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Trade and Industry Department The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
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Commercial Information Circulars

24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk

Ref. : EIC 111/2

14 May 2018

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 476/2018

US : Seafood Import Monitoring Programme - Lifting the Stay on Inclusion of Shrimp and Abalone

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the US published in the Federal Register (FR) of 24 April 2018 a final rule to lift the stay on the implementation of the US Seafood Import Monitoring Programme (SIMP) with respect to shrimp and abalone species. The compliance date is 31 December 2018.

DETAILS

2.The trade was informed via Commercial Information Circulars Nos. 92/2017 dated 1 February 2017, 401/2017 dated 22 May 2017 and 1194/2017 dated 22 December 2017 of the new SIMP which came into effect on 1 January 2018. The Programme establishes new requirements on permitting, reporting and recordkeeping procedures relating to the importation of certain fish and fish products identified as being at particular risk of Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing or seafood fraud.

3.According to NOAA's final rule on 9 December 2016, among the 13 "priority" species that identified as being most at risk for IUU fishing and covered by the first phase of the SIMP, implementation of the Programme for imports of shrimp and abalone species was stayed indefinitely until comparable traceability requirements for domestic aquaculture could be established. The stay is lifted effective 24 May 2018 and the compliance date for this rule for the species is 31 December 2018.

4.For details, please refer to the FR notice, which is available at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2018-04-24/pdf/2018-08553.pdf.

ENQUIRIES

5.For enquiries concerning the content of this circular, please contact Mr Lewis LAU at telephone number 2398 5405.

Yours faithfully,

(Jasper LAM)
for Director-General of Trade and Industry

Note: While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the above information, the Department cannot guarantee this to be so and will not be held liable for any reliance placed on the same.