On Wednesday 23 April, the European organisation Europêche called for a recasting of the regulation on EU autonomous tariff quotas for certain fisheries products in order to “achieve a level playing field in the EU market”.
On 10 April, the European Commission launched a public consultation (https://aeur.eu/f/ghv ) on this regulation concerning the EU’s autonomous tariff quotas. It is considering adjusting the system to incorporate sustainability criteria for imported products that would benefit from tariff exemptions (see EUROPE 13302/18).
Europêche believes that this is a unique opportunity to transform the duty-free scheme by aligning it with the EU’s environmental, social and food sovereignty objectives.
The current system allows duty-free access to over 900,000 tonnes of imported seafood every year, “without applying the environmental and labour standards EU fishers are required to meet”, according to the organisation.
For Daniel Voces, Managing Director of Europêche, it is time “to make sustainability a prerequisite for importing fisheries products”.
Further information: https://aeur.eu/f/ghx (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)