{"id":1452,"date":"2009-03-27T14:38:34","date_gmt":"2009-03-27T18:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inuitcircumpolar.com\/?p=1452"},"modified":"2026-02-09T14:56:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:56:40","slug":"european-union-knows-proposed-seal-ban-would-be-unlawful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inuitcircumpolar.com\/staging\/press-releases\/european-union-knows-proposed-seal-ban-would-be-unlawful\/","title":{"rendered":"European Union Knows Proposed Seal Ban Would Be Unlawful"},"content":{"rendered":"
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\nOttawa, Ontario - March 27, 2009 - Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) and the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC Canada) today revealed that the Council of the European Union (EU) has been told by its own legal advisors that a proposed EU-wide ban on seal product imports would contravene both the EU\u2019s own Charter and the EU\u2019s obligations under the World Trade Organization (WTO).\r\n\r\nThe conclusions of the advice given to the Council of the EU by its legal advisors are annexed to this press release.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe are not surprised to learn of this legal advice,\u201d said national Inuit leader Mary Simon, President of ITK, \u201cand we note that it has been given in very clear and categorical terms.\u201d\r\n\r\nPresident Simon added, \u201cInuit know that the European Union was founded out of the tragedy and chaos of World War II to create a new and peaceful Europe anchored firmly in cooperation among neighbors and respect for the rule of law. We have great respect for the project of a united Europe and we are confident that the EU and its peoples will be anxious to ensure that both the EU itself, and all its member countries, conduct themselves in full conformity with both EU and international law.\u201d\r\n\r\nDuane Smith, President of ICC (Canada), said: \u201cThe Canadian Government is now equipped with compelling evidence that the EU knows that it cannot just unilaterally impose a ban on the trade of seal products. We expect that the federal government will do whatever is needed under international trade law and other avenues to insist that the EU and its members respect their international commitments.\u201d Smith underlined that it was revealing that the legal opinions offered the EU could find no valid conservation arguments for a ban in seal products trade.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\nFor more information contact:\r\n\r\nStephen Hendrie\r\nDirector of Communications Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami\r\n\r\nCell: 613-277-3178 Email: Hendrie@itk.ca\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\nCarole Simon\r\nExecutive Assistant\r\nInuit Circumpolar Council Canada\r\n\r\nPhone: 613-563-2642\r\nEmail: csimon@inuitcircumpolar.com\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\"page1image3202680176\"\"page1image3202680496\"\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\nANNEX\r\nLegal Opinion Conclusions to the Council of the European Union\r\nOn the Proposed EU-Wide Seal Ban Regulation\r\n\r\nEC Treaty Conclusions:\r\nIn conclusion, the Legal Service is of the view that:\r\n\r\nArticle 95 EC could, in principle, be the legal basis for banning the placing on the market of seal products in the Community if the aim and effect would be to improve the functioning of the internal market for a category of products wider than those concerned by the ban; since no mention of any such effect can be found in the proposal or the accompanying documents, Article 95 EC cannot be the legal basis of the proposal as currently drafted; Neither Article 175 EC, nor Article 37 EC, nor any other Article of the EC Treaty could be used as a legal basis for the adoption of the proposal.\r\n\r\nTechnical Barriers to Trade Agreement and GATT ConclusionsIn conclusion, the Legal Service is of the view that:\r\n\r\na) Either a regulation establishing a prohibition with the possibility to obtain derogation, or a regulation imposing an almost total ban on trade in seal products:\r\n
    \r\n \t
  • would, if it contained exceptions, fall under the TBT Agreement and infringe Article 2.1 thereof;<\/li>\r\n \t
  • would infringe Article I GATT if it contained an exemption for seal products from Inuit hunting;<\/li>\r\n \t
  • would infringe Article III:4 and\/or Article XI: 1 GATT if it imposed an import ban, with or without the possibility to request a derogation;b) In theory, one could consider the possibility of relying on the exception contained in Article XX (a) regarding the protection of \u201cpublic morals\u201d of GATT 1994 to try and justify an infringement of the abovementioned GATT 1994 Articles. However, insofar as the regulation prohibits imports of some or all seal products to the Community\u2019s internal market, the proposal would arguably not pass the necessity test required under that Article.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-40","category-press-releases"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inuitcircumpolar.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inuitcircumpolar.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inuitcircumpolar.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inuitcircumpolar.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inuitcircumpolar.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.inuitcircumpolar.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":987515308,"href":"https:\/\/www.inuitcircumpolar.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452\/revisions\/987515308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inuitcircumpolar.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inuitcircumpolar.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inuitcircumpolar.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}