WTO backs EU in seal ban battle with Canada and Norway

Google – AFP, 25 November 2013

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) activists stage a demonstration

 against the seal hunting in front of the World Trade Organization (WTO) headquaters

on February 18, 2013 in Geneva (AFP, Fabrice Coffrini)

Geneva — The WTO on Monday ruled in favour of the European Union in its bitter battle with Canada and Norway over its ban on the import and sale of seal products.

In a statement, the Geneva-based World Trade Organization said its disputes panel recognised grounds for complaint because the EU did not grant seal product traders a level playing field.

But it said they were outweighed by the fact that the ban "fulfils the objective of addressing EU public moral concerns on seal welfare to a certain extent," and that no alternatives existed on that front.

The EU was hauled before the WTO's dispute settlement body by Ottawa and Oslo after imposing a ban in 2010 due to what it called inhumane hunting methods.

Brussels argued that the scientific evidence stacked up in favour of its claims that slaughter methods -- such as using a hakapik, a club with a metal spike on it, to stun seals before killing them -- were cruel.

It also underlined that the EU public was overwhelmingly in favour of the ban.

Canada and Norway insisted their seal-hunting methods were ethical, providing counter-arguments from scientists, and saying they are no worse than those used in commercial deer-hunting which is widespread in the EU.

They also called the ban trade discrimination because seal products from EU members Sweden and Finland enjoyed unimpeded market access within the bloc. The EU rejected that argument.

The WTO's 159 member economies set the rules for their mutual trade, and can bring disputes to Geneva in the hope that it will order rivals to fall into line.

Canada and Norway kill tens of thousands of seals per year, and say hunting is an age-old method allowing Atlantic fishing communities to earn an income, as well as to manage fish stocks and thereby the environment.

In its WTO complaint, Canada argued that it had introduced more humane hunting methods and taken steps to limited the number of seals that fishing boats can hunt per day.

Animal rights groups, however, say seal hunting is a barbaric ritual and have waged a robust campaign in recent years to stop it.

The Brigitte Bardot Foundation, set up by the French film star turned animal rights campaigner, hailed the ruling.

"The WTO has taken an historic decision by recognising that animal welfare is a moral public concern that can justify trade restrictions," it said in a statement.

Canada's indigenous Inuits, who have traditionally hunted seal for centuries, are exempt from the ban.

Canada and Norway have the right to appeal against the ruling.