EU seal pelt ban upheld

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)
LUXEMBOURG–European Court of Justice Judge Marc Jaeger on
October 28, 2010 rejected an appeal against the European Union ban
on the import of seal products, clearing the way for full
enforcement–at least pending the outcome of Canadian and Norwegian
government appeals to the World Trade Association.
The appeal was brought by Inuit sealer Tapirilt Kanatami and
15 co-plaintiffs, including the Canadian Seal Marketing Group, the
Fur Institute of Canada, NuTan Furs, the Inuit Circumpolar
Conference Greenland, and GC Reiber Skinn AS of Norway. Adopted in
July 2009, the EU ban on imports of seal products included an
exemption for seal pelts hunted and sold by Inuit. The appeal
contended that Inuit seal pelt sales would suffer as result of the
ban, despite the exemption. Justice Jaeger ruled that the
plaintiffs lacked evidence to document this claim.
The European Union ban officially took effect on August 20,
2010, but the European Court of Justice on August 19 stayed
enforcement against the plaintiffs.
The Inuit kill about 10,000 adult seals per year. The
Atlantic Canada commercial hunt kills about 325,000 juvenile seals
per year.