Photo: European Commission
The European Commission has adopted new EU-wide rules for weighing fishery products, replacing a system under which Member States operated dozens of different plans and programmes.
The rules will apply from January 2027 and are intended to standardise how catches are weighed and recorded across the European Union. According to the Commission, the changes should also reduce the administrative burden for fishing operators and national authorities.
Under the existing framework, Member States had adopted 44 separate weighing plans and programmes, with different exemptions and conditions applying around the bloc.
The new system will introduce common procedures for weighing catches, alongside minimum requirements for weighing equipment and records, in addition to establishing minimum benchmarks for inspections and standardising what must be included in sampling plans, control plans and common control programmes.
Some flexibility will remain, however. The Commission said individual plans and programmes can be adapted where specific circumstances warrant it, provided the objectives of the EU fisheries control system are maintained.
Weighing data plays a central role in fisheries management because it is used to monitor how much of an allocated quota has been caught and to check compliance with the Common Fisheries Policy. The Commission said greater consistency should improve the quality and comparability of catch data while providing clearer rules for both operators and enforcement authorities.
The measures form part of a wider overhaul of the EU fisheries control system, with changes aimed at modernising fisheries monitoring and strengthening risk-based controls having already entered into force.
Member States will now have until the new rules take effect in January 2027 to align their national control arrangements with the common framework, the European Commission said. More detailed information on the updated regulations is available via the Commission website.
