Customs controls on fishery and aquaculture products

Subject: Customs controls on fishery and aquaculture products

The EU’s fisheries market is currently the largest in the world. According to the latest data, in 2016 the EU imported about 8.8 million tonnes of fishery and aquaculture products, while its production amounted to 6.2 million tonnes.

The EU market is discriminatory, since fishery and aquaculture products from third countries are not subject to the same rules and high standards that products caught in the EU are.

All imported products must pass through customs when entering EU territory. However, in practice there are many loopholes and inefficiencies in customs controls.

Could the Commission say if there is a procedure in place – or if not, whether one is being prepared – that can be used to assess the effectiveness of EU customs controls and trading standards (freshness and size categories)?

Moreover, does the Commission have a list of countries whose products are prohibited, on the basis of Regulation (EU) No 1026/2012 on non-sustainable fishing, from being imported into the EU due to failure to cooperate in joint management?

Does the Commission send inspectors to third countries to verify whether all prescribed sanitary requirements are being fulfilled?

Answer given by Mr Vella on behalf of the European Commission

(26 September 2019)

The Commission is currently carrying out an evaluation of the effectiveness of EU controls for marketing standards, which define freshness and size grading for fresh and chilled fishery products on the EU market (1).

There is no country whose products are currently subject to measures under Regulation (EU) No 1026/2012 (2).

Customs authorities of the Member States perform controls based on the provisions of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 (3) and the specific sectorial legislation, in close cooperation with the relevant Competent Authorities.

The Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety audits the implementation of official controls in third countries exporting, inter alia, fishery and aquaculture products to the EU. The purpose of official controls (which are carried out by competent authorities) is to verify that fishing vessels and fish processing establishments exporting to the EU comply with EU import conditions on food safety. The reports of the Commission's audits are published on the website of the Health and Food Audits and Analysis Directorate (4).

⋅1∙ Council Regulation (EC) No 2406/96 of 26 November 1996 laying down common marketing standards for certain fishery products.

⋅2∙ Regulation (EU) No 1026/2012 of 25 October 2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on certain measures for the purpose of the

conservation of fish stocks in relation to countries allowing non-sustainable fishing. ⋅3∙ Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 October 2013 laying down the Union Customs Code. ⋅4∙ https://ec.europa.eu/food/audits_analysis_en