Ban on imports fish caught by Belize, Cambodia and Guinea fishing vessels

Ban on imports fish caught by Belize, Cambodia and Guinea fishing vessels

  Due to deficiencies in the control and administrative arrangements the flag states Belize, Cambodia and Guinea were identified as non-cooperating countries under the IUU Regulation.     These countries have now been formally listed and as of 28 March 2014 imports of fishery products manufactured from fish caught or handled by vessels registered to any of these countries are banned.

Non-cooperating countries

In line with Article 33(3) of the IUU Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008) the Council of the European Union has included Belize, Cambodia and the Republic of Guinea in a list of non-cooperating third countries in fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Commission Implementing Decision 2014/170/EU which lists the non-cooperating countries came into force on 28^th March 2014.

Import Prohibited

The importation of fishery products which have been caught and/or handled by vessels that are flagged to Belize, Cambodia or Guinea is prohibited with immediate effect. Consignments with catch certificates that indicate that the fish was caught and/or handled by a vessel that is flagged to one of these countries will be rejected from import.

More information

Detailed information about the European Commissions reasons for identifying these countries as non-cooperating countries including analysis of the shortcomings of their control systems can be found in Commission Implementing Regulation  2013/C 346/02 If you want to find out more about the Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing Regulations and the checks that are carried out on catch certificates please visit Import Process - IUU.