FAO Technical Guidelines on Aquaculture Certification

Lahsen Ababouch

Fisheries and Aquaculture Department

Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome.

Italy

Million tonnes

Fisheries and aquaculture production

(1951-2008)

0.0

20.0

40.0

60.0

80.0

100.0

120.0

140.0

160.0

1951 1959 1967 1975 1983 1991 1999 2007

Mil

lio

n t

on

nes

Capture (marine waters) Capture (inland waters) Total aquaculture

Contribution to food-fish supply

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

mil

lio

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0.0%

10.0%

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30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

AquacultureCaptureAQ share

Evolution of global middle class in million

people and % (oecd, 2010)

203020202009

4484 (100%) 3249 (100%)1845 (100%)Total World

234 (5%)165 (5%)105 (6%)Middle east and

North Africa

107 (2%)57 (2%)32 (2%)Sub Saharian

Africa

3228 (66%)740 (54%)525 (28%)Asia and Pacific

313 (6%)251 (8%)181 (10%)Central and

South America

680 (14%)703 (22%)664 (36%)Europe

322 (7%)333 (10%)338 (18%)North America

Middle class spending worldwide in million of

2005 PPP $ and % (oecd, 2010)

203020202009

55680 (100%) 35045 (100%)21278 (100%)Total World

1966 (4%)1321 (4%)796 (4%)Middle east and

North Africa

827 (1%)448 (1%)256 (1%)Sub Saharian

Africa

32596 (59%)14798 (42%)4952 (23%)Asia and Pacific

3117 (6%)2315 (7%)1534 (7%)Central and

South America

11337 (20%)10301 (29%)8138 (38%)Europe

5837 (10%)5863 (17%)5602 (26%)North America

FAO SubFAO Sub--Committee on Aquaculture Committee on Aquaculture

(3rd Session, New Delhi, India, 2006)(3rd Session, New Delhi, India, 2006)

• Expressed concern over the emergence of a wide range of certification schemes and their cost/benefit value

• recognized the need for globally accepted norms for aquaculture production to serve:

– as a basis for improved harmonization and

– to facilitate mutual recognition and equivalence of such certification schemes;

• Requested FAO to:

– convene Expert Workshop (s) and

– to play a lead role in facilitating the development of guidelines for certification in aquaculture

The ProcessThe Process

• COFI-SC: AQ/III – 8-12 September 2006 – New Delhi, India

• January 2007: Secretariat, Advisory Group, E-mail recipient list, Website

• Bangkok Workshop – February 2007 Guidelines - Draft 1

• Fortaleza Workshop – September 2007 Guidelines - Draft 2• Cochin, India meeting – November 2007

• London meeting – February 2008 Guidelines - Draft 3• Silver Spring, Washington D.C meeting – May 2008

• Beijing meeting – May 2008 Guidelines - Draft 4• COFI/AQ/IV – 6-10 October 2008 – Puerta Varas, Chile

• 28th Session of COFI, 2 – 6 March 2009, Rome, Italy

• Comments by members - January 2009 Guidelines Draft 5• Technical consultation, Rome Italy, March 2010

• 5th Session of COFI: SC on Aquaculture, Phuket, Thailand, September 2010

• 28th Session of COFI: 31 January – 4 February 2011

ContentsContents1. Background

2. Scope

3. Terms and Definitions

4. Users

5. Application

6. Principles

7. Minimum Substantive Criteria

7.1 Animal Health and Welfare

7.2 Food Safety and Quality

7.3 Environmental Integrity

7.4 Social Responsibility

8. INSTITUTIONAL AND PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS

8.1 Governance

8.2 Standards Setting

8.3 Accreditation

8.4 Certification

9. Implementation

1- Consistency with International Instruments

Background

• ECG address a natural resource and define criteria to certify:

– its exploitation status and

– the related management regime

• The ACG deal with an aquatic animal production system and define criteria for farm inputs, facilities and practices to ensure:

– consumer protection,

– animal health and welfare,

– environmental integrity and

– social responsibility

1- Consistency with International instruments

Recommendations of the Secretariat

• relevant international guidelines, codes and standards dealing with an array of different issues should be consulted and debated during the coming technical consultation:– SPS and TBT agreements for definitions, scope and principles

– Codex texts should be used for specific definitions, criteria and certification respectively for food safety/quality

– OIE texts should be used for specific definitions, criteria and certification for animal health.

– ISEAL texts are relevant to environmental and social issues.

– Relevant ISO guides and standards are appropriate for the institutional and procedural requirements

2- Animal welfare or social responsibility

Background

• Concern over the emergence of a wide range of certification schemes and accreditation bodies leading to confusion amongst producers and consumers

• The need for more globally accepted norms for aquaculture production, which could provide more guidance and serve as a basis for improved harmonization and facilitate mutual recognition and equivalence of such certification schemes;

• The consultative process concluded that all major aspects being certified by existing certification standards and schemes shouldbe included in the guidelines on aquaculture certification

• social responsibility in fisheries and aquaculture is clearly outlined in the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and its relevant technical guidelines.

