EC proposes autonomous tariff quotas for some fisheries products

This proposal, which covers the period 2007-2009, is aimed at facilitating imports from third countries to supply the EU processing industry with raw material in order to maintain its competitiveness. The main changes compared to the 2004-2006 regime include increases of some quotas such as those for cod, shrimps and anchovies, the introduction of new quotas for fillets of cod, sole and hake for example, and deletion of some quotas such as cod liver and whole Alaska Pollack due to their poor utilisation.

Joe Borg, European Commissioner for fisheries and maritime affairs said: "We need to ensure that our processing industry has access to the necessary fisheries products for their activities. In recent years, there has been a shortage of some raw material due to depletion of a number of stocks. Our proposal aims to facilitate the industry's abilities to import the necessary raw material, so as to keep its competitiveness"

Today's proposal is based on intensive consultations with Member States and stakeholders. The focus is on whitefish (cod, hake and substitute species). It also includes products such as herring, tuna loins and shrimps. Furthermore the proposal includes a refund system which allows importers to make use of the quotas for products which have been imported between the 1st January 2007 and the entry into force of the autonomous tariff quota regulation.

Autonomous tariff quotas are aimed at facilitating access to fisheries products intended for processing by way of reduced custom duties. This means that given quantities of fisheries products can be imported at 0%, 4% or 6% duty.

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