Marketing of cat and dog fur in the European Union

2.10.2009

WRITTEN QUESTION E-4851/09
by Oriol Junqueras Vies (Verts/ALE)
to the Commission

Despite measures being introduced across Europe forbidding this, a range of goods containing cat and dog fur are coming into the European Union from Asia, primarily from China. According to research by the NGO Libera, the fur is coming onto the European market, and in Spain in particular, in the form of little cat figures, coats, homeopathic aids for arthritis, children’s soft toys or lining for clothes, boots or shoes, with fake or confusing labels that use descriptions such as ‘sobaki, Asian jackal, Chinese wolf or Asian desert dog’ to conceal the true origin.

Regulation (EC) No 1523/2007[1] of the European Parliament and the Council of 11 December 2007 banning the placing on the market and the import to, or export from, the Community of cat and dog fur, and products containing such fur was introduced to eliminate obstacles to the functioning of the internal market and restore European consumers’ confidence in the fact that the fur products they buy do not contain cat and dog fur. Member States must report to the Commission on work done to enforce this regulation by laying down rules on penalties and taking all measures necessary to ensure compliance. Given that this is a binding and directly applicable piece of legislation that is not being enforced and that the Commission is required to report to Parliament no later than 31 December 2010 on this regulation’s implementation, has the Commission been notified of the measures taken to ensure that penalties for infringements of the regulation are applied?

• [1] OJ L 343, 27.12.2007, p. 1.

OJ C 10 E, 14/01/2011