Date of Issue: 29 June 2012
Date of Effect: 1 July 2012
Country: European Union
The European Commission (EC) has published Commission Regulation (EU) No 16/2012, which amends Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004. (EU) No 16/2012 includes new requirements for frozen fishery products.
As of the 1 July 2012, the date of production and/or freezing of frozen fishery products exported to the EU will be required to be made available to the food business operator to whom the product is supplied and, upon request, to EU authorities.
For fishery products, date of production refers to the date of harvesting or catching. The date of freezing is only required to be recorded if it differs from the date of production.
If multiple dates of production and/or freezing are recorded for any one batch then the oldest dates of production and/or freezing will be required to be made available.
It is the exporter’s own decision to determine how the date of production and/or freezing is made available; however this information is required to be recorded clearly and accurately and easily retrievable by the business operators to whom the product is supplied. This information must also be clearly documented within the processing establishment’s Approved Arrangement.
If you have any concerns or questions regarding the new requirements for exports of frozen fishery products to the EU please ring +61 02 6272 3064.
Alexandra McLaran
Export Standards Branch
The information provided above is current at the time of writing and is intended for use as guidance only and should not be taken as definitive or exhaustive. The Commonwealth endeavours to keep information current and accurate, however, it may be subject to change without notice. Exporters are encouraged to verify these details with their importers prior to undertaking production/exports. The Commonwealth will not accept liability for any loss resulting from reliance on information contained in this notice.