Canada's foreign affairs and international trade department said it had requested consultations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) with the European Union, the first stage in a formal dispute.

"There's no basis in science or international trade law to justify bans on the import of seal products," Francois Jubinville, a spokesman for Canada's minister for international trade, told Reuters.

Belgium introduced a ban on seal products in March and the Netherlands followed in July.

The EU already bars imports of furs from white-coated pups -- known as the Brigitte Bardot ban after the animal rights campaigner and film star -- because of public revulsion over televised scenes of hunters clubbing pups to death on the ice.

The Dutch and Belgian bans exempt products from seals hunted in the traditional way by Inuit.

Jubinville said Canada was determined to fight the bans and send a signal to other countries considering similar action.

"The seal hunt in Canada is carried out according to the highest standards of sustainability. It respects the highest standards in species conservation and is done in a humane way," he said.

Sealing is important to many remote coastal communities in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nunavut and Quebec where other economic opportunities are limited.