Sep
10
Canned tuna. (Photo: Anfaco)
Galicia canners request ‘equality’ with Asian competition
SPAIN
Wednesday, September 11, 2013, 04:10 (GMT + 9)
In the framework of the VI World Tuna Conference, held in Vigo between 9 and 10 September, the canning sector again demanded equal footing with regard to third countries. This request was supported by the European Commission (EC), the Spanish Government and the Xunta de Galicia.
Canners fear that as a result of negotiations initiated between the European Union (EU) and Thailand, Asian canned tuna will be free from paying taxes to enter the EU market.
During the meeting, the head of the Secretariat General of Fisheries, Carlos Dominguez, defended “the level playing field for all producers” in connection with the sanitary, social, labour and environmental measures.
And the president of the Xunta, Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, warned that the agreements being negotiated would “jeopardize the viability of the processing sector.”
In addition, he defended the “equality for all” and that the competent authorities advocate a “strict compliance” with the rules, Atlantic reported.
For its part, the principal director of the Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the European Commission (DG MARE) of the EC, Cesar Deben, also defended the “same treatment and equality in the game rules.”
With respect to the trade pact with Thailand, Deben only said that “it is too early to give ideas of what will happen,” and that negotiations are only in the first phase.
For the National Association of Manufacturers of Canned Fish and Shellfish (Anfaco-Cecopesca), this international meeting is “the ideal place to raise these challenges.” This was indicated by its general secretary, Juan Manuel Vieites, who explained that they intend to have a “balanced and realistic” policy with the competition.
Nuñez Feijoo also stated that from Galicia “a struggle is going on in defense of equal sanitary, public health, social and environmental conditions.”
Therefore, he requested that canned tuna items remain “excluded” from trade agreements between the EU and third countries, as they place the processing sector “in serious risk,” reports La Opinión.
Moreover, Dominguez warned that Spain’s good effort has no value, since it has a rejection rate of border imports of more than 50 per cent, if ports of convenience are being created in the Community territory.
Those are “ports where the level of control is inadequate in proportion to the amount of fish that they import,” added the head of the Secretariat General for Fisheries, according to the newspaper La Voz de Galicia.
Related article:
– Galicia again claims equal requirements for third country tuna industries
By Analia Murias
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
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