Seafish warns of costly import restrictions

“These are safeguard measures which can involve costs for the importer,” said Ivan Bartolo from Seafish. “Experience has shown that restrictions may be applied with very short notice, leaving importers with an unexpected laboratory bill to pay or, worse still, having their consignment turned away at the border. Over the last few months the European Commission has introduced a series of these,” he said.The newer restrictions affect fishery products from Fiji, Eritrea and Gabon. This is on top of the longer standing conditions affecting fish imports from China, Albania, Indonesia, Surinam and Guinea. Where there is a requirement for the imported goods to be tested in Europe on arrival at the Border Inspection Posts (BIP), it is the importer who pays for the checks, with the goods held until the results become available. This is the case for Indonesian imports which all have to be checked for heavy metals, and in addition some species have to be checked for histamine. It is expected that these measures will be relaxed shortly to exclude products of aquaculture.