Internal market: ban the placing on the market and the import or export of cat and dog fur and products containing such fur

The European Parliament adopted the resolution drafted by Eva-Britt SVENSSON (GUE/NGL, S), and made some amendments to the Commission’s proposal. Parliament entered into negotiations with the Council with a view to reaching agreement at first reading.

The main amendments adopted are as follows:

- Article 3 of the legislation states that the placing on the market and the import to or export from the Community of fur of cats and dogs and products containing such fur shall be prohibited ;

- Parliament agreed with its competent committee and rejected the derogation proposed by the European Commission. The derogation in question would have made it possible to place on the Community market furs where such fur is labelled as originating from cats or dogs that have not been bred or killed for fur production or which are personal or household effects being introduced into the Community, or exported there from. Parliament felt that this would leave a gaping loophole in the legislation, which traders would quickly exploit;

- by the way of exceptional derogation from Article 3, the Commission may adopt provisions to allow the placing on the market, import or export of fur of cats and dogs or products containing such fur for educational or taxidermy purposes including conditions under which such derogations shall be applied. These measures will be adopted  in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny;

- Parliament amended some of the definitions in the text. It stated that "cat' shall mean an animal of the species felis silvestris, and "dog' shall mean an animal of the subspecies canis lupus familiaris;

- Member States must inform the Commission of the analytical methods they use to identify the species of origin of fur by 31 December 2008 and subsequently every time when required in the view of new developments;

- Member States must report to the Commission on their efforts to enforce the Regulation. And the Commission must produce a report on the implementation of the Regulation including customs activities no later than 2 years after the date of application of the Regulation. The Commission's report must be made available to the public.

- lastly, the Regulation will apply from 31 December 2008.