Regulation 1005/2008 establishing a community system to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing constitutes a “comprehensive and effective framework for combating IUU fishing within the EU”, according to the European Commission in a report published on Wednesday 9 December (see EUROPE 12616/9).
The report assesses the results of the 2008 regulation in question, with the Commission referring to “a unique system: on the one hand, it prevents products originating from IUU fishing from entering the EU market; on the other, the dialogues with non-EU countries multiply efforts to combat IUU fishing worldwide”.
The planned ‘carding’ system has become an internationally recognised tool for progress in combating IUU fishing and “attracting more attention to this scourge worldwide”, states the report. The Commission is of the opinion that the planned tool (dialogue to obtain a reform of the governance rules before possible sanctions in the form of a ban on the sale of fisheries products in the EU) owes its success partly to the fact that the system created by the IUU Regulation does not impose any EU standards on non-EU countries. “Instead, it simply ensures that they abide by their commitments under international law as flag, port, coastal and market States” the report says.
To further improve the capacity of the IUU regulation, it is important to swiftly adopt and implement the revised EU fisheries control system, which is currently under negotiation in the EU Council and the European Parliament. Indeed, reform of the controls provides for the digitalisation of the catch certification system.
Link to the report: https://bit.ly/33Xjmhg (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)