Seafood businesses face difficulties with S/C to export to Europe

Seafood enterprises' raw material procurement is facing difficulties due to S/C confirmation. Photo: VNA

Mr. Truong Dinh Hoe, General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said that the business community is always proactive and strives to accompany the Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in strictly complying with control regulations related to combating IUU fishing and sustainable development of the seafood exploitation industry.

In the process of cooperating with the subjects of the seafood production and export chain to obtain complete records and authentication papers for each shipment, seafood enterprises have encountered many difficulties and shortcomings - especially related to the raw material certification (S/C) in the provinces, leading to the fact that enterprises cannot obtain the necessary records for exporting seafood shipments to Europe, and this is also the reality that significantly limit s the consumption of raw materials for fishermen as well as significantly reduces the flow of goods to the EU.

Specifically, there are shortcomings in the management of fishing vessels and procedures for applying for S/C certificates, and the coordination of relevant parties in the management of fishing vessels and the handling of violations is not still consistent and unified - causing many fishing vessels violating in the "offshore area" to not improve positively.

According to some enterprises, to limit  re-offending, it is necessary to consider handling administrative violations of offshore fishing vessels when they do not comply. This requires close coordination, supervision and administrative sanctions between law enforcement agencies and localities, under the leadership of the Provincial People's Committee to impose sanctions during inspections when violations are detected.

Many fishing vessels do not have a commitment to meet food safety conditions (according to Circular 17/2018/TT-BNNPTNT), so businesses cannot be granted S/C certificates to facilitate exports.

Currently, the situation of fishing vessels losing connection to their journey data is still common. In many cases, despite their best efforts, enterprises still cannot be sure or check whether the purchased materials are legal or illegal. Current regulations do not allow enterprises to check and monitor the journey of fishing vessels or the administrative monitoring data that the Fishing Port Management Board and the sub-department are granted to use.

Therefore, enterprises are always in a passive position in controlling the origin and legality of exploited raw materials. Fishing boat owners and purchasing agents always have other consumption sources that do not need S/C papers, so these subjects in some places have not cooperated and supported enterprises to have enough information and documents to serve the S/C paper when purchasing raw materials for processing for export to the EU. Many "half-crying, half-laughing" cases affect enterprises' S/C application procedures after enterprises have purchased raw materials.

According to Mr. Hoe, to remove the shortcomings and obstacles according to the actual conditions in localities in managing seafood exploitation, procedures for granting S/C and facilitating seafood production and export, it is necessary to remove related obstacles.

In particular, from July 1, 2024, the electronic fishing traceability software system (eCDT) will be deployed for 100% of fishing vessels entering and leaving the port, including the collection of fishing logs and monitoring of unloading output via the eCDT system. Currently, fishing ports are requiring fishermen to declare production information on the phone app when entering the port; fishing ports do not accept paper declarations.

However, many fishing vessels currently enter the port to sell raw materials to businesses, but fishermen refuse to log into the phone app to declare production information for the Fishing Port Management Board to approve and sell raw materials to businesses. Therefore, businesses cannot apply for S/C papers. In July 2024, many fishing ports did not issue seafood unloading receipts and S/C papers for exploited seafood raw materials.

In addition, ship owners are currently unfamiliar with the Electronic Traceability Software System (eCDT), so they have not or will not create sales receipts with businesses on the phone app. Therefore, businesses cannot apply for S/C... affecting production and export.