Russia's participation as a third party in the seal products dispute between Canada and the EU will be an early opportunity to see how it approaches WTO litigation. As I have noted in previous posts, Russia has banned imports of seal fur and its market is understood to be of much greater importance to the Canadian industry than that of the EU.
In other developments, the parties have (apparently) agreed to public hearings--my guess is that the first sometime from late Jan to late Feb. Canada is said to have filed its first submission, but true to its inability to kick the cloak and dagger habit has not made the submission public and perhaps will not do so until after the first hearing. The EU submission is due around Christmas-they are supposed to make it public when filed-we'll see.
In the last few months, new scientific research has come out that strongly supports the EU position that a humane seal hunt in Canada is not a realistic possibility.
It is perhaps time to start thinking about amicus briefs. I am definitely in and very open to working with others.
