Independent monitoring of labelling of canned tuna
27.2.2015
Question for written answer E-003383-15
to the Commission
Rule 130
Izaskun Bilbao Barandica (ALDE)
This week, the Europęche organisation, which represents 80 000 fishermen in nine EU Member States, issued a report[1] concerning shortcomings in the labelling of canned tuna. More specifically, it suggests that the self-monitoring of fishing procedures is encouraging proliferation on the market of cans that claim to contain fish which have been caught without the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs). The organisation recommends that such certification should be conducted by independent organisations that are based in key locations throughout the catch and processing chain and warns that unless this is done, fraud could take place and consumers could be misled.
1. What information does the Commission have regarding the problems reported by Europęche?
2. What is its view of the launch of an independent certification system concerning fishing methods?
3. What impact does it think the implementation of such a certification system could have on the product in question?
- [1] http://www.europeche.org/sites/default/files/attachedfiles/EP15%20Press%20release%20Tuna%20FAD%20Free%20commercialisation.pdf#overlay-context=en/content/press-releases