Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)
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Question 588: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food his views on the introduction of a country of origin labelling system for all fish products sold here. [29153/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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S.I. No. 320 of 2003 — European Communities (Labelling of Fishery and Aquaculture Products) Regulations requires that the product is labelled with a country of origin. However there are a number of exclusions in the legislation and essentially, there is no overall enabling legislation requiring all fish products sold here to carry a country of origin label. For example, raw or portioned aquaculture products should be labelled, but not if processed in any way. Wild caught fish only has to show from which FAO fisheries area it was caught (North West Atlantic etc) and again if processed, even that can be dropped.

Ireland raised this issue as recently as the June 2008 Agriculture and Fisheries Council, in support of the new Council regulation combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. This measure addresses not only illegal fishing but the products of such fishing, and proposes a catch certification system which will be mandatory for all imports of fishery products into the EU. The ultimate objective is to remove illegally sourced fishery products from the market that are currently unfairly competing with those caught legally by Irish and other fishermen who observe the rules.

Speaking in support of the measure, Ireland highlighted the potential role of consumers in relation to this issue — enhanced consumer awareness of the sources of products and consumer demand for ethically- and legally-sourced products can play a significant role and a robust labelling system will facilitate them in making an informed choice.

At the Council meeting Ireland called on the EU Commission to bring forward proposals for a more robust labelling system for all fishery products and I will continue to press for such measures going forward.