This is the second time that the ECJ was confronted with the issue of trade in seals, after having dismissed an earlier appeal to the order of the General Court in an action for annulment of Regulation No 1007/2009 on the basis of
lack of admissibility (Case T - 18 / 10, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami I, EU: T: 2011:419).
The Appeals Court analyzed the hearsay argument and essentially agreed that, but for the statute, a report
of an examining physician prepared for the purposes
of litigation would be considered
lacking the «circumstantial guarantees
of trustworthiness required for
admissibility.»