Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-06-Speech-3-363"
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"en.20060906.24.3-363"2
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"Mr President, as rapporteur for this report, the first thing I would like to stress is the unquestionable role that a credible label or certification can play, among other measures that can be taken, in our efforts to guarantee sustainable fishing.
We also call upon the Commission to present, within six months, a communication on the minimum requirements and guidelines for a Community scheme for labelling fisheries products. I would also like the Commission, finally, to clarify whether it is in favour of calling it an eco-label, or whether it is opting for another name and why, and we would urge it to take account of the considerations addressed to it by this House.
Nevertheless, the issue has been on the table in the European Commission since the 1990s and so far nobody has decided to deal with it. In the meantime, in a market that is becoming increasingly sensitive to environmental issues, private promoters of eco-labels for fishery products are feathering their nests, causing complete confusion amongst consumers, at best, and more than likely discrediting the system in general, since when a premium can be added to a product by saying that it is ecological, without the need to prove it, then fraud is a likely outcome.
I am one of the people who have often reminded the Commission that it should deal with this issue as soon as possible. Hence the disappointment that some of us felt when the Commission finally published this communication: a document almost without content, lacking in analysis, which makes no commitment whatsoever and which does not provide any criteria or guidelines to follow.
It clearly did not require more than ten years to achieve this result and the Commission is clearly totally overwhelmed by the reality of the attractive market in eco-labelling and the many private interests that sustain it, some of which are laudable and some of which are not.
In that regard, I would like to mention that, when he appeared before the Committee on Fisheries on leaving office, the former Commissioner Mr Fischler confessed that something he had been unable to tackle by the end of his term-in-office had been rules on eco-labelling and that that – and I quote – was ‘due to pressure from many quarters’. To this we can add the fact that reliably establishing the criteria for defining a sustainable fisheries product is undoubtedly a much more complex task than it may at first appear. We must get to work though, because other interested parties are doing it for us and many of them only have their own interests in mind.
The Commission is not alone in this task either, because it already has the guidelines issued by the FAO, and debates in many international fora, including the World Trade Organisation. Governments, NGOs, private companies and fishermen have also expressed their opinions.
By means of this report, with the invaluable and varied contributions of many colleagues, including those of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, the European Parliament is also offering its contribution to the definition of guidelines that will enable consumers, politicians and the fisheries sector to become more involved in the sustainability of fisheries resources.
We believe that, in a global sense, a Community system of labelling must be consistent with the existing guidelines of international bodies, that it must not lead to any kind of discrimination, nor create obstacles to trade, particularly that of the least-developed countries, and that it must act as a weapon for combating illegal fishing by denying it access to the markets.
With regard to its internal functioning, the Committee on Fisheries believes that, regardless of whether there are one or several labels, always of a voluntary nature, the system must be a single system and must be promoted by the European Union, which must establish its operating rules and guarantee the independence of the accreditation and certification bodies, as well as the transparency and accuracy of the information at all stages in the chain of custody, from the fishing vessel to the final consumer."@en1
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