Seal sporrans

[Dukeof Kircaldy]

Yeah, I thought the Marine Mammals Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 1371 et seq) did as well, but the actual act only talks about endangered species. No where are seals specifically mentioned, at least when I did a text search of the act.

As I said in the original post, customs told me that the species protected under CITES were unimportable.

Also, Jay isn't the only one who has received a seal sporran.

I thought I saw something about the ban being illegal under thw World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) rules here. Actually it was here and the quote was:

Seal hunting and the selling of various seal products is a multi-million dollar industry in Norway. Norway's complaint is that the United States' Marine Mammal Protection Act is in conflict with rules and guidelines set down by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and that therefore the embargo should be lifted and trade allowed. The purpose of the WTO and GATT is to facilitate free trade between member nations but they have no executive power, they simply pass resolutions "suggesting" that countries do what they say. The WTO and GATT both ruled that the United States' trade embargo on harp-seal furs violates terms agreed to by nations belonging to WTO and GATT and called for the lifting of the embargo.

Of course, as a criminal lawyer, I know there can be a big difference from how a law is written and how itis enforced. But I did see another post where a member who was either US Customs or Fish and Wildlife Service made a comment about seizing these.

So, I was hoping that someone with more expertise might illuminate us on this subject.