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Outcome of Expert Consultation on Eco-Labelling

Meeting document COFI:FT/IX/2004/6










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    Book (series)
    Report of the Technical Consultation on the Feasibility of Developing Non-Discriminatory Technical Guidelines for Eco-Labelling of Products from Marine Capture Fisheries. Rome, Italy, 21-23 October 1998. / Rapport de la Consultation technique sur la question de savoir s'il est possible d'élaborer des directives techniques non discriminatoires pour l'étiquetage écologique des produits des pêches de capture marines. Rome, Italie, 21-23 octobre 1998. / Informe de la Consulta técnica sobre la viabilidad de elaborar directrices técnicas no discriminatorias para el ecoetiquetado de productos de la pesca de captura marina. Roma, Italia, 21-23 de octubre de 1998. 1999
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    Delegations from 45 Members of the Organization, observers from 3 intergovernmental organizations and 7 international non-governmental organizations met at FAO Headquarters, 21-23 October 1998, to hold the Technical Consultation on the Feasibility of Developing Non-Discriminatory Technical Guidelines for Eco-Labellling of Products from Marine Capture Fisheries. At the end of its meeting it adopted this report. The meeting discussed: Issues related to the feasibility and practicability of develop ing globally applicable, non-discriminatory technical guidelines for eco-labelling of products from marine capture fisheries; possible contents and format of technical guidelines on eco-labelling of products from marine capture fisheries and procedure for the elaboration of technical guidelines. During the analysis and discussions on the subject no agreement was reached regarding the practicability and feasibility of FAO drafting technical guidelines for eco-labelling for marine fisheries produc ts. However, there was consensus that if an agreement was eventually reached on the feasibility of elaborating guidelines for eco-labelling this should be consistent with the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and, in addition, should consider inter alia a number of principles listed in the Report (see paragraph 11). It was stressed that, if so decided by COFI, the development of technical guidelines should take into account and be consistent with on-going related work by other inter-gove rnmental organizations, in particular the World Trade Organization (WTO). It was further mentioned to take into account the work of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the procedures adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission as well as other relevant experiences in the subject. The Technical Consultation agreed that, if COFI decided that FAO should prepare technical guidelines, they should be voluntary and the process of drafting the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fi sheries should be followed.
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    Report of the Expert Consultation to Develop an FAO Evaluation Framework to Assess the Conformity of Public and Private Ecolabelling Schemes with the FAO Guidelines for the Ecolabelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries. Rome, 24 2011
    The FAO Guidelines for the Ecolabelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries, originally adopted by the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) in 2005, were adopted in revised form by the Twenty-eighth Session of COFI in 2009. Following two Expert Consultations held in 2006 and 2008, a third Expert Consultation convened in May 2010 completed the draft Guidelines for the ecolabelling of fish and fishery products from inland capture fisheries for consideration by COFI in Jan uary–February 2011. Following discussion in both COFI and the Sub-Committee on Fish Trade of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI:FT) relating to checking claims of compliance of ecolabelling schemes with the FAO Guidelines on ecolabelling of fish and fishery products, the Twenty-eighth Session of COFI requested the Secretariat to present a proposal to address this issue to COFI:FT. The Secretariat prepared and presented a document outlining various options for assessing the conformity of ecolabelling schemes with the FAO Guidelines to the Twelfth Session of COFI:FT. The Twelfth Session of COFI:FT agreed that, as a first step, the FAO Secretariat should convene an Expert Consultation to develop an FAO evaluation framework to assess the conformity of public and private ecolabelling schemes with the FAO Guidelines for the ecolabelling of fish and fishery products from marine capture fisheries. The Expert Consultation was convened in response to this decision. COFI:FT al so noted that it would be beneficial to develop a similar evaluation framework to assess the conformity of ecolabelling schemes with the FAO Guidelines for the Ecolabelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Inland Fisheries after their adoption. Moreover, as these draft Guidelines follow very closely the marine Guidelines, the Expert Consultation also considered additional criteria relating specifically to the inland fisheries Guidelines. In the event of COFI adopting the Inland Guidelin es, an evaluation framework for ecolabelling schemes certifying fish and fishery products from inland fisheries could readily be produced. The Expert Consultation considered a number of issues relating to the Guidelines and the Evaluation Framework. Inter alia, it noted that the Guidelines, and therefore the draft Evaluation Framework, relate only to the biological sustainability of fishery resources and not to other aspects that might have an impact on sustainability. Also noted wer e the many commonalities between the Marine Ecolabelling Guidelines and the draft Inland Ecolabelling Guidelines, and that the major difference between them relates to the consideration of enhancement and the use of introduced and/or translocated species in the draft Inland Guidelines. The Expert Consultation noted that in both sets of Guidelines there is insufficient attention given to the chain of custody. The respective responsibilities of States and ecolabelling schemes in relation to assistance to developing countries was also discussed. The draft Evaluation Framework is provided in Appendix D with an explanation of the approach in the body of this report.
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    Report of the Expert Consultation on the Development of International Guidelines for Ecolabelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Inland Capture Fisheries. Rome, 23-26 May 2006 2006
    The twenty-sixth session of the Committee on Fisheries (Rome, 7–11 March 2005) recommended that FAO prepare international guidelines on the ecolabelling of fish and fishery products from inland fisheries. The Expert Consultation was convened by FAO to advise on this task. The Expert Consultation took as its main working document the Guidelines for the Ecolabelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries adopted by the twenty-sixth session of the Committee on Fisherie s and published by FAO in 2005. The Consultation made various additions and amendments to this document for it to be suitable for inland capture fisheries. Many of these amendments derived from including culture-based and enhanced fisheries into the definition of inland capture fisheries. Amendments concerned mostly the sections addressing management systems, “stocks under consideration”, ecosystem considerations and methodological aspects. Aquaculture was excluded from the scope of th e guidelines. The Expert Consultation recognized that most of the provisions on procedural and institutional aspects of standard setting, accreditation and certification applied equally to both marine and inland capture fisheries. However, there were some instances where the specific characteristics of inland capture fisheries including culture-based and enhanced fisheries needed to be reflected. Cases in point were the addition of hatchery managers among the interested parties in stan dard setting or the inclusion of the production of stocking material in the certification of a fishery.

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