ARAN and our colleagues from the Fur Free Alliance commended a landmark decision by the European General Court to dismiss a case challenging the 2009 European Union prohibition on trade in products of commercial seal kills. The world's largest commercial sealing interests, together with fur industry lobby groups and a number of Inuit sealing advocates, put forward the case in 2010.

"The overwhelming majority of European Union citizens strongly oppose the trade in products of commercial seal hunts," said Joanna Swabe Ph.D., HSI EU director. "We are glad, though not surprised, that the European General Court has decided to dismiss this spurious court case. It was an attempt to undermine legislation, which was brought about as a result of democratic decision-making. Commercial sealing interests simply need to accept that Europe never will be a market for products of cruelty again."

The dismissed case (T-18/10) was an application to the European Court requesting an annulment of European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 1007/2009, which prohibits the placing on the market of products from commercial seal hunts throughout the European Union. The European Court did not have to reach the merits of the case having found that the applicants were not "directly concerned" by the seals regulation, a key factor in determining whether a legal challenge is admissible. Case T-526/10, a secondary application by the same group, is still before the Court. It requests an annulment of European Parliament and Council Regulation No 737/2010, which outlines how the ban is enforced.

This ruling comes on the heels of the Canadian government challenge of the EU ban at the World Trade Organization, which has been perceived by many in the EU as a baseless attack on European values and democratic processes. In response, a number of Members of the European Parliament have indicated they are less likely to ratify the pending Canada-European Union Economic and Trade Agreement?a deal reportedly worth $12 billion annually to Canada's economy?unless Canada withdraws its WTO challenge.

What are ARAN doing to stop Canada killing baby seals? We continue to be the only Irish animal rights group with a full time campaign to stop Canada killing seals. Through our affiliation with the Fur Free Alliance, along with international campaign support such as organising peaceful protests, celebrity involvement, activist outreach, and lobbying of the Canadian Embassy in Dublin, we have ensured the plight of Canada's seals is placed firmly on the Irish agenda. In 2009 we successfully lobbied the Irish government to back a total ban on the seal product trade in Europe, prior to our lobbying, the Irish government had intentions of only supporting a limited trade ban in seal products. We also launched an effective national Irish boycott of Canadian sea food that garnered the support of top Irish restaurants and hotels. Along with all of the above, hundreds of our Irish supporters continue to inundate the Canadian government with countless letters and emails of outrage. Some pictures included with this posting would of been from just a couple of previous ARAN events in Dublin and are for reference only. Want to get involved in the Irish campaign to stop Canada killing baby seals? Contact ARAN today and we'll be sure to keep you posted of upcoming peaceful protests, events and online actions.