Europêche has said the European Council’s adoption of a regulation setting autonomous EU tariff quotas (ATQs) for certain fishery products for the years 2019 and 2020 will put pressure on EU producers’ prices and employment.
The ATQ regulation covers more than 15 species representing 750.000 tonnes, which can be imported from non-EU countries at a reduced or zero-duty tariff. This means produce will enter the European markets 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, stated Europêche.
Javier Garat, president of Europêche, declared: “It is not acceptable that countries which are linked to IUU fishing and serious labour abuses benefit from preferential market access; it should be rather the opposite.
“The EU should have the ambition to step up its game and work towards achieving a true level playing field between EU produced and third country produced seafood.
“The EU is sending the wrong message to the international community rewarding those who have done little for the sustainability of fish stocks and fair treatment of people.”
Europêche believes that, in many cases, ATQs serve the sole purpose of getting a better price from non-EU producers, while putting pressure on EU producers’ prices and employment.
Europêche recalls that it is in the gutting and cleaning of the fish where the greatest number of jobs is required for the EU processing industry. The fishing industry therefore argues that increased imports of fish filets and loins already processed in third countries to the EU will result in a loss of said jobs and a decrease in prices. As a consequence of the latter factor, ATQs with a zero tariff duty also forces the EU catching sector to sell their product in other international markets in search for better prices.
