(/) Sign in for Full Access (/user/login?destination=community) | Forgot Password/User ID? (https://online.asil.org/asilssa/ssaauthmain.forget_password?p_referrer=&p_context=CEN) | Join (/membership/membership) Log in Issue: 12 Volume: 18 By: Rob Howse, Joanna Langille, and Katie Sykes Date: June 04, 2014 Home (/) / Sealing the Deal: The WTO’s Appellate Body Report in EC – Seal Products Sealing the Deal: The WTO’s Appellate Body Report in EC – Seal Products Printer-friendly version (/print/1089) Introduction On May 22, 2014, the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Appellate Body (AB) issued its report in the EC – Seal Products dispute.[1] The decision arose from complaints by Canada and Norway against a legislative scheme adopted by the European Union (EU) in 2009 to prohibit the importation and marketing of seal products (EU Seal Regime).[2] The AB's decision answers some questions that had been left open by the prior Panel decision in this case (although some doctrinal ambiguity remains, as we discuss below). The decision sets out important new doctrine on de facto discrimination under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT)[3] Articles I:1 (Most-Favored Nation) and III:4 (National Treatment). It also confirms that animal welfare is an aspect of public morals under GATT Article XX(a). The AB upheld the Panel's finding (although on somewhat different legal reasoning from the Panel) that under GATT Articles I:1 and III:4 some aspects of the EU Seal Regime were discriminatory, but also affirmed the panel's finding that the measure was nevertheless provisionally justified under the public morals exception. However, the AB had several specific concerns about the way in which one feature of the EU Seal Regime, an exception from the general ban for products of traditional indigenous