2- Animal welfare or social responsibility

Recommendations

• Careful consideration of the implications before limiting the criteria for the aquaculture certification guidelines;

• The secretariat advises members to consider the international debate on social responsibility and animal welfare, and decide whether it is sufficiently advanced to enable the up-coming technical consultation to discuss the issues and recommend whether animal welfare and social responsibility should be included in or exclude from the Aquaculture certification guidelines

3- Certification of all or some of the 4 areas?

Background

• Various markets with varying requirements

• Certification required:

– by all markets and buyers for food safety,

– by many markets for animal health

– by few buyers for animal welfare or social responsibility

3- Certification of all or only some of the 4 areas

Recommendations

• Members advised to consider flexibility to choose what criteria to be certified in line with the current practices in international fish trade;

• But the existing text should be modified to eliminate any confusion and to ensure that labels and claims cover the specific area(s) certified against and do not convey misleading or confusing information

4- special needs of small scale aquaculture or

developing countries

Background

• Particular provisions for technical assistance or special

and differential treatments of developing countries are

part of international instruments e.g. :

– SPS (Articles 9 and 10) and TBT (Articles 11 and 12) Agreements of the WTO

– FAO CCRF (Article 5 – Special Requirements for Developing Countries)

– Guidelines for eco-labeling in marine capture fisheries (Paragraph 6)

4- special needs of small scale aquaculture or

developing countries

Recommendations

• Members are advised to capture the same idea and principles in the guidelines for aquaculture certification;

• If this is retained, the text should clarify:– that technical assistance is not a pre-requisite for

certification and

– that certification of an aquaculture product means conformity of the product and production process to the requirements of the guidelines, regardless of whether the operation is small or large scale in a developing or developed country

5- Core government functions and voluntary

requirements

Background

• Government prerogatives in areas like consumer and animal health protection

• National jurisdictions are expanding to areas like:

– eco-labeling or

– social responsibility

• How to ensure that government and private sector activities in standard setting and certification are:

– complementary and

– synergistic?

5- Core government functions and voluntary

requirements

Recommendations• Members should clarify the roles of governments and

that of private schemes and promote synergy;

• The TBT agreement provide a good framework. It delineates the role and responsibility of:

– Central governments,

– regional governments and

– non government organizations

in charge of setting:

– standards

– technical regulations and

– conformity assessment procedures

6- Food safety only, or food safety and quality

Background

• The ACG refer to the SPS and TBT agreements of the WTO

• These 2 agreements refer to the Codex AlimentariusCommission as the international body which sets standards, codes of practice and guidelines for food safety and quality

• The Codex requirements for quality are minimum substantive criteria that reflect good practices along the aquaculture value chain, including during production

6- Food safety only, or food safety and quality

Recommendation

• Members are advised to define criteria for safety and quality in the guidelines for aquaculture certification, so as to reflect good practices during aquaculture production, in conformity with Codex

• Implementation of Good practice would lead to a fair and level playing field among aquaculture producers

Lessons learned and future perspectives

• Objective: Standards and certification of commodities to facilitate market access and promote good practices. Have we achieve this?

• Standards and certification in the agenda of other organizations:

– World Trade Organization (WTO, SPS and TBT Committees)

– Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

– Organization Internationale des Epizooties (OIE)

– Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)

– International Standard organization (ISO, TC 234)

– WWF

TBT Agreement

Annex 1. Definitions

• Technical regulation

Document which lays down product characteristics or their related processes and production methods, including the applicable administrative provisions, with which compliance is mandatory. It may also include or deal exclusively with terminology, symbols, packaging, marking or labelling requirements as they apply to a product, process or production method.

TBT Agreement

Annex 1. Definitions

• Standard

Document approved by a recognized body, that

provides, for common and repeated use, rules,

guidelines or characteristics for products or related

processes and production methods, with which

compliance is not mandatory. It may also include or

deal exclusively with terminology, symbols,

packaging, marking or labelling requirements as

they apply to a product, process or production

method.

TBT Agreement

Annex 1. Definitions

• Conformity assessment procedures

Any procedure used, directly or

indirectly, to determine that relevant

requirements in technical regulations or

standards are fulfilled

SPS/TBT Agreements

General Principles

• Sovereignty

• Harmonization

• Equivalency

• Scientific basis

• Transparency

• Technical Assistance

• Special and differential treatment

• Consultation and dispute settlement

Scope of SPS and TBT is different!

technical regulations, standards, conformity assessment procedures

Central Governments, regional Governments, Non Government Organizations

“any measure”

Disciplines on “standardizing bodies”

(Article 4, and Annex 3 on the CGP)

Substantive provisions in CGP ≈≈≈≈ main body of TBT Agreement

non-

discrimination avoidance of

unnecessary

barriers to trade

use / participation

international standards

transparency /

consultation

“Acknowledged”(Article 4.2)

Standardizing bodies that have accepted and are complying with the Code of Good Practice shall be acknowledged by the Members as complying with the principles of this Agreement

Non-governmental standardizing body

(TBT Agreement, Article 4.1, second sentence)

• "They [Members] shall take such reasonable measures as may be available to them to ensure that local government and non-governmental standardizing bodies within their territories, as well as regional standardizing bodies of which they or one or more bodies within their territories are members, accept and comply with this Code of Good Practice."

