UK Authorities - who does what?
3. A number of authorities will be involved in implementing the IUU regulation in the UK:
- Port Health Authorities and Local Authorities will be responsible for checking catch certificates for imports at sea and air ports.
- The Fisheries Authorities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be responsible for authorising and conducting inspections on landings by third country fishing vessels.
- The UK Fisheries Call Centre will validate UK Catch Certificates for landings by UK vessels to non-EU countries (where UK catch certificates are required).
- On behalf of the UK, the Marine and Fisheries Agency (MFA) IUU Central Unit will validate UK Catch certificates for all other exports (where UK catch certificates are required), and the Re-Export section of catch certificates. The MFA's IUU Unit will also assist Local Authorities and Port Health Authorities with further verification of catch certificates and application of control measures on imports as necessary.
Contact details for these organisations are provided at Annex 1.
Imports of fish and fish products from outside the EU
4. Broadly, the regulation applies to imports of fish and fishery products caught on or after the 1st January 2010. It applies to all products listed in chapters 03 and Tariff headings 1604 and 1605 of the Combined Nomenclature. There are a number of exemptions including aquaculture products and freshwater fish. More details on the excluded products can be found at paragraph 13 below.
5. If you are an importer, or agent acting on behalf of an importer, it is your responsibility to ensure that all your imports of fish and fisheries products are accompanied by a validated catch certificate(s).
6. In practice this means:
- you will need to obtain a validated catch certificate(s) from the exporter of the products.
- You (or your agent) will need to complete the Importer Declaration at section 11 of the catch certificate, or in the case of multiple catch certificates, you may complete the Multiple Certificate Summary Document (see paragraph 9).
- You will need to obtain additional documents if your consignment is routed through another third country, or if it was processed in a third country other than the flag state of the catching vessel. (See Annex 2)
- You will need to submit this documentation to UK Port Health Authorities or equivalent Local Authorities within the deadlines for prior notification:
- For sea freight - a minimum of 3 working days before estimated time of arrival;
- For airfreight - a minimum of 4 hours before estimated time of arrival
- The full list of such authorities can be found on the Association of Port Health Authorities website at:
http://www.apha.org.uk/port_directory.asp
- For customs declaration requirements and customs clearance procedures for imports subject to the IUU controls, see paragraphs 51-57 below.