February 27, 2017 — Our travel budget here at FishOn is just about enough to get us over to McDonald’s on Maplewood Avenue for a vegan Happy Meal, but we don’t let that dilute our international sophistication or our global reach.
So, let’s go to Sweden, where the Swedes continue to pour their Nordic angst all over our American lobsters by trying to label them an invasive species and ban their importation by the entire European Union.
The Swedish effort continues, but an interesting analysis by the Atlanta-based King & Spalding law firm specializing in international law says Sweden’s request to ban the lobsters most likely violates rules of the World Trade Organization.
“The EU ban on American lobster, based on the risk allegedly posed by 32 lobsters that escaped during transportation, would seem to require the WTO to look very carefully at the proportionality of the measure to determine whether it is maintained without sufficient scientific evidence, as well as examining the necessity of the measure in light of alternative measures, such as stricter controls on transportation and more effective enforcement of existing relevant laws and regulations,” the analysis stated.