29/06/2011

Tracing the origin of the fish we eat
Full transparency for a safe and competitive Europe


Under the lead of French MEP Alain CADEC, the EPP Group is organising a hearing on 29 June on the traceability of fish products. Starting with the adoption by Parliament of his report on the arrangements for importing fishery and aquaculture products into the EU on July 8 2010, the Fisheries Committee in the European Parliament has become increasingly firm in its expectations for full transparency in tracing the origin of fish and aquaculture products entering the EU market. On 13 July, the Committee will vote on the reform of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy. It will push for that reform to reflect European consumer demand for traceability and eco-labelling.

Why do we need traceability?

More than 60% of the fisheries and aquaculture products consumed within the EU are imported from third countries. These imports need to meet the same sanitary standards as EU products in order to ensure quality and safety for European consumers. So it is important to identify the origin of imported products, including place and date of capture, as well as the details of the vessels on which they have been caught, before they reach the EU market.

Access to the EU market for traded fish products

The EU and its trading partners also have to make sure that World Trade Organisation rules have a positive impact on global fisheries management and conservation. We want an open market, but without creating unfair competition for our fish and aquaculture producers and processors. As decision-makers on trade policy, we need to be able to use customs tariffs as a tool to regulate access to our market.

What are the difficulties with imports?

Bilateral or multilateral agreements negotiated by the EU with some countries enable them to benefit from trade preferences, which means that their products have preferential access to the EU market. Eligible products can enter the EU market without the imposition of any customs rights.

For the European Parliament, it is important that the EU retains control of the trade preferences that are given to its partners so that conditions can be set for these products to enter our market more easily - for example, by guaranteeing that they fulfill high environmental and social requirements.

It is important for us to know if these trade preferences are genuinely beneficial for those countries that they are intended to benefit.

This means not only knowing which criteria are used to define a product as wholly obtained in one particular country (as opposed to being exported to the EU from a country we have an agreement with, but having being fished by another country), but we also need to make sure those imports do not negatively impact the EU fishing and processing market through unfair competition. Moreover, we want to make sure the fish we eat have been caught legally. The products fished through illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, which have been caught in violation of international norms, cannot land in European ports.

What information do consumers need?

Since 2005, the Parliament has been working on the creation of an EU eco-label, which would inform the consumer of where, when and how fish have been caught at sea. This information should tell us more about control processes used to monitor the lifecycle of the product, competition, its carbon footprint and how it meets recommended nutrition requirements. It also has to be readily available and easily readable by consumers. Frozen products should be clearly separated from fresh products.

Alain Cadec believes labels produced by private companies do not help transparency, but rather only cause confusion for consumers. Instead, what we need is a well-known, solid, European eco-label easily recognisable by all consumers. After all, agricultural products have an EU eco-label, so why should fish products be denied one?