Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures

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Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
1st Meeting of ACP Ministers in charge of
Fisheries ACP House Brussels (Belgium) 2- 5
June 2009
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EU Philosophy

• EU, 40 years of implementation of sanitary,
  environmental and technical standards designed to
  ensure food security, consumer protection and
  plant and animal health.
• Objective to reduce the risk associated with the
  consumption of contaminated foodstuffs and to
  preserve consumer confidence.

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EU SPS regulation

• European legislation, and more specifically
  Regulation 882/04 of January 2006 sanitary
  conditions and procedures in terms of packaging
  and additives to be followed by third countries.
• All exporting countries must receive the
  authorisation of the Commission and be registered
  on one of its two lists

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EU authorisation

• Three main criteria
• it must be able to apply legislation at least
  equal to that of the EU
• it must have a competent authority guaranteeing
  the application of the legislation
• and for fishery products, it must have in place
  practices and controls which demonstrate the
  effective application of the sanitary standards
  in terms of the healthiness of products for the
  consumer.

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SPS and TBT Agreements

• April 1994, two specific agreements were
  concluded in Marrakesh and implemented in 1995 to
  limit recourse to barriers to trade justified
  with the aid of protectionist technical rules
• the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT
  Agreement), and
• the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary
  measures (SPS Agreement).
• ? encourage countries to establish their
  legislative provisions on the basis of
  international standards, directives and
  recommendations (Codex alimentarius and HACCP)
• SPS and TBT major obstacles to international
  trade for all fishery-derived products
  increase of Trade Costs

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SPS and TBT and APC countries

• They promote
• a transparent international system
• Improvement of the quality and dissemination of
  information
• ? Decreased major transaction costs
• They encourage
• notification in advance of the measures
• creation of national information points so as to
  facilitate access to information on the sanitary
  and technical measures
• see the project Strengthening Fishery Products
  Health Conditions in ACP/OCT Countries
  www.sfp-acp.eu/).

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Technical assistance

• Doha Declaration reaffirmed the importance of
  technical assistance and capacity building for
  the DCs
• EU commitment grants aid to many DCs. Over the
  last 12 years 150 million Euros to upgrading
  ACP exporters of fishery products.
• Future regional free-trade agreements also
  provide for aid to upgrade the signatory
  countries.
• Although this strategy allows the EU to safeguard
  the provision of the European market with
  products that meet its own criteria, there is no
  guarantee that the implementation of sanitary and
  technical measures is having the same impacts,
  particularly in terms of public health, in the
  DCs.

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Trade impact of the measures in the ACP countries

• Importance varies depending on the country and
  the proportion of
• a) the fish production that is exported
• b) fish in its exports, and
• c) EU exports in its total exports.
• Introduction of SPS does not represent a means of
  differentiation and does not enable market shares
  to be gained vis-à-vis other competing countries
• Since implementation in ACP countries exports of
  fishery products have been at the mercy of import
  authorizations and bans.
• ? severe uncertainty regarding export
  possibilities, coupled with high income
  volatility, which in the case of countries which
  depend very heavily on export earnings, can
  adversely affect their development possibilities

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Economic and social approach to the measures in
ACP countries

• Production of fishery products in accordance with
  sanitary, environmental and technical measures
  can be analyzed as a characteristic of the
  product
• Desire to pay for an additional characteristic
  comes up against the problem of the scant
  resources of a large part of the population, who
  can barely afford to buy food at all, of whatever
  quality.
• Emergence of segmented market a market for
  healthier seafood products which are more
  environmentally sound, and a market for products
  without standards
• Monopolization of the export market by a few
  EU-approved operators (due to high access costs)
• Technical achievements relating to exports can
  foster the creation of a quality culture in the
  food industry in general

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Recommendations

• The EPAs must contain elements defining SPS,
  with an associated timescale so as to immediately
  begin joint ACP-EU work to implementing a
  competent national framework for monitoring and
  controlling SPS measures.
• The SPS measures must be designed at the
  regional level in such a way as to achieve
  economies of scale and also to harmonize the
  measures within the regional blocs.
• The Strengthening Fishery Products Health
  Conditions in ACP/OCT Countries project must be
  renewed in the countries involved so as to
  consolidate what has already been achieved, and
  extended to new countries in order to enable
  them, in the short or medium term, to export
  fishery products to the EU.

