Recommendations on the trade of fishery and aquaculture products between the EU and Norway

Recommendations on the trade of fishery and aquaculture products between the EU and Norway

The Market Advisory Council (MAC) provided recommendations to the European Commission concerning ongoing developments in the trade relationship between the EU and Norway, specifically on the trade of fishery and aquaculture products.

Recently, the Commission and Norway reached agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA)’s Financial Mechanism as well as on the liberalisation of the access from Norwegian fishery and aquaculture products into the EU market for the 2021-2028 period. In comparison with the previous agreement, the annual duty-free access for smoked salmon from Norway increases more than fivefold as a final product for the EU market.

At the same time, in terms of raw material, from the three quality categories of farmed salmon (i.e., “superior”, “ordinary”, and “production”), Norwegian law prevents the export of the “production” category, while allowing its national processors to transform it into a fillet product eligible for export. Therefore, EU processors are prevented from accessing the most affordable category of raw material, while competing, in the EU market, with Norwegian processed products originating from the three categories.

In order to ensure a balanced trade relationship between the EU and Norway and avoid potential trade barriers that may conflict with international trade law, the MAC recommends that the European Commission should:

1. Ensure an appropriate balance in the trade and in the fisheries agreements celebrated between the EU and Norway, ensuring a level-playing-field in the EEA.
2. Understand the concerns raised by the EU processing industry, namely on the increase in costs of raw material acquisition and potential decrease in employment, and provide compensation for the competitive disadvantage faced by this sector due to the increased market access in the EU for salmon smoked in Norway, while being prevented to access the most affordable category of Norwegian farmed salmon for their own smoking operation in the EU.
3. Understand and provide compensation for the concerns and competitive disadvantage faced by the EU fishing industry due to the increase in the market access for small pelagic species from Norway and the introduction of wider product descriptions.

Pierre Commère, Chair of the Working Group 2 (EU Markets), highlighted: “Over the past years, the Norwegian salmon industry continuously gained share in the EU market, while EU-based processors lost market share. The recently celebrated EU-Norway agreements provide for even more duty-free access to Norwegian products into the EU market, while EU processors are prevented from accessing the most affordable category of raw material of farmed salmon. Therefore, the European Commission must take steps to reestablish balance in the EU-Norway trade relationship, while also guaranteeing the strategic link between market access and access to waters for the EU fishing industry”.

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