By Atuna
European Union new regulations to control IUU fishing was put into effect last January 1st and requires a new set of documentation and certification emitted by the home country from which tuna and other fish products come from. Although it has been less than a month from its implementation, reports of chaos and over-demand to local fisheries authorities and the fear of having tuna products blocked at EU customs have become common among some countries.
The EU Commission Communications Department spoke with Atuna.com in order to give an overview of how the implementation is being done.
Atuna.com: How would you assess the implementation of the new IUU regulations?
European Commission: It is still too early, less than 3 weeks after the entry into force of a Regulation to assess how the regulation is implemented, as nearly all products currently imported are not subject to these rules.
It’s been reported that local authorities are not being able to address the certification demand in some countries such as Spain, for example.
Member State authorities are in charge of checking the catch certificates to be submitted when importing fishery products into the EU and of validating the catch certificates for catches done by EU-flagged vessels and exported to third countries.
Ok, but countries such as Panama and Belize are still holding their tuna containers afraid of facing documentation problems when delivered.
These two countries have been requested to provide additional information and clarification. This additional info is necessary to assess whether their notifications meet all the requirements under the IUU Regulation, and whether the two countries should be added onto the public list of notifications.
How many countries were able to export tuna to the EU in accordance to the new regulations? Which are the countries having difficulties in adapting?
In accordance with the IUU regulation, the list of notifying countries is published on the Commission website and can be found on http//ec.europa.eu/fisheries/iuu
The presence of a country on this list means that its notification meets the requirements referred to above and that it may validate catch certificates for fishery products to be exported to the EU.
Countries which are not in this list: some of them have advised the Commission that they are not concerned by the implementation of the IUU regulation and that they will not notify. For the other countries, their absence from the list may mean either that their notification still does not meet the requirements, or that they never sent a notification. All third countries were advised on the regulation in due time and were requested to notify which authorities will be competent for its implementation.
What are the EU procedures for those countries missing on the list?
It is up to each country to determine if and when it can meet the requirements on the control of its fishing vessels and can therefore proceed to notification. Nevertheless, the Commission has sent reminders to the missing countries and will continue to do that.
In order to meet these requirements, some countries decided to introduce or improve control systems and received advice from the Commission for this purpose.
The forms to be used by the third countries to validate the catch certificates must cover all the information listed in annex II to the IUU regulation. A sample of the forms notified by third countries has been made available to the Member States authorities.
The only way to ensure that fishery products may be imported into the EU is to ensure that they comply with the relevant conservation and management measures and that they are the subject of validated catch certificates.