NEWS RELEASES

May 26, 1997 No. 96

CANADA WELCOMES INITIALLING OF AGREEMENT ON HUMANE TRAPPING STANDARDS WITH EUROPEAN UNION

The Honourable Art Eggleton, Minister for International Trade, today welcomed the initialling by Canada and the European Union (EU) of adjustments to the International Agreement on Humane Trapping Standards.

"I am very pleased with this development," said Mr. Eggleton. "It is an important step toward an eventual agreement and an excellent example of how countries, working together, can negotiate resolutions to difficult trade issues. The Agreement, when it comes into force, will ensure the viability of an important industry that employs many thousands of Canadians and Europeans," added the Minister.

"The initialling of these adjustments also marks an important milestone in the protection of animal welfare by committing both Canada and the EU to strict, humane trapping standards for all trapping situations, including trapping for pest control, conservation, fur and food. I seriously urge the EU to approve this agreement as quickly as possible," said Mr. Eggleton.

The initialling of this agreement comes after five months of intensive contacts between European Commission and Canadian trade officials. The Russian Federation is also expected to initial the Agreement shortly. Following an earlier initialling of the Agreement in December 1996, the Commission asked Canada and the Russian Federation to pursue further adjustments to improve the Agreement in specific areas.

These adjustments will further Canada's commitments under the Agreement to a ban on leg-hold traps, clarify the scope of provisions concerning the use of traditional traps by Aboriginal peoples, increase the number of species covered from 18 to 19 and secure the functioning of the Agreement by requiring that the rulings of the arbitration body be binding.

This ambitious agreement lays down stringent and scientifically based standards for all trapping methods involving mechanical devices used to catch 19 species of wild mammals, regardless of the reasons for their capture. Parties to the Agreement will be obliged to prohibit trapping methods that do not comply with these standards within a clearly defined time frame.

Canada expects the ministers of the European member states to approve the Agreement at their forthcoming meetings in June.

In November 1991, the EU passed a resolution banning the use of leg-hold traps. The resolution would eventually have prevented the export of most Canadian furs to the EU even though only a small percentage of wild Canadian fur is caught using leg-hold traps. Although discussions on the issue have been ongoing since August 1995, Canada, along with the United States and Russia, has been negotiating officially with the EU since July 1996 to establish an agreement that would prevent the application of this import ban.

The fur industry in Canada employs up to 100 000 people -- including approximately 80 000 trappers, of whom close to half are Aboriginal -- and generates up to $600 million in economic activity annually.

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For further information, media representatives may contact:

Nicole Bourget

Director of Communications

Office of the Minister for International Trade

(613) 992-7332

Media Relations Office

Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade

(613) 995-1874

This document is also available on the Department's Internet site: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca