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NUNAVUT
The European General Court dismissed a court challenge launched last year by Canadian and Greenlandic Inuit to annul the European Union seal ban regulation, ruling the application as inadmissible in a decision dated Sept. 6.

The EU placed a ban on trade in seal products in July 2009, raising an uproar among Inuit organizations and prompting the federal government to try to overturn the decision. It is currently challenging the ban on Canadian seal products through the World Trade Organization.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Fur Institute of Canada, two of the applicants to the case, both said they are "disappointed" by the court decision.

Mary Simon, the president of ITK, said her organization still has to decide what its next step will be as a result of the decision.

"Inuit are disappointed the EU did not see fit to rule on the merits of this case and have dismissed it, on technical grounds, as inadmissible, without a hearing," Simon stated in a press release.

Rob Cahill, executive director of the Fur Institute of Canada, said they felt they would meet the "very strict bar" for admissibility.

"We knew the challenge for us to become admissible was very high. Not anyone can just stand in front of the court and challenge their law. They have very strict requirements," he said from Chicago. "Obviously, we're disappointed the courts have not decided on the merits of our case but only admissibility."

A second case to challenge the adequacy of the regulations associated with the ban is still before the EU court.

Cahill said that second case has a much lower bar for admissibility.

"If we win that case, it will still be very strong on reversing the seal ban," he said.

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