CELEX: 51989PC0112
Language: en
Date: 1989-03-17
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL DIRECTIVE amending Directive 83/129/EEC concerning the importation into Member States of skins of certain seal pups and products derived therefrom (presented by the Commission)

ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
DE LA COMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEE DES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM (89) 112
Vol. 1989/0033
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 ---pagebreak--- COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                         COM(89 ) 112 final
                                         Brussels , 17 March 1989
                                Proposai for a
                              COUNCIL DIRECTIVE
      amending Directive 83 / 129 / EEC concerning the importation into
               Member States of skins of certain seal pups
                      and products derived therefrom
                       ( presented by the Commission )
 ---pagebreak---                                                                             yf't l
                               EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
Subject :    Proposal for a Council Directive amending Counci .    'rective
             83 / 129 /EEC concerning the importation into Member Siac.s of
             skins of certain seal pups and products derived therefrom
1 . Historv
1.1 . Council Directive 83 / 129/EEC ^ provides that Member States shall
       take or maintain all necessary measures to prevent the commercial
       importation into their territories of the skins and products of
       whitecoat pups of Harp seals and of blueback pups of Hooded seals .
       It does not apply to products resulting from the traditional seal
       hunt by Inuit people .
1.2 . The Directive initially applied from 1 October 1983 to 1 October1985
       Article 2 of the Directive provided that :
            This Directive shall apply from 1 October 1983 to 1 October
            1985 , unless the Council decides otherwise , by a decision taken
            by qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission , having
            regard to a report to be presented to the Council by the
            Commission before September 1983 .
1.3 .  The Commission submitted the report concerned to the Council on
       23 August 1983 2 . It did not propose to modify the period of
       application but proposed that the Directive be applied for the
       envisaged period and that the situation be reconsidered by September
       1985 , thereby postponing a decision on the period of application
       beyond 1 October 1985 to a later date .
       The Council approved the proposai concerned .
        OJ L 91 of 9.4.1983 , p. 30
        Doc . COM ( 83 ) 463
                                                                                   l
 ---pagebreak---                                             2
1.4 .   On 14 June 1985 , the Commission presented a proposal to the
        Council ^ to amend Article 2 of Directive 83 / 129 /EEC . It was
        proposed to replace the text of Article 2 , see point 1.2 . above , by
        " This Directive shall apply from 1 October 1983 " and the proposal
        thus implied an indefinite extension of the Directive beyond
        1 October 1985 .
        The Commission based its proposal on Article 2 of the Directive .     A
        decision by the Council on it was therefore to be taken by qualified
        majority .
1.5 .   Although the Commission proposal could have been adopted by a
        qualified majority on a much earlier date , the Council 's consensus
        approach resulted in a decision to extend the Directive until
        1 October 1989
1.6 .   It was further agreed that it would be necessary to review the
        situation on the basis of a report that the Commission would submit
        to the Council by 1 October 1987 at the latest , together with , where
        necessary , appropriate proposals , it being understood that this
        report would concern itself in particular with , on the one hand , the
        developments in scientific data on the conservation and the
        population status of harp and hooded seals and , on the other hand ,
        the development of the market in seal skins derived from the Inuit 's
        traditional hunting and of the market in other sealskins which are
        also excluded from the scope of the Directive .
1.7 . The Commission submitted the report concerned 5 to the Council on
        24 March 1988 together with the study results on each of the above
        issues .
          Doc . COM ( 85 ) 246
          Council Directive N° 85 / 444 / EEC , OJ L 259 of 1.10.1985 , p. 70
      5
          Doc . COM ( 88 ) 147
 ---pagebreak--- Major conclusions were :
Conservation status : - Northwest Atlantic ( Canadian - Wes-k.
                         Greenland ) harp seal populations are
                         possibly increasing under current reduced
                         catches , but available evidence , is not yet
                         conclusive .
                      - The status of the Jan Mayen ( Norwegian )
                         population of harp seals is still unclear .
