EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 2004 2009 Session document A6-0118/2009 5.3.2009 ***I REPORT on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning trade in seals products (COM(2008)0469 – C6-0295/2008 – 2008/0160(COD)) Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Rapporteur: Diana Wallis RR\418166EN.doc PE418.166v02-00 EN EN PR_COD_1am Symbols for procedures * Consultation procedure majority of the votes cast **I Cooperation procedure (first reading) majority of the votes cast **II Cooperation procedure (second reading) majority of the votes cast, to approve the common position majority of Parliament’s component Members, to reject or amend the common position *** Assent procedure majority of Parliament’s component Members except in cases covered by Articles 105, 107, 161 and 300 of the EC Treaty and Article 7 of the EU Treaty ***I Codecision procedure (first reading) majority of the votes cast ***II Codecision procedure (second reading) majority of the votes cast, to approve the common position majority of Parliament’s component Members, to reject or amend the common position ***III Codecision procedure (third reading) majority of the votes cast, to approve the joint text (The type of procedure depends on the legal basis proposed by the Commission.) Amendments to a legislative text In amendments by Parliament, amended text is highlighted in bold italics. In the case of amending acts, passages in an existing provision that the Commission has left unchanged, but that Parliament wishes to amend, are highlighted in bold. Any deletions that Parliament wishes to make in passages of this kind are indicated thus: [...]. Highlighting in normal italics is an indication for the relevant departments showing parts of the legislative text for which a correction is proposed, to assist preparation of the final text (for instance, obvious errors or omissions in a given language version). Suggested corrections of this kind are subject to the agreement of the departments concerned. PE418.166v02-00 2/76 RR\418166EN.doc EN CONTENTS Page DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION .................................5 EXPLANATORY STATEMENT ............................................................................................28 OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT, PUBLIC HEALTH AND FOOD SAFETY........................................................................................................................32 OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT56 PROCEDURE...........................................................................................................................76 RR\418166EN.doc 3/76 PE418.166v02-00 EN PE418.166v02-00 4/76 RR\418166EN.doc EN DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning trade in seals products (COM(2008)0469 – C6-0295/2008 – 2008/0160(COD)) (Codecision procedure: first reading) The European Parliament, – having regard to the Commission proposal to the European Parliament and the Council (COM(2008)0469), – having regard to Article 251(2) and Articles 95 and 133 of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C6-0295/2008), – having regard to the declaration of the European Parliament of 26 September 2006 on banning seal products in the European Union1, – having regard to Rule 51 of its Rules of Procedure, – having regard to the report of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and the opinions of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the Committee on Agriculture (A6-0118/2009), 1. Approves the Commission proposal as amended; 2. Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it intends to amend the proposal substantially or replace it with another text; 3. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission. Amendment 1 Proposal for a regulation Recital - 1 (new) Text proposed by the Commission Amendment (-1) In its declaration of 26 September 2006 on banning seal products in the European Union1, the European Parliament requested the Commission to immediately draft a regulation to ban the 1 OJ C 306 E, 15.12.2006, p. 194. RR\418166EN.doc 5/76 PE418.166v02-00 EN import, export and sale of all harp and hooded seal products. In its resolution of 12 October 2006 on a Community Action Plan on the Protection and Welfare of Animals 2006-20102, the European Parliament called on the Commission to propose a total import ban on seal products. In its Recommendation 1776 (2006) on seal hunting of 17 November 2006, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recommended to invite the Member States of the Council of Europe practising seal hunting to ban all cruel hunting methods which do not guarantee the instantaneous death, without suffering, of the animals, to prohibit the stunning of animals with instruments such as hakapiks, bludgeons and guns, and to promote initiatives aimed at prohibiting trade in seal products. _________ 1 OJ C 306 E, 15.12.2006, p. 194. 2 OJ C 308 E, 16.12.2006, p. 170. Justification The European Parliament’s Resolution on the Animal Welfare Action Plan 2006 – 2010 calls on the Commission to propose a total import ban on seal products and its Written Declaration Banning Seal Products In The European Union, signed by 425 MEPs and which prompted the proposed prohibition on seal product trade, and the Recommendation of the Council of Europe urged its members to promote initiatives aimed at prohibiting trade in seal products and, in part, prompted the proposed Regulation. Amendment 2 Proposal for a regulation Recital 1 Text proposed by the Commission Amendment (1) Seals are animals that can experience (1) Seals are sentient animals that can pain, distress, fear and other forms of experience pain, distress, fear and other suffering. forms of suffering. The importation into Member States for commercial purposes of skins of certain seal pups (harp seal and hooded seal pups) and products derived therefrom is prohibited1. PE418.166v02-00 6/76 RR\418166EN.doc EN _______ 1 Council Directive 83/129/EEC of 28 March 1983 concerning the importation into Member States of skins of certain seal pups and products derived therefrom (OJ L 91, 9.4.1983, p. 30). Amendment 3 Proposal for a regulation Recital 2 Text proposed by the Commission Amendment (2) Seals are hunted within and outside the (2) Commercial seal hunting is conducted Community and used for obtaining within and outside the Community to products and articles, such as meat, oil, obtain products and articles, such as meat, blubber, fur skins and articles made oil, blubber, fur skins and articles made therefrom, which are sold commercially on therefrom, which are sold commercially on different markets, including the different markets, including the Community. Community market. Amendment 4 Proposal for a regulation Recital 3 Text proposed by the Commission Amendment (3) The hunting of seals has led to (3) The hunting of seals has led to expressions of serious concerns by expressions of serious concerns by members of the public, governments as members of the public, governments as well as the European Parliament sensitive well as the European Parliament sensitive to animal welfare considerations since to animal welfare considerations since there are indications that seals may not be there is clear evidence that seals killed in killed and skinned without causing commercial seal hunts consistently suffer avoidable pain, distress and other forms of pain, distress and other forms of suffering. suffering. The European Food Safety Authority concluded, in its scientific opinion on the Animal Welfare aspects of the killing and skinning of seals, that it is possible to kill seals rapidly and effectively without causing them avoidable pain or distress, whilst also reporting that in practice, effective and humane killing does not always happen1. RR\418166EN.doc 7/76 PE418.166v02-00 EN 1 Scientific Opinion of the Panel on Animal Health and Welfare on a request from the Commission on the Animal Welfare aspects of the killing and skinning of seals. The EFSA Journal (2007) 610, 1-122. Justification The concern of European citizens is about a trade involving suffering of wild animals, not only suffering which is avoidable. Unavoidable suffering may be very considerable. The question is that, regardless of whether some seals can be killed humanely or not, seals cannot be consistently killed humanely in the field environments in which commercial seal hunts occur. Amendment 5 Proposal for a regulation Recital 3 a (new) Text proposed by the Commission Amendment (3a) In 2007, the Commission gave a mandate to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to assess the most appropriate or suitable killing methods for seals which reduce unnecessary pain, distress and suffering to the greatest extent possible, but did not request that the EFSA evaluate whether the killing in commercial seal hunts is in fact humane or could ever be made humane, given the conditions under which the hunting occurs. Justification The Commission did not ask EFSA to assess whether commercial seal hunting is currently conducted in a humane fashion, but rather the most appropriate killing methods for seals to reduce as much as possible unnecessary pain, distress and suffering. The killing methods recommended in EFSA’s report and the draft Regulation do not prescribe humane killing as any reputable