On 25 November 2013, the WTO issued the panel reports in the dispute “European Communities — Measures prohibiting the importation and marketing of seal products”
This dispute concerns regulations of the European Union (“EU Seal Regime”) that generally prohibit the import and placing on the market of seal products. The EU Seal Regime provides for various exceptions to the prohibition if certain conditions are met, including for seal products derived from hunts conducted by Inuit or indigenous communities (IC exception) and hunts conducted for marine resource management purposes (MRM exception).
The panel determined that the EU Seal Regime is a technical regulation and that the IC exception and the MRM exception under the EU Seal Regime violate Article 2.1 of the TBT Agreement because: (1) these exceptions accord imported seal products treatment less favourable than that accorded to like domestic and other foreign products; and (2) such less favourable treatment does not stem exclusively from legitimate regulatory distinctions. The panel found however that the EU Seal Regime does not violate Article 2.2 of the TBT Agreement because it fulfils the objective of addressing EU public moral concerns on seal welfare to a certain extent, and no alternative measure was demonstrated to make an equivalent or greater contribution to the fulfilment of the objective.
See full Press Release: http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news13_e/400_401r_e.htm
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