On Monday 28 July, the European Commission adopted a regulation providing details of the Community system to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, in particular the ‘CATCH’ database on the management of catch certificates.
EU importers and Member State authorities will be required to use ‘CATCH’ from 10 January 2026. ‘CATCH’ is an EU-wide, real-time IT system for centralised management of all information, data and documents (see EUROPE 13666/10).
The regulation (https://aeur.eu/f/i1j ), published in the Official Journal on Tuesday 29 July, provides for a simplified catch certificate that applies to third-country fishing vessels with an overall length of less than 12 metres without towed gear or with an overall length of less than 8 metres with towed gear.
To give economic operators and third-country authorities sufficient time to adapt to the changes to the simplified catch certificate form, transitional provisions have been introduced (rules applicable from 10 January 2027). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)