TBTC Decision on International Standards (Nov 2000)

• Principles:

−−−− transparency−−−− openness −−−− impartiality and consensus −−−− relevance and effectiveness −−−− coherence and−−−− development dimension

G–90

G-10

G-33

ACP

LDCs

Cairns Group

G-20

Recentnew

African Group

EUG-27

TROPICAL PRODUCTS

(Bolivia) (Colombia)

(Costa Rica) (Ecuador)

El Salvador (Honduras)

(Guatemala) (Nicaragua) (Panama)

(Peru) (Venezuela)

ChadBurkina FasoBurundi Togo

Central African RepDjibouti DR Congo

Mali Gambia GuineaGuinea Bissau Lesotho

Malawi Mauritania NigerSierra Leone Rwanda

BeninMadagascarSenegalUgandaZambiaTanzania

BelizeBarbadosAntigua/BarbudaDominica DominicanRepGrenada GuyanaSt Vincent/GrenadinesTrinidad/TobagoJamaica Suriname

St Kitts/NevisSt Lucia

GabonGhanaNamibia

HondurasMongoliaNicaragua

PanamaSri Lanka Turkey

El Salvador

NigeriaZimbabwe

BotswanaCameroon

CongoCôte d’Ivoire

KenyaMozambique

Egypt

Tunisia Morocco

AngolaSwaziland

Mauritius

R Korea

Iceland Israel JapanLiechtenstein Norway

SwitzerlandCh Taipei

AustriaBelgium Bulgaria

Cyprus Czech. R DenmarkEstonia Finland FranceGermany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy LatviaLithuania Luxembourg MaltaNetherlands Poland Portugal

Romania SlovakiaSlovenia Spain

Sweden UK

Mexico

IndiaChinaVenezuela

FijiPapua New Guinea

IndonesiaPakistanPhilippines

Peru

Cuba

Haiti

Australia CanadaColombiaCosta Rica

GuatemalaMalaysia N Zealand

ChileBrazil

BoliviaUruguay

ThailandParaguay

Argentina

BangladeshCambodia

MaldivesMyanmar

Nepal

S Africa

Solomon Islands

USG–1

AlbaniaArmenia China

Croatia Ecuador FYR-Macedonia Georgia JordanKyrgyzR Moldova Mongolia Oman Panama S. Arabia

Ch Taipei Viet Nam

« Friends of Fish »: Australia, Chile, Ecuador, Iceland, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines & US

Private standards at WTO (Summary)

• A new area for WTO since 2005 (SPS

Committee)

• For some WTO members, the use of

private standards to:

– encourage the use of responsible practices

– thus helping suppliers to improve quality and

gain access to markets

Private standards at WTO

• Other WTO members question whether:

– private standards and certification schemes duplicate or

complement government work (e.g. food safety, animal

health)

– they improve sustainability, consumer and environmental

protection or only add another cost of compliance

– they comply with the disciplines of the SPS and TBT

Agreements (e.g. transparency, scientific basis,...

– How to define boundaries between public regulations on the

one hand and private market standards on the other?

– What mechanism to use to challenge the use of private

standards as TBT?

• Governments• Policymakers• Fisheries Bodies• National Fisheries

• Catching• Farming Sector

• Processors • Retailers

‘Ecolabel’Focus

‘B2B’Focus

‘B2B’Focus

Market driven phase

Degree of ‘Sustainability’ Rating - Scale 0-100 % (Illustrative)

100%

Depleted Underexploited

0%

IUU

‘Transitional Fisheries’ also need motivation

‘Moderately/Fully Exploited’

'Transitional Fisheries Eco- Certified

Incentivise instead of ‘penalising’ –

social dimensions are far reaching

Equitable share of responsibility, costs and benefits

““Fisheries and aquaculture Fisheries and aquaculture

Sustainability is too important to Sustainability is too important to

leave it only to the market or only leave it only to the market or only

to policymakersto policymakers””

• Governments

• Policymakers

• Fisheries Bodies

• NGO’s

• Processors • Retailers• Catching

• Farming

Sector

Thank you

http://www.fao.org/fishery/about/cofi/aquaculture/en

Lahsen AbabouchChief, Fish Utilization and Marketing Service Fisheries and Aquaculture Department Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Office F - 608. Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00153 Rome, Italy Tel: +39 06 570 54157 Fax: +39 06 570 55188 Website http://www.fao.org/fi/default.asp