The European Commission adopted proposals today to ban the import of pelts from seals that have endured excessive suffering while being killed, risking possible trade conflicts with hunting nations.
While stopping short of calling for a total ban, the Commission said products from the 900,000 seals hunted each year should be accepted in the EU only with guarantees that the seal has been killed as humanely as possible.
Last year, Belgium and the Netherlands imposed their own bans on imports such as seal furs and vitamin products, prompting a trade complaint from Canada on the ground that their accusations of cruelty were unfounded.
None of the 15 seal species that are currently hunted is endangered, but European environmentalists and politicians have demanded action after finding evidence that seals are often skinned while still conscious.
Typically, they are first shot or bludgeoned over the head with a spiked club known as a hakapik.
"Seal products coming from countries which practise hunting methods that involve unnecessary pain and suffering must not be allowed to enter the EU," Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said in a statement.
The animal welfare group IFAW welcomed the move, but a spokesman said that anything short of a full ban would be difficult to monitor or enforce.
The proposal has led to a debate over what constitutes a humane method of killing.
A European Food Safety Authority report last year highlighted various causes of unnecessary suffering, such as trapping seals underwater where they die by drowning.
It recommended that seals first be shot or clubbed and then monitored to check they are dead before being bled and skinned, to ensure they never regain consciousness during the process.
Canada, Greenland and Namibia account for about 60 per cent of the 900,000 seals hunted each year, the rest being killed in Iceland, Norway, Russia, the United States, Sweden, Finland and Britain.
The proposal will have to be approved by MEPs and member states before it can become law.