Bans on Seal Products

For more than four decades, opposition to commercial seal hunting has gained momentum around the world, and governments are increasingly taking action to end the trade in seal products.

In 1972, the United States banned its trade in marine mammal products, including seal products. In 1983, the European Union passed a ban on the trade in products from newborn harp seals and hooded seal pups.

In the wake of the EU ban, the Canadian seal hunt—the largest slaughter of marine mammals on earth—came to a virtual standstill. However, in the mid-1990s, the Canadian government invested massive subsidies in the sealing industry, allowing the seal pups to be killed when they were a few days older. Today, products from the Canadian commercial seal hunt and smaller commercial seal hunts in other countries may legally be traded in Europe.

In response, several European nations have initiated national bans of seal products, regardless of the age of the seal when killed. In 2006, the Council of Europe—Europe's oldest political body—passed a recommendation urging its 47 member states to promote initiatives aimed at prohibiting the trade in seal products.

In September 2006, a record 425 members of the European Parliament—the directly elected parliamentary body of the EU—signed a historic declaration calling upon the European Commission to immediately introduce legislation to prohibit the trade in seal products. The EC then undertook a study of the humane aspects of seal hunting, the results of which could provide the foundation to ban all seal products within the EU.

Its study completed, the EC then held a public consultation to measure international opinion on an EU-wide ban on the trade in seal products. The response was overwhelmingly in favour of a ban. Based on the results of the study and the consultation, the Commission put forward a proposal to ban seal product trade in the European Union. The proposal will now go to the European Parliament, after which it may become law.

Please sign our petition to show your support for a total ban on seal product trade in the European Union. We all need to speak up for the seals. 

Current International Actions against the Seal Trade

Countries that have prohibited the trade in seal products through legislation

• United States
• Belgium
• Netherlands
• Mexico
• Slovenia
• Croatia

Countries that have suspended the trade in seal products through licensing programs

• Italy
• Luxembourg

Countries whose parliaments have resolved to ban the trade in seal products

• Panama
• Germany
• Austria

Countries that have announced their intention to ban the trade in seal products

• France
• Italy

Countries that have announced they will press for an EU ban on the trade of seal products

• Germany
• UK
• Netherlands
• Italy

Political bodies that have called on governments to ban the trade in seal products

• Council of Europe
• European Parliament

Countries that have prohibited the commercial hunting of seals

• United States
• South Africa

Note: In 2000, a bill to ban seal hunting in Russia was passed by the Russian parliament by 273 votes to 1, but it was subsequently vetoed by President Vladimir Putin.

Countries that have called on the Canadian government to end the commercial seal hunt

• Mexico
• United States

Note: In 2006, the Council of Europe passed a resolution calling on nations including Canada to "ban all cruel hunting methods" used in commercial seal hunts and calling on its 46 member states to promote initiatives banning the trade in seal products.