BRUSSELS - A European Parliament committee approved a proposal Monday that would prevent EU countries from importing seal products -- which is seen as a blow to the hunt in Canada.
Members of the parliament's internal market and consumer protection committee's voted 25-7 to endorse a bill that would impose a tight ban on the import of all seal products to the 27-nation bloc.
The bill calls for EU rules "prohibiting the placing on the market and the import to, transit through, or export from" the EU of seal products.
It does, however, grant a "limited" exemption for Inuit communities from Canada and Greenland to continue to trade pelts, oils or meat derived from their seal hunts "for cultural, educational, or ceremonial purposes."
The lawmakers endorsed a plan that branded the hunting of seals, notably in Canada as "inherently inhumane," and called on the EU to answer public demands for a ban on what many animal rights groups have called a senseless slaughter.
To become law, the bill will still need the approval of the entire EU assembly and EU governments, which could come as soon as April.
Nordic EU countries such as Denmark, Sweden and Finland have opposed such a ban, and legal experts say it could violate world trade rules.
Canada and Greenland have warned the EU that they could challenge such a ban before the World Trade Organization.
Monday's vote marked the latest step in a drawn out emotional battle that has divided lawmakers at the EU assembly over how to balance animal rights with the rights of hunters.
The lawmakers also faced heavy lobbying in recent months from both animal rights groups and authorities from Canada and Greenland. Curbing the hunt of seals in Canada has been the focus of the bill because of the size of its annual cull and the way seals are killed.
Canada's seal hunt is the largest of its kind in the world, with an average annual kill of about 300,000 harp seals.
Seals are also hunted in Namibia, Sweden, Finland and Russia.
Mark Glover, director of Humane Society International, welcomed Monday's vote.
"It's a major step what people have been working for decades," he said. "They (Canada) should see the writing on the wall and stop the hunt."
British lawmaker Diana Wallis, who is drafting the EU assembly bill, had recommended tough labelling rules -- instead of a ban -- as the way to ensure sealing countries adhere to EU animal welfare rules. But lawmakers in her committee rejected her compromise and opted for a tight ban.
She warned such a ban could lead to legal problems under world trade rules.
"My fear is that a ban will just leave the European public still seeing the same pictures on their TV screens of the Canadian seal cull next year as they see this year," Wallis said after the vote.
The EU has banned the import of white pelts from baby seals since 1983.
Several European Union nations, such as the Netherlands and Belgium, also have their own bans on all seal products. The United States has banned Canadian seal products since 1972.
