Yesterday, Europêche held a constructive meeting with Mrs María Martin-Prat, Deputy Director-General at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Trade, and her team covering Asia and trade policy coordination. The dialogue focused on securing fair market conditions for EU seafood producers in ongoing trade negotiations — particularly with Thailand and North Atlantic partners — and ensuring that fisheries’ competitiveness, sustainability and social standards are not undermined by trade liberalisation.

Javier Garat, President of Europêche, stated: “We strongly support open and rules-based trade, but not at the expense of the future of our fishers. The EU cannot continue to tighten sustainability obligations on its own fleets while granting duty-free access to products caught or processed under far lower environmental and social conditions. Stronger coordination between DG TRADE and DG MARE is essential to ensure that trade policy upholds the same sustainability and social standards that guide the EU’s fisheries policy and guarantees a true level playing field.”

EU- Thailand Free Trade Agreement between: Prevent unfair competition from low-standard tuna

Thailand is one of the world’s largest tuna processors, producing around 450,000 tonnes annually yet exporting only about 10,000 tonnes to the EU due to existing tariffs. Europêche warned that eliminating or relaxing these tariffs under a future FTA would seriously distort competition, as tuna processed in Thailand often originates from fleets with weak labour and environmental standards, raising risks of IUU fishing and forced labour, but also production costs. It is twice more costly to catch one ton of tuna on a European vessel than on South-East Asian ones.

Europêche calls for applying extremely strict rules of origin, applying only to wholly obtained tuna and excluding cumulative rules, imposing binding ratification of ILO Fundamental Conventions 87 as a precondition for tariff benefits. Equally important is applying enhanced traceability and origin labelling to ensure EU consumers know the true source of imported tuna: the flag of the vessel and catch area.

Trade and Cooperation Agreement with United Kingdom: Ensure post-Brexit mutual access and fairness in marine environmental policies

Europêche welcomed the extension of reciprocal fishing access until 2038 under the EU–UK agreement but expressed concern over new Marine Protected Area restrictions. First implemented in Scottish waters and now projected in Southern UK waters, the impact of these measures falls disproportionately on European vessels, which suffer nearly five times greater economic losses compared to UK vessels operating in the same areas. The organisation urged the Commission to ensure that MPA measures remain proportionate, non-discriminatory and compliant with the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), and to press the UK to reopen the sandeel fishery unjustifiably closed to EU vessels. DG TRADE showed interest in the concerns raised by Europêche and encouraged continued dialogue with DG MARE. The Directorate also expressed interest in receiving additional technical information to further inform its assessment of the issues.

Norway and Coastal States: Protect the EU market from catches originated from unilateral overfishing of shared stocks

Europêche denounced the unilateral quota increases by Norway, the Faroe Islands and Russia on key pelagic stocks, especially mackerel, herring and blue whiting, which have caused overfishing and a 70% drop in mackerel catches for next year. The organisation called on the Commission to trigger the EU’s new Regulation on unsustainable practices against these actions and to also tackle the import of Russian-caught cod transiting through Norway that arrive to our market tariff free.

Furthermore, Europêche believes that time has come to look into the possibility of amending the fisheries cooperation agreement with Norway in a way that ensures EU-fishers access to Norwegian waters even if quotas are not in place by the first of January. This approach should be considered within a broader context of EU-Norway trade and cooperation.

New EU-Morocco trade and fisheries agreement: Preserving a strategic partnership and sustainable fisheries

Europêche welcomes the new EU mandate to negotiate a fisheries agreement with Morocco, a strategic partner for sustainable, science-based fisheries management and food security. For Europêche it is fundamental that future fishing opportunities reflect the good performance and sustainability of stocks in recent years, particularly the pelagic fishery. The sector urges the Commission to base future arrangements on scientific evidence and mutual economic benefit.

United States: Ensure reciprocal market access

The 15% tariff on EU seafood has created a new trade barrier, causing significant economic harm to European companies, while US exporters continue to enjoy duty-free access for a wide range of seafood products. Europêche called on the Commission to secure equivalent tariff exemptions for key European exports such as bluefin tuna, scallops, and hake, ensuring a level playing field and fair competition across the Atlantic. DG TRADE acknowledged that the 15% tariff represents a negotiated compromise, yet expressed openness to hold a technical meeting.

Autonomous Tariff Quotas: Prevent unfair competition

While access to non-EU raw materials is essential where there is no or insufficient EU production, tariff derogations such as Autonomous Tariff Quotas (ATQs) must be strictly linked to sustainability criteria and excluded for tuna, in order to safeguard fair competition and the long-term competitiveness of EU fleets.

