世界商业报道[biz.icxo.com]消息：当地时间周二，欧盟议会以压倒性的票数通过了禁止猫狗皮毛交易的禁令，从2009年开始，欧盟境内全面禁止市场上销售猫狗皮毛。禁令生效后，所有猫狗皮毛会被查收，交易者也会受到严惩。现在已经有15个欧盟成员国立法禁止在本国进行猫狗皮毛贸易，但是交易者往往以服装、装饰品或者玩具等其它形式，将亚洲的动物皮毛制品，尤其是来自中国的猫狗皮引进欧盟市场。
The European Parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a ban on trade in products containing cat or dog fur following calls to outlaw a practice many consider unethical and animal rights advocates call barbaric.
The ban, which must be approved by European Union governments, would take effect in 2009.
The European Commission says cat and dog fur can be found in some clothing, personal accessories and soft toys being sold on the European market, either falsely labeled as another kind of fur or hidden within the product.
But it said that due to the secretive nature of the trade it was hard to quantify the amount of cat and dog fur entering the EU market and that there was no official data.
I received on behalf of concerned citizens a petition signed by over a quarter of a million people calling for us to bring in that ban. ... There is plenty of evidence of the inhuman treatment of cats and dogs bred for fur, said British Labour deputy Arlene McCarthy.
Fifteen EU member states have national legislation on the trade in cat and dog fur, with laws varying from a ban on rearing cats and dogs for fur to a ban on the import of such fur or simply labeling requirements.
Campaigners have claimed millions of animals are bred for fur — mostly in China and other Asian nations. The animal rights group Humane Society International said in 2005 it uncovered dog and cat fur production that had taken place in the Czech Republic — a member of the EU since 2004.
Humane Society International estimates around 2 million cats and dogs are killed worldwide for fur each year, with an estimated 5,400 cats and dogs killed in China each day.
