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Dept of Trade and Industry

Answer

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the amount of cat and dog fur being imported into (a) the UK and (b) other EU states; if she will make it her policy to ban such imports into the UK; and if she will make a statement. [200975] Mr. Alexander: Establishing whether domestic cat or dog fur is entering the UK is difficult because any such fur entering the UK and other EU states would fall under the commodity codes for "other fur" which includes rabbit, musk-rat and beaver. It is not possible to identify what proportion of the "other fur" figure, if any, represents domestic dog or cat fur. Figures for fur imports into the UK were given in my answer to my hon. Friend's question on 13 July 2004, Official Report, columns 1020-24W. The Government is committed to establishing the facts about this issue and to taking practical and proportionate action in response. The Government invited interested stakeholders to come forward with evidence that domestic dog and cat fur is on sale in the UK. No hard evidence has been provided to us. The Government therefore cannot support an import ban at this time. A full update will be made in a written statement in the new year, "other fur".

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

200975; 428 c468-9W

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Dogs Furs Domestic animals EU external trade Import controls Imports Cats

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk