EU to Ban Dog and Cat Fur Trade

The ban is set to take place in 2009, which is not soon enough according to some activists.

The sale and import of products containing cat or dog fur is to be banned across the European Union, officials said Monday, Nov. 26. EU agriculture ministers formally adopted a proposal to this effect put forward a year ago by the European Commission during a regular council meeting in Brussels.

The proposal, which becomes European law at the beginning of 2009, calls for a total ban on the import, export and sale of cat and dog fur in all of the EU's 27 member states.

The European Commission proposed the legislation after public outcry that fur traders were not following a voluntary prohibition and cat and dog fur was found in EU products. The new EU rule, however, does not say how the ban will be enforced.

Photo by Qole Pejorian