Canada has taken formal action against the European Union's ban on trade in seal products by requesting WTO consultations, Minister of International Trade Stockwell Day announced Monday.
The EU's regulation to ban the sale of Canadian seal products is a violation of the EU's trade obligations. The Canadian seal hunt is a legitimate economic pursuit, and the EU's decision to ban the importation of seal products is based neither on science nor on facts, Day said in a press
release.
The ban, adopted earlier this year, will come into force in August 2010.
Canada first launched WTO consultations with Belgium and the Netherlands on their seal products bans in July 2007, but those consultations did not resolve the matter because both countries are members of the European Union.
Canada will now seek to resolve the Belgium and Netherlands bans, as well as the EU ban, through its discussions with the European Commission.
Canada is the largest seal product producer in the world. One third of its seal products go to the European Union market.