MONTREAL (AFP) - Canada filed an official complaint Monday at the World Trade Organisation against a European Union ban on imported seal products, saying it violated trade rules.

Foreign ministers in Brussels adopted in July a ban on seal products from Canada, ruling the goods could not be marketed in the 27 EU nations.

In a letter sent to the European Union and the WTO, Canada said the move was "inconsistent with the EC's (European Commission's) obligations" under international trade rules.

Ottawa was therefore calling for consultations with Brussels on the issue, according to a copy of the letter seen by AFP.

Under WTO rules, if both sides fail to resolve their dispute within 60 days of consultations, Canada can ask the organisation to make a ruling.

Canada's largest Inuit organisation, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, praised the government's action.

Mary Simon, the organisation's president, said she told the European Union that an exemption on Inuit products was "useless because once the market is eliminated for seal products, it is eliminated for Inuit products as well."

The International Fund for Animal Welfare, however, derided the Canadian action, arguing that it would cost the government more to protect the industry than it generates each year.

"Apparently the sky's the limit when it comes to bailing out special interests like commercial seal clubbing," said Sheryl Fink, a researcher with the animal protection group.

"There seems to be no end in sight to the use of Canadian's tax dollars to try and keep the sinking sealing industry afloat," she said.

Around 6,000 Canadians take part in seal hunting each year along the Atlantic coast.

Ottawa authorizes the slaughter of 338,000 seals per season and says the survival of the species is not in danger.

Seal hunters cashed in about 10 million dollars from the 2009 hunt, Canadian Trade Minister Stockwell Day said in July, adding that 25 percent of the sales usually come from exporting products to Europe.

Canada, Greenland and Namibia kill 60 percent of the 900,000 seals slain each year. Other seal-hunting countries include Norway, Iceland, Russia and the United States.