Council of the European Union Adopts Seal Ban

Monday, July 27, 2009

The Council voted overwhelmingly in favour of the ban - 314 votes for and 31 abstentions.  The abstentions were from Denmark, Austria & Romania.

This new Act will come into force 20 days after its publication in the official jounal of the EU.  The harmonised rules will come into effect 9 months later, giving the Commission and the member states time to put in place the necessary implementing measures.

This vote was originally scheduled for September.  Right up until yesterday the Canadian government was still making veiled threats of a WTO challenge in last ditch attempt to derail this Act without realising that it was already too late to make any difference.  Whether they will actually make any challenge remains to be seen.

Back