NEW EU RULES TO COMBAT ILLEGAL CAVIAR TRADE
The new rules require that all tins of caviar imported, exported or marketed in the EU bear a specific label certifying that it is legally sourced caviar. All repacking plants handling caviar must be licensed.
The new Commission Regulation overhauls, simplifies and replaces an existing Regulation. It will become binding in all 25 EU Member States in a few weeks.
The new rules implement the universal labelling system for caviar introduced under the 1975 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in response to declining sturgeon populations in the Caspian Sea.
While a Commission Regulation in place since 2001 requires the labelling of all large containers of caviar imported into the EU, the new Regulation requires that all caviar containers, no matter their size and no matter whether the caviar is imported, re-packaged or to be exported, bear a specific label specifying the source of the caviar and the year of harvest, said the Commission in a statement.
Moreover, all re-packaging plants for caviar in the EU have to be licensed and registered. Implementation of the new labelling system should help reduce illegal trade and ultimately illegal harvesting.
In June, the Commission will be hosting a workshop with all relevant consumer and caviar-exporting states in Brussels to discuss ways of combating poaching and illegal trade.
The EU is the world's largest importer of caviar. Between 1998 and 2003, the EU legally imported 550 tonnes of caviar, which corresponds to 46% of the total global trade (1,205 tonnes).
Russia and Iran are the largest exporters to the EU.
Actual amounts of illegal trade are unknown, but estimated to be significant. Between 2000 and 2005, authorities seized over 12 tonnes of illegal caviar in the EU.
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