Due Diligence: Equal rules for EU and non-EU operators

Europêche expressed concern that reporting obligations for non-EU operators have been postponed indefinitely, while EU fleets and processors will face these requirements from 2027. This asymmetry would undermine the level playing field and distort competition. Europêche urged the Commission to ensure that due diligence rules apply simultaneously and equally to all companies placing seafood on the EU market, regardless of origin.

WTO Fisheries Subsidies Agreement

Europêche stresses that the next phase must allow essential fleet renewal, safeguard the EU’s sustainable funding model and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements, and enable vital support measures during crises such as COVID or Ukraine.

Press contacts:

Daniel Voces, Managing Director of Europêche: +32 489 26 81 07 daniel.voces@europeche.org

Anne-France Mattlet, Europêche Tuna Group Director +33 6 78 11 63 01: anne-france.mattlet@europeche.org

EP Press Release – Meeting DG TRADE

A risk of destabilization of the European tuna market, enhanced by the recent increase of US tariff

With nearly 450 000 tons of canned tuna, Thailand is the world’s leading producer and exporter of canned and preserved tuna, accounting for over 22% of global production and more than 29% of global exports. Between 2020 and 2023, the EU imported nearly 40,000 tons of fishery products from Thailand annually—despite current tariffs of 24% on tuna loins and canned tuna. Even without tariff preferences, Thailand remains one of the top suppliers to the EU market. In addition, the additional duties recently imposed by the United States to Thailand increases even more the need for Thailand to access the EU market duty free as well as the risk for EU tuna producers to face an aggressive competition.

Granting duty-free access to Thai tuna products would severely impact the competitiveness of the EU tuna industry.

A European model threatened by unfair competition

In the ultra-competitive global tuna market, the European tuna purse seiner fleet is recognised as a model of sustainability and responsibility. The fleet respects strict quotas, is monitored 24/7 by VMS, systematically embarks scientific observers meaning 100% observer coverage and applies stringent control, monitoring and control regulation. Besides, the fleet’s environmental and social standards are also certified by MSC label, complying with the ILO C188 requirements verified by the flag state, as well as AENOR (APR) and AFNOR standards. Those rules and standards require a high level of investment and make it the most expensive tuna fleet to run in the world. EU vessels have to compete in international waters and markets with non-EU fleets that do not respect the same standards, or even engage in IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated) fishing.

The EU tuna sector supports over 25,000 direct jobs across the EU, particularly in regions highly dependent on fishing. These jobs and investments would be put at risk by tariff liberalisation to Thai tuna products. In addition, this would undermine the EU supply chains established with West and East African partners under the Economic Partnership Agreements, including Côte d’Ivoire, Seychelles, and Mauritius.

The threat of low-quality and standards tuna products entering EU supermarkets

Thailand, has worrying structural shortcomings:

• Its processing industry imports whole tuna massively from countries with opaque practices in terms of sustainability and sanitary compliance (including Taiwan, China, South Korea and Indonesia)
• Despite that Thailand has ratified International Labour Organisation’s Convention 188, it has failed to implement it and ratify other major international conventions on human rights and work at sea (ILO C87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise and ILO C98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining).
• The European Commission’s latest audit in 2023 highlighted persistent flaws in health and food safety from Thailand, revealing its inability to ensure standards that comply with European requirements.

The EU and its contradictions: a call for common sense

European fisheries are coming up against the EU’s paradoxes: while the European Union continues to impose increasingly restrictive regulations on its own companies, it simultaneously allows the import of products that do not meet these same standards.

Faced with this observation, Europêche calls on the European Union to exclude tuna products from the draft free trade agreement with Thailand and maintain a strict rules of origin. This will help preserve the European tuna sector and guarantee a level playing field for EU producers.  If that is not possible, as in other FTAs, it would be mandatory to apply strict rules of origin: only for wholly obtained fish, and with no cumulation.

Xavier Leduc, President of Europêche Tuna Group, explains: “Tuna loins and cans processed in Thailand from low-standard Asian fisheries pose a direct threat to sustainable European fleets, which face higher costs due to their rigorous control, social, and environmental standards. A Free Trade Agreement with Thailand allowing duty-free tuna products into the EU would only deepen the existing imbalance, further disadvantaging European fleets and undermining fair competition.”

Anne-France Mattlet, Director of Europêche Tuna Group, says: “Under current regulations, the EU cannot block low-standard tuna entering EU market—but it must not let it in duty-free.”

Press contact:

Anne-France Mattlet, Europêche Tuna Group Director | phone: +33 678 11 63 01 | e-mail: anne-france.mattlet@europeche.org

EP Press Release – Thailand FTA