Earlier this week, EU agriculture ministers discussed a proposal adopted by the European Commission last November for a regulation of the European Parliament and the Council banning the placing on the market and the import or export from the community of cat and dog fur and products containing such fur.
The proposal comes out of pressure exerted by the European Parliament and the member states which on numerous occasions called on the Commission to undertake an initiative to ban the trade of cat and dog fur or products containing such fur in the community.
In December 2003, the European Parliament secured enough signatures to make its written declaration its official position to pressure the European Commission to address the cat and fur trade. The Council of Agriculture Ministers, in November 2003 and again in May 2005, requested, by a vast majority, for an initiative at community level to stop the trade in cat and dog fur and fur products. The ministers argued that notwithstanding that 15 of the 27 EU member states have legislation in place to the effect of restricting the production of cat and dog fur or the trade in products containing fur, a ban at community level would be more effective.
At first the European Commission was hesitant to take the initiative, arguing that it does not have the authority to pass a comprehensive ban on cruel trade or to legislate on the basis of ethical concerns. However, given that some member states have adopted legislative instruments implies that traders are faced with different legal requirements in the different member states they wish to trade in, import from or export to and as a consequence, the internal market for fur may be fragmented.
In this sense, the Commission is obliged to adopt measures aimed at preventing obstacles that may affect the functioning of the internal market and hence the scope of this regulation arises from the need to harmonise the different prohibitions and restrictions applicable in different member states and to adopt a uniform EU ban on marketing and trading in cat and dog fur while setting out a clear-cut legal situation. Indirectly though, it addresses the concerns expressed by EU consumers on fur from animals kept and slaughtered inhumanely.
On adopting the proposal, the European Commission said that there is evidence that cat and dog fur and products containing such fur are entering the EU and traded within it undeclared as such. Evidence also suggested that these products originate mostly from third countries – above all from China – given that there is no tradition of rearing cats and dogs for fur production purposes in the EU member states. Many campaigners estimate that over two million cats and dogs are being killed in China by fur traders each year.
It is interesting to note that around 12 to 15 dogs are needed to make a dog fur coat while up to 24 cats are needed for a cat fur coat. Cat and dog fur is also used in hats, gloves, shoes, blankets, stuffed animals and toys.
European consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about the possibility that they buy fur or fur products made from cats and dogs and this is not acceptable on the ethical reasoning that both animals are considered as companions.
The proposed regulation thus, apart from blocking cat and dog fur importers at the border and introducing penalties for traders, enforces the setting up of detection methods that can differentiate between cat and dog fur even when the fur is treated or dyed and obliges member states to regularly exchange information on detection methods. Several member states are already employing effective detection systems through mass spectrometry and DNA testing. For instance, a study commissioned by Dutch animal protection organisation Bont voor Dieren in 2002, found canine DNA in five out of 93 fur items studied including toys and clothing.
The proposed ban however, is not as entire in its nature as it might appear, since it leaves a number of exemptions, which some member states feel may remove all substance from the measure. The ban is only applicable to fur from cats and dogs bred specifically for fur production and EU customs officers thus would not be able, legally, to stop fur dogs bred in China for human consumption from entering the Community, for instance. Despite the objections of many of the member states to this escape route, the European Commission seems determined to retain the exemption.
The proposal – which will now be considered by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers for adoption by the co-decision procedure in order to become law – is also very much in line with the Commission’s objective of protecting animal welfare as outlined in its Animal Welfare Action Plan which was adopted in early 2006 and in which it reiterated its commitment to promote animal welfare internationally as well as in the EU.
A total ban for cat and dog fur in the EU will undoubtedly help attain this ambition.
More information is available from Forum Malta fl-Ewropa, tel.: 2590-9101 or email: [email protected]
Ronald Mizzi is a research analyst at Forum Malta fl-Ewropa
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