EU Finalizes Deal With PNG On Special Duty Status

By Atuna.com

The European Parliament has signed off on a deal allowing Papua New Guinea to export its tuna products duty-free into Europe, regardless the origin of the fish.

It’s the only country in the world to be granted special treatment in the European Union’s fishery sector that allows the country to export processed tuna products, of which the fish originates from tuna vessels carrying any national flag. Normally the duty free rule for tuna imports within the EU is only available to selected developing countries that have vessels which match the so-called Rules of Origin, by which these vessels must carry the same flag as the country the fish is processed in, or exported from to the EU.

This special duty status will represent an important boost to the PNG tuna industry – which will give it excellent access to large volume of tuna raw material. The deal excludes tuna delivered by IUU vessels.

The Spanish organization ANFACO has long disputed this deal, and has heavily lobbied to stop it. Fears of ANFACO are that the deal will negatively affect the EU-based tuna processing industry.

In return for this special duty status, PNG has agreed to gradually open its markets to EU products.

Ten percent of the world’s tuna is caught in PNG waters, but most of the catch is exported overseas to be processed, the EU being the main destination

EU gives PNG tuna "special treatment"

Source: The National - Friday, 21 January 2011
By: Patrick Talu

PAPUA New Guinea has become the only country in the world to be granted a “special treatment” by the European Union (EU) for its tuna export products .
This means that fishery products from whatever origin but processed in PNG have been allowed to enter the EU markets duty-free and quota-free.

At present, PNG-processed tuna products enter the EU markets in the form of canned fish produced by pioneering cannery RD Tuna Corp.
The EU parliament in Brussels endorsed the special treatment under the EU-Pacific interim economic partnership agreement granted “consent” to the deal.

A statement yesterday by the delegation of the EU to PNG in Port Moresby quoted EU charge d’affaires Roberto Cecutti as saying: “With this agreement in force, PNG will be the only country in the world being granted a special treatment in the fishery sector by the EU.

“Fishery products from whatever origin and processed in PNG can now be exported duty-free and quota-free to the EU market.

“Although the interim economic partnership agreement was already provisionally in force since the end of 2009, the completion of the EU internal procedures gives now legal certainty and predictability to economic operators,” Cecutti said.

This is the first trade and development agreement to be approved by the European parliament since the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty, which gives legal personality in international law to the EU and replaces the European Community in all its rights and obligations.

The agreement was initialled in 2007, and then signed in 2009 by PNG and Fiji.

It was already provisionally in force since the end of 2009.

It grants unconditional duty-free/quota-free access to EU markets, while committing Papua New Guinea and Fiji to an asymmetric opening of their markets.

On top of this, the interim EPA ensures particularly favourable conditions to Pacific countries in terms of rules of origin for fisheries (“global sourcing”).

The EU keeps negotiating a regional comprehensive EPA with all the 14 Pacific ACP countries.