Template for fishery products dispatched from countries other than flag States

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/453 of 18 December 2024 supplementing Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 by establishing a template for the document referred to in Article 14(1), point (b)(ii), thereof

Update

The European Union (EU) has introduced a new document template to accompany consignments of fishery products coming from a country that is not the flag State. The template is available in the Annex of the Regulation.

Impacted Products

Fishery products (capture)

What is changing?

The EU has introduced a uniform template for the information that must be provided when fishery products are imported into the EU transiting through a country other than the flag State. The template is available in the Annex of the Regulation.

Why?

The new template ensures that the information required by EU Member State authorities is clear and consistent. This uniform data will support the EU’s digital information system for catch certification (CATCH). See Revised EU rules and digitalisation of fisheries control.

Timeline

The new template must be used from 10 January 2026.

Recommended Actions

The new template must be used from 10 January 2026 by countries other than flag States through which fishery products transit without any processing or other physical alteration.

Background

Regulation 1005/2008 on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing put in place a catch certification scheme in order to implement the prohibition on imports of fishery products from IUU fishing, and to certify that catches are in compliance with international conservation and management measures. See Regulation on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing – explained.

Exporting countries must always provide the catch certificates validated by the flag State. Under Article 14 of the IUU Regulation, indirect imports of fishery products (dispatched in their original form to the EU from a country other than the flag State) must be accompanied by:

• the catch certificate(s) validated by the flag State, and
• document(s) (the template in this Regulation) evidencing that the fishery products did not undergo operations other than unloading, reloading, or preservation, while remaining under the surveillance of the competent authorities in that country.

The documentary evidence can be either:

• the single transport document issued to cover the passage from the flag State through the country from which it is transported to the EU, or
• a document issued by the competent authorities of that country giving an exact description of the conditions under which the fishery products were kept in that country, including dates of unloading and reloading of the products, and the names of the ships or other means of transport.

If the original consignment relating to a catch certificate is split, the part of the consignment destined for the EU must be accompanied by a copy of the original catch certificate(s), and a document validated by the competent authorities of the country of transit and dispatch to the EU. The importer must present those documents to the authorities of the importing EU Member State.

Resources

Sources