Tuna capture landings. (Photo: Viceministerio de Acuacultura y Pesca)

EU abolishes tariffs for foreign tuna processed in Ecuador

ECUADOR
Thursday, August 18, 2016, 21:30 (GMT + 9)

Raw tuna from Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, which is processed and exported to the European Union (EU) by Ecuadorian companies will be exempted from a 24 per cent tariff, the Ministry of Foreign Trade reported.

The announcement was made August 17 after the Official Journal of the EU issued the Implementing Regulation 2016/1380 concerning the rules of origin applicable to regional cumulation for tuna from Ecuador.

Until December 31, 2016 this regulation lifts the restrictions preventing Ecuadorian tuna exporters from using raw materials from those countries, which already have trade agreements with the EU.

Last June, the Minister of Foreign Trade, Juan Carlos Cassinelli, along with the executive director of the Ecuadorian Chamber of Tuna Industrialists and Processors (CEIP), Monica Maldonado, met with officials of the Directorate General for Taxation and Customs Union of the EU (DG TAXUD), who presented a roadmap that would allow Ecuador to solve this trade barrier.

Ecuador explained that without the possibility of accumulation with these nations, Ecuadorian exports of prepared or preserved tuna originating in the country to the EU would be reduced by 30 per cent.

The country also reported on the economic and material damages that Manabi recorded after the earthquake on April 16, the province where most of the national fisheries sector industries operate.

"Considering the circumstances, the reasons provided in Ecuador's request and the further adverse impact of the earthquake on its fish processing industry,  Ecuador should benefit from a temporary derogation from the requirement (...). Consequently, the materials originating in Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama used for the manufacture of prepared and preserved tuna and skipjack classified in HS subheading 1604 14 and in prepared or preserved tuna skipjack or other fish of the genus Euthynnus of CN subheading 1604 20 70 should be considered to be originating in Ecuador, provided that certain conditions are fulfilled," states the numeral 8 of the EU Regulation.

According to the National Chamber of Fisheries of Ecuador, the country processes about 450,000 tonnes of tuna per year, of which 200,000 come from domestic raw materials.

Tuna is the third largest non-oil exported product and the sales to the EU accounted for 57 per cent of total exports by the Ecuadorian industry in 2015.

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