Elements with tag IUU fishing
810.000 tonnes of imported fish will annually benefit from massive tariff derogations regardless of their origin, way of production, sustainability of the stock, labour standards or even if the third country has been identified by the EU for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Europêche has presented today a request to the European Commission for the initiation of an anti-dumping investigation concerning imports of tuna processed loins - mainly skipjack - originating in China, which are causing serious economic damage to the European fishing industry. The information furnished by Europêche to the European authorities discloses the existence of unlawful aids and tax breaks allegedly granted by the Chinese Administration to the Chinese exporters of both tuna loins and canned tuna. The European fishing sector urges the EU to eliminate any present and future tariff derogations granted to tuna loins, which mainly come from China, to mitigate further market and economic disruption.
On the occasion of the World Fisheries Day, the FAO and the Holy See joined forces once again to host a successful event focusing international attention on the fair treatment and well-being of fishers around the globe. Europêche, on behalf of the EU fishing industry, participated together with international organizations, government representatives, trade unions and relevant stakeholders in this year’s event titled ‘Labour rights are human rights: working together to ensure the rights of fishers – fighting trafficking and forced labour in the fishing sector’. United Nations specialized agencies in fisheries and their Member states were urged to work together to promote the ratification, implementation and enforcement of internationally agreed social standards to support the livelihoods of 38 million fishers in the planet.
Approximately 27.6 million people are enduring forced labor conditions across numerous industries and on every continent. In order to tackle this problem, the EU has reached a provisional deal on a Regulation prohibiting products made in violation of human and workers' rights on the EU market, including seafood. The political agreement brings about substantial modifications to the initial proposal, clarifying the roles of both the Commission and national competent authorities in the investigative and decision-making procedures. Europêche welcomes this institutional agreement and calls for a quick implementation of the system to effectively ban the trade of fish products deriving from forced labour, hand in hand with EU policies against illegal fishing (IUU).