                      - The White Sea ( East Ice , USSR ) harp seal
                         population is stable or possibily
                         decreasing .
                      - Hooded seal populations in Canadian waters are possibly increasing .
                      - Jan Mayen hooded seal stock cannot be
                         objectively estimated because of a lack of
                         data .
Market situation  :   - There has been a modest upturn in demand for
                         certain products derived from skins of seals
                         not covered by the Directive , a recovery
                         that was helped by the fact that the
                         Directive stopped anti-sealing propaganda .
                       - It was clearly established that the
                         Directive as such had no negative effects on
                         markets for sealskins not affected by it .
 ---pagebreak---                                          4
2.    Developments in Canada and Norwav
2.1 .   Canada
2.1.1 . As indicated in point 8.2 . of the Commission 's March 1988 report ,
         the Canadian government , on 30 December 1987 , announced the
         implementation of a number of recommendations made by the Royal
         Commission on Seals and the Sealing Industry in Canada .   The
         Canadian government would no longer permit the large vessel
         offshore seal hunt in Canadian waters and all commercial hunting of
         white coats and bluebacks would be ended .   Only the annual harvest
         of older seals by Inuit and other coastal people would continue and
         new seal protection regulations would ensure that this harvest was
         conducted as humanely as possible and in accordance with the
         principles of the World Conservation Strategy .
2.1.2 . In view of the above , it is the Commission 's opinion that the
         Community import prohibition on the sealskins concerned complements
         the Canadian measures in that it forms an additional means of
         controlling their implementation .   This situation is in fact
         comparable to the wildlife trade regulations on which the
         Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
         Fauna and Flora is based .
2.2 . Norway
2.2.1 . As indicated in point 8.3 . of the March 1988 Commission report ,
         recent quotas and actual catches of both harp and hooded seals in
         Norwegian waters ( Jan Mayen ) reached pre-Directive levels in spite
         of the uncertainties still surrounding the conservation status of
         these species .
 ---pagebreak---                                         5
2.2.2 . Point 3.5 . of the Commission report concerned addresse .      issue
       . of invasions of harp seate into Norwegian Coastal waters .  In 1987
         between 60,000 and 100,000 harp seals drowned in nets and in 1988
         between 21,500 and double that amount .   The Commission remains of
         the opinion that these invasions are not in any way linked to
         reduced catches and increased populations as a result of the
         Community import ban - this was confirmed by Norwegian scientists
         in a consultation meeting with the Commission on 21 October 1988 -
         but rather to depleted fish stocks in the Barents Sea , the feeding
         area of the East Ice stock , which is not affected by the Directive
         and where the hunt remains unchanged .
         The Commission further supports the view expressed by a number of
         scientists that the fact that tens of thousands of harp seals drown
         in nets annually should lead to a reduction in the hunt rather than
         to an increase .
2.2.3 . In June 1988 , at a high level meeting between the Commission and
         Norway , the Norwegian side reiterated its view that the Directive
         cannot be justified by any reference to scientific data and that it
         was in violation of the Free Trade Agreement .
         The Commission referred to the lack of data on Norwegian seal
         stocks and referred to Article 20 of the FTA .
2.2.4 . At the 21 October 1988 meeting with a Norwegian delegation ,
         Norwegian scientists indicated that recently revised estimates
         showed a certain reduction in production and stock size over the
         last couple of years in both Jan Mayen and White Sea harp seals ,
         but an increasing or stable stock of Jan Mayen hooded seals .
 ---pagebreak---                                        6
        The Commission considers this information on harp seal stocks to be
        in support of its opinion that a combination of accidental seal
        deaths and an increased hunt are incompatible with conservation .
        The Norwegian claim with regard to the hooded seal population of
        Jan Mayen is not supported by scientific evidence , also see point
        4.2 . of the Commission's March 1988 report .
2.2.5 . Norwegian representatives announced that , in an effort to optimize
        the management of all marine resources , Norway is now intensifying
        seal research .  A multi-species research and management programme
        will be carried out between 1989 and 1994 in which priority will be
        given to research designed to identify more closely the species
        composition of seal predation and seal stock assessments .
