* EU court ends suspension of ban on seal products
* Applicants submitted insufficient proof of emergency
* Canada says it is disappointed by court decision (Adds Canadian reaction, background)
BRUSSELS, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The European Union got the green light on Thursday to close its borders to seal products, when an EU court decided to impose a ban even though a legal challenge from Canadian seal hunters is still in progress.
The EU's General Court -- the second-highest court in the 27-state bloc -- said there was no need to delay the ban for the duration of court proceedings and added it had not seen enough evidence that the ban would damage seal hunting communities.
Seal hunters and processing firms from Canada, Norway and Greenland secured a temporary delay in the ban this summer, saying it would slash incomes in traditional Inuit communities and trigger suicides and substance abuse.
But they presented too little paperwork to prove their current financial situation, future income losses or access to unemployment benefits, the court ruling said.
"In submitting that the prohibition on trade ... would be likely to give rise to an increase to the suicide rate and substance abuse among young Inuit, the applicants are simply making mere general and abstract assertions," the ruling said.
"It follows ... that the applicants have not proved the existence of circumstances giving rise to urgency such as to justify the suspension," it ruled.
In Ottawa, Canadian Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said she was disappointed by the court decision.
"What we want to do is continue to express our support for the seal industry here in Canada, to the sealers on our coasts and in the North," she told reporters.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare praised the decision and insisted the EU ban would exempt Inuit-derived seal products.
The court ruling raises the stakes in an EU trade dispute with Canada, even as the two sides pursue free trade talks.
The EU ban, approved last year and originally due to take effect in August, triggered a Canadian government challenge at the World Trade Organization and a separate suit by seal hunters at the EU's General Court this summer.
Canada says the ban, affecting around 4.2 million euros ($5.6 million) of business, is based on false information and violates the EU's trade obligations.
The indigenous Inuit people of Canada's North say an exemption for seal products derived from traditional hunts is mere rhetoric that will not be honored.
Canada's main seal hunt takes place in March and April on ice floes off the Atlantic Coast and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The seals are usually shot, or bludgeoned over the head with a spiked club called a hakapik.
Seal products include fur for clothing and oil that is used in vitamin supplements.
The EU has promised to defend its decision, which it says does not discriminate against Canada as it prohibits seal products from other countries as well. (Reporting by Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck and David Ljunggren, Editing by Rex Merrifield and Tim Pearce and Rob Wilson)