European Union seal product ban clobbers traditional Scottish business

Canada’s bid to challenge a European Union ban on seal products is receiving support from an unlikely corner of the globe.

Stephen Scott is a partner in an 80-year-old family business in Edinburgh, Scotland that makes sporrans — the belted pouch men wear in front of their traditional Highland kilts.

His small company, W.E. Scott and Son, has been forced to lay off staff because it is banned from buying Canadian grey seal pelts — the material long used to make its most popular sporrans.

Scott says he and his father have signed on to Canada’s challenge of the ban through the World Trade Organization.

Canada’s challenge before the WTO was heard earlier this week, and a decision is expected later this year.