        It was requested that this be taken into account in a Commission
        proposal for an extension of the Directive and the Commission
        responded that any developments resulting from these and other
        research programmes would of course form an important element in
        determining the Community 's future policy on the issue .  The
        Commission would therefore regularly report to the Council on the
        implementation of the Directive .
3.  European Parliament
    A record number of 324 Members of European Parliament signed a written
    déclaration calling on the Commission to propose an indefinite
    extension of the Directive .   This official opinion of European
    Parliament is identical to that expressed on 15 March 1985 .
 ---pagebreak---                                            7
The declaration also refers to the fact that the prolongation ■          the
Directive sine die would allow anti-sealing protests to subside a ..<^ permit
the recovery of the traditional Inuit markets for seal pelts .
4.    The Commission proposai
4.1 .   On the basis of the information contained i n the Communication from
        the Commission of 24 March 1988 ( doc . COM(88)147 ) and the additional
        information contained in this Memorandum , the Commission proposes
        that Directive 83 / 129 / EEC be extended sine die , a proposal it also
        made in 1985 ( see point 1.4 . above ).
4.2 .   The proposai is based on Article 2 of Directive 83 / 129 / EEC .
4.3 .   The current Directive expires on 1 October 1989 .      The Commission ,
        however , given the existing upturn in demand for Inuit produced
        sealskins and the negative effect that any publicity around the
        issue would have ( see points 1.7 . and 3 ), considers it to be of
        utmost importance that a decision on its indefinite extension be
        taken as soon as possible .
                                        *     *
         The Commission proposes that the Council adopt the attached proposai
         for a Council Directive
 ---pagebreak---                                         Proposai for a
                                      COUNCIL DIRECTIVE
                                          amending
       Directive 83 / 129 / EEC concerning the importation into Member states
            of skins of certain seal pups and products derived therefrom
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community ,
Having regard to Council Directive 83/ 129/ EEC of 28 March 1983 concerning the importation into Member
                                                                    1                                     2
States of skins of certain seal ptps and products derived therefrom , as amended by Directive 85 /444/ EEC ,
and in particular Article 2 thereof.
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ,
Whereas Directive 83/ 129/ EEC    provides that Member States shall take or
maintain all necessary measures to ensure that the products listed in the
Annex thereto are not commercially imported into their territories ;
Whereas Directive 83 / 129 / EEC expires on 1 October 1989 ;
Whereas the European Parliament has adopted a written Declaration calling
for an indefinite extension of Directive 83 / 129 / EEC ;
Whereas the negative consequences to be expected from expiry of Directive
83 / 129 / EEC should , in the interest of all parties concerned , be avoided ;
Whereas an extension of Directive 83 / 129 / EEC is a useful complementary
measure to the measure of the Canadian government to end all commercial
hunting of whitecoats and bluebacks ;
           OJ L 91 /     9.04.1983 , p. 30
      2
           OJ L 259      1.10.1985 , p. 70
 ---pagebreak---                                                2
Whereas there are increasing doubts with regard to the effec
non-traditional hunting on the conservation of harp seals in the East
Atlantic , the Barents Sea and the White Sea , where they are in addition to
 the hunt also affected by the depletion of prey fish species and entanglements
 in nets along the Norwegian coast ;
Whereas the Commission sctmitted a report to the Council on 26 August  Tollowed
 by a supplementary report on 14 June 1985 ;
Whereas the Commission submitted a further report to the Council on 24
March 1988 ;
 Whereas Directive 83 / 129 / EEC should be amended so that it remains
 applicable sine die ,
 HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE :
                                          Article 1
 Article 2 of Directive 83 / 129 / EEC is hereby replaced by the following :
                                          "Article 2
                  This Directive shall apply from 1 October 1983 .
                                          Article 2
 This Directive is addressed to the Member States .
 Done at Brussels                                      For the Council