COMPETENT AUTHORITY SEAFOOD
The
Competent Authority Seafood is a public body under the aegis of the Ministry
of Blue Economy, Marine Resources, Fisheries and Shipping and is responsible for
the verification and certification of fish and fish products for export
primarily to Member States of the European Union (EU) as well as to non-EU
countries. The main activities of the Competent Authority Seafood
include:
· Registration
of fish business
operators (FBO’s) (processing plants, cold stores, aquaculture
farms, freezing vessels and exporters) involved directly or indirectly in the export of fish and fish products from Mauritius;
· Issue
of export health certificates for all consignments of fish and fish products
according to the importing country’s certification requirements;
· Inspection
of all consignments of fish and fish products for compliance prior
to export;
· Official
audits, routine/follow-up/unannounced inspections of approved facilities for
verification of compliance with national legislation and importing countries' requirements;
· Inspection
of fishing vessels providing raw material to processing plants prior to
departure for fishing campaign;
· Inspection
of landing sites for whole brine-frozen tuna and pelagic/demersal
fish;
· Inspection
and random organoleptic evaluation of all fish and fish products imported for
further processing before re-export;
· Sampling
of water, ice, fish and fish products (including aquaculture) products for
analysis in a designated laboratory; and
· Preparation
of a national residue monitoring plan for aquaculture products for approval by
the Health and Consumers Directorate-General of the European Commission (DG
SANTE)
· Inspection and
control of live ornamental fish for pets and live aquatic animals for
aquaculture development.
The
European Commission’s Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) carries out regular
inspections in Mauritius to assure whether effective control systems are in
place at the Competent Authority Seafood and to evaluate compliance with EU
legislation. The FVO inspection reports are available on the website of the DG
SANCO (http://ec.europa.eu/food/fvo/ir_search_en.cfm).
New
operators willing to export fish (including live fish), fish products and animal
by-products (fish meal, fish oil, aquaculture feed) to Member States of the
European Union or to non-EU countries should contact the Officer-in-Charge of
the Competent Authority Seafood:
Contact
Details:
Officer-in-Charge
Competent
Authority Seafood
Ministry
of Blue
Economy, Marine Resources ,Fisheries and Shipping
4th Floor,
Trade and Marketing Centre
Mer
Rouge
Tel:
2062812/15
Fax:
2162293
Additional
information on requirements for export of fish, fish products and animal
by-products to the European Union can be obtained on the following
websites:
The
Food Safety website of DG Health & Consumer Protection:
Detailed
information on import conditions for animals and animal
products:
Key
questions on the new rules on food hygiene and official food
controls:
EU
import conditions for seafood and other fishery products
As
from April 2009, export health certificates for consignments of fish and fish
products to the European Union are issued on the TRACES online certification
system (Trade Control and Expert System). TRACES incorporates the nomenclature
code, currently used by the World Customs Organisation, so that it can interact
with other systems around the world. For more information about TRACES, please
see:
