The European Court of Justice has placed a hold on a seal-product ban the day before it was to come into force, an Inuit group announced Wednesday afternoon.

The Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami is one of several advocacy groups that are trying to keep the law from being implemented. The group said it received court documents indicating that the ban had been delayed for the time being.

"It's an interim victory because the full case has not been heard by the European courts yet," said Mary Simon, national Inuit leader and president of the ITK. "But this is definitely a good decision because the implementation was to begin tomorrow. So we're very pleased with it."

Simon noted that the EU legislation includes an exemption for Inuit who hunt seal. However, she said the ban would push down the price of seal products to the point that it would likely make seal hunting unprofitable for Inuit and non-Inuit hunters alike.

"The way that they've presented this whole thing hasn't worked," she told CTV News Channel. "People up here in the North, in the Arctic, feel that it's immoral and it's wrong for another country to be telling us here in Canada what to do about our way of life."

Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Gail Shea called the delay "a very positive development" that will give the ITK time to present its case before the European Court of Justice.

Shea also said that Ottawa will ask the World Trade Organization to set up a dispute settlement panel that would consider whether the ban contravenes WTO rules

Even if the WTO were to side with Canada in such a forum, however, it could take years for the WTO to take action.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper criticized the proposed European Union ban on seal products earlier on Thursday, calling the legislation a "disgrace" that's based on "no rational facts."

He added that the ban would discriminate against Canadian sealers, who he called hardworking people of modest means.

The sealing industry on Canada's East Coast has declined over the past several years due in part to the nascent European ban, the global recession and animal rights campaigns.

With files from The Canadian Press