São Paulo, 8th – The European Union (EU) formally accepted this Thursday, 8th, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Fishing Subsidies, on behalf of its 27 Member States. Acceptance by the economic bloc brings to 34 the number of WTO members that have accepted the agreement, which should enter into force when two thirds of the 164 WTO members complete the ratification processes.
According to a statement from the European Commission, the agreement “is crucial to ensure that fisheries subsidies have sustainability as their main objective and avoid harming the ocean and fish stocks on which the livelihoods of coastal communities around the world depend”. .
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The WTO Agreement on Subsidies to Fishing, the first multilateral trade agreement focusing on sustainability, was concluded at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12) in June 2022 and includes: a ban on government subsidies for illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing; prohibition of subsidies for unregulated deep sea fishing; prohibition of subsidies to the most vulnerable stocks; provisions addressing the harmful practice of reflagging fishing vessels to other jurisdictions; and extensive transparency and reporting provisions to monitor implementation of the agreement.
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