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Ecolabelling
1st Meeting of ACP Ministers in charge of
Fisheries ACP House Brussels (Belgium) 2- 5
June 2009
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The issue of ecolabelling

• Definition Eco-labeling or environmental
  certification is a voluntary method for
  certifying environmental performance.
• An eco-label constitutes an appellation which
  identifies the environmental characteristics,
  essentially in terms of impacts, of a product or
  service throughout its lifecycle.
• This concept, recognized by the United Nations
  Environment Committee in 1992, differs from the
  other so-called green labels in that it is
  issued by an independent body and not by the
  producers or processors themselves.
• It thus invites consumers to base their
  consumption choices on environmental
  considerations.

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The EU and eco-labeling

• Communication from the Commission, in December
  1997, on the future of the market for fishery
  products.
• Consumers expressing growing interest in
  eco-labels.
• In 1997 under the WWF/Unilever initiative which
  led in turn, in 1999, to the Marine Stewardship
  Council (MSC)
• ? The eco-label then emerged as a way of
  reinforcing the integration of the environmental
  aspects of the Common Fisheries Policy.

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The stages in certification

• two stages the preliminary evaluation
• determines the framework for the study and
  identifies the major problems and potential
  obstacles
• and the complete evaluation
• detailed scientific study of the fisheries
  conducted by specialists referring to the
  principles and standards for sustainable
  fisheries and undergoing expert critical
  examination (see, for example, http//www.msc.org/
  get-certified for the MSC).
• Certification bodies define procedures and
  qualifications required for the members of the
  evaluation team.
• ? complete evaluation proves whether or not the
  fishery is operating in accordance with the
  international standards in terms of sustainable
  exploitation and management of the resource.

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Limits of ecolabelling

• The MSC eco-label has established a poorly
  formulated ecological standard, which has led to
  variable interpretation by certifiers ?
  systematic bias in the application of the
  standard to the benefit of the certified
  fisheries
• Absence of strong links between the certification
  programme and the results in terms of the
  preservation of biodiversity, coupled with
  unclear standards and their inconsistent
  application in fisheries certification ? mitigate
  success
• Lack of awareness of consumers regarding
  ecolabelling products

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Conlusions and recommadations

• Eco-labelling of fisheries products is a process
  which is expected to go from strength to
  strength.
• In the near future, this sort of certification is
  likely to create a new non-tariff barrier along
  the same lines as the sanitary and phytosanitary
  measures
• EU needs to send a clear message to the ACP
  countries to provide them with guidance both as
  to the direction to follow with regard to
  eco-labelling, and in the framing of a national
  and regional framework for the implementation of
  environmental certification.
• ACP countries need to do their utmost to set up
  their own eco-labelling institution (to certify a
  wider range of products than simply those from
  fisheries, so as to benefit from economies of
  scale) in order to become as a full player in
  environmental certification and develop criteria
  closer to the African, Caribbean and Pacific
  realities.

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LABELLING PROGRAM With the support of

• FISHING BOAT OWNERS ASSOCIATION SEYCHELES HOOK
  LINE FISHERMEN
• Hook line fishermen members/500 small fishing
  boats in Seychelles
• Association to represent, defend support
  artesanal fishermen for
• -Sustainable development through responsible
  management of resources.
• -Underline importance of the sector for social
  economic development.
• WHY A LABEL PROJECT?
• To enhance value exceptional quality of
  products.
• To make it unique and easily identifiable.

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