Reuters reports that Canada is requesting a panel in the Seal Products WTO case (DS400):
Canada asked the World Trade Organization on Friday to set up a panel to resolve its dispute with the European Union over the EU's ban on trade in seal products, Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said.
The European Union closed its borders to seal products last year, when an EU court allowed the ban to proceed even though a Canadian legal challenge was still in progress.
"By moving ahead with this World Trade Organization challenge, we stand behind the thousands of Canadians in coastal and northern communities who depend on the seal harvest to provide a livelihood for their families," Shea said.
...
Shea said the panel would help take the emotion out of a ban that she said had "no basis in fact or in science." Animals rights activists said the harvest, which involves shooting or clubbing the animals to death, is inhumane.
A while back, I looked briefly at the possible legal issues in the case in an ASIL Insight here. Quickly glancing at the piece again, I think everything there still applies. However, with all that is going on with non-discrimination issues and the TBT Agreement in U.S. - Tuna II (DS381) (DSC subscribers see here and here), U.S. - Clove Cigarettes (DS406) (see here and here) and a couple other cases, I'm not sure I would know how to argue the Seal Products case right now! It might be worth waiting to see what the panels and the Appellate Body say first about those cases before getting too deep into the substance of the Seal Products case.
