Canada, Norway launch complaint against seal ban

Canada and Norway launched their formal battle this week against the ban on seal products in the European Union, by making official complaints to the World Trade Organization, the group which sets the rules for world trade.

First, Canada, on Nov. 2, and then Norway, on Nov. 5, requested WTO dispute settlement consultations, the first step in the complaints process.

The two nations say the European Parliament decision to impose an import ban on seal products breaks WTO rules.

The ban, which will come into effect Aug. 20, 2010, offers an exemption to furs hunted traditionally by Inuit from Canada and Greenland, but bars them from large-scale commerce in skins, oils or meat in the 27 EU member nations

“In our view, the EU decision is contrary to WTO rules on a number of key points. We will not let this go uncontested. We have therefore requested formal WTO dispute settlement consultations today,” said Jonas Gahr Støre, the foreign minister of Norway, which is not an EU member.

Federal trade minister Stockwell Day said the ban, affecting around $5.6 million of business, violated the EU’s trade obligations.

Canada’s complaint was filed after the ban was published on Oct. 31 as a regulation, that is, a legislative act, in the Official Journal of the European Union.

“Canada is standing up for its sealers,” Day said in a statement. “The EU has adopted a regulation that bans the sale of Canadian seal products. We believe that this 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.”

The consultations which Canada and Norway have requested will see whether a mutually agreed solution to a trade dispute is possible.

If the parties to the dispute fail to agree, the complaining party may request the establishment of a WTO panel to act as a kind of arbitration body.

According to WTO rules, consultations must be entered into no later than 30 days after the receipt of consultations request, unless otherwise agreed by the parties.

“If this ban goes through as it is, then what will result is a market destroyed for all interests, including our highly sensitive economies in the Arctic communities,” Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Mary Simon has said.

Nunavut’s seal hunt results in “substantial benefits” to the territory’s economy, determined the Government of Nunavut’s 2004 sealing strategy. This strategy said the industry is worth $800,000 to hunters, artisans and sewers and replacing the value of the seal meat would cost $5 million.

And speaking in the Senate Nov. 5, Nunavut Senator Dennis Patterson, who was wearing a seal skin vest, said “the seal is a traditional and valued resource for the Inuit of Nunavut, which has helped them survive for tens of thousands of years. It is unfortunate that people do not provide the same respect for Inuit who eat seal as they do for Europeans who eat veal and pâté.”