inuit and other indigenous communities and which contribute to their subsistence.
Nine EU countries -- Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Slovenia -- have already banned or announced their intention to ban products from the commercial hunt.
The EU ban -- on pelts, used for making bags, hats and gloves, and meat, oil, organs and fat -- adds to those announced by the United States and Mexico, two of Canada's main trading partners.
It does not hit traditional hunters or hunting conducted on a small scale and controlled under national legislation -- notably in Britain, Finland and Sweden -- in an effort to protect fish stocks hit by seals.
Animal rights groups hailed the vote as a "historic victory".
"The European Union has acted on behalf of its citizens, and its decision will save millions of seals from a horrible fate," said Mark Glover, director of Humane Society International.
"The parliament has hammered the final nail in the coffin of the sealing industry's market in the EU," said Lesley O'Donnell, from the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
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The move, backed by much of the European public and animal rights groups, was approved by 550 votes to 49 against at the parliament in Strasbourg. The ban will enter force for the next commercial seal hunt season in 2010.
The decision to reject products derived from seal hunting, especially pelts, comes on the eve of a visit to Prague by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to launch free trade talks with the European Union.
The Canadian government maintains that the 350-year-old hunt is crucial for some 6000 North Atlantic fishermen who rely on it for up to 35 percent of their total annual income.
Ottawa authorized the slaughter of 338000 seals this year, insisting the hunt does not threaten the species. But a slump in pelt prices has meant fewer hunters on ice floes off Canada's Atlantic coast.
Canada hopes that requiring training for sealers on how to humanely slaughter seals, legislating standards for seal products and taking measures to safeguard the species will silence critics of the hunt.
The EU is Canada's second-largest trading partner. Their trade relations are worth around 25 billion euros (33 billion dollars) annually, with the seal trade accounting for around 4.2 million euros.
"After many years of campaigning by European citizens I welcome the regulation which bans seal products from entering or being traded in the European Union," EU Environment Stavros Dimas said in a statement.
"By upholding the highest standards the new legislation addresses EU citizens' concerns with regard to the cruel hunting methods of seals," he said.
The commission said the new measure, already endorsed by EU nations and the bloc's executive body, would eliminate disparate national rules and consolidate the fragmented European market in seal products.
But it underlined it would allow trade in seal products derived from hunts traditionally conducted by Inuit and other indigenous communities and which contribute to their subsistence.
Nine EU countries -- Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Slovenia -- have already banned or announced their intention to ban products from the commercial hunt.
The EU ban -- on pelts, used for making bags, hats and gloves, and meat, oil, organs and fat -- adds to those announced by the United States and Mexico, two of Canada's main trading partners.
It does not hit traditional hunters or hunting conducted on a small scale and controlled under national legislation -- notably in Britain, Finland and Sweden -- in an effort to protect fish stocks hit by seals.
Animal rights groups hailed the vote as a "historic victory".
"The European Union has acted on behalf of its citizens, and its decision will save millions of seals from a horrible fate," said Mark Glover, director of Humane Society International.
"The parliament has hammered the final nail in the coffin of the sealing industry's market in the EU," said Lesley O'Donnell, from the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
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