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Trade and Industry Department The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Brand Hong Kong - Asia world city
MY COLOUR

Commercial Information Circulars

24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

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

Ref. : EIC 111/2

25 November 2022

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 928/2022

US : Extension of Exemption Period until 31 December 2023 for Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) Import Provisions

Further to Commercial Information Circular (CIC) no. 648/2021 of 14 September 2021, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) notified its trading partners (including Hong Kong) that it would extend the exemption period until 31 December 2023 for implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) import provisions related to imports of fish and fish products to the US.

DETAILS

2.Under the original timeline, the US would implement new requirements for imports of fish and fish products1 to the US under the MMPA import provisions effective from 1 January 2023 and failure to comply may result in import prohibitions for fish and fish products. The new requirements are set out below:

  • "Export Fisheries"2: The US requires a harvesting economy to receive a "comparability finding"3 issued by the US to demonstrate that it has maintained a regulatory program with respect to that fishery that is comparable in effectiveness to the US regulatory program for reducing incidental marine mammal bycatch.
  • "Exempt Fisheries"4: The US requires a harvesting economy to receive a "comparability finding"3 issued by the US to demonstrate that it has either prohibited the intentional mortality or serious injury of marine animals in the course of commercial fishing operations.
  • "Intermediary Fisheries" [i.e. fish and fish products imported by an economy for export / re-export to the US (with or without undergoing processing in that intermediary economy) as well as fish and fish products transhipped through the intermediary economy to US]: With respect to fish and fish products which the US has identified and notified the intermediary economy in writing (if any), the US requires information from the intermediary economy showing that the products re-exported / transhipped to the US do not come from a prohibited fishery by the US.

3.On 21 October 2022, the US issued a Federal Register (FR) notice announcing that it would extend the exemption period by one year until 31 December 2023 for implementing the MMPA import provisions as it has received more than 2,500 "comparability finding" applications for "Exempt" and "Export Fisheries" and additional time is required to review and evaluate the applications. With this extension, foreign nations/economies will have until 31 December 2023, to receive a "comparability finding" for their commercial fishing operations in order to export fish and fish products to the US.

4.For further details, please refer to the FR notice of 21 October 2022 and NOAA's official website:

  • FR notice of 21 October 2022:
    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-10-21/pdf/2022-22965.pdf
  • NOAA's official website:
    https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/foreign/marine-mammal-protection/international-marine-mammal-bycatch-criteria-us-imports

ENQUIRIES

5.For enquiries concerning the content of this circular, please contact Miss K Y HO at telephone number 2398 5405.

Yours faithfully,

(Miss Kwany KOU)
for Director-General of Trade and Industry

1 "Fish and fish products" under MMPA is defined as any marine finfish, mollusk, crustacean, or other form of marine life other than marine mammals, reptiles, and birds, whether fresh, frozen, canned, pouched, or otherwise prepared.

2 They refer to those with a higher than remote likelihood to hurt sea mammals during commercial fishing.

3 A comparability finding is a finding by US NOAA that the harvesting nation /economy has met the applicable conditions specified in the US regulation.

4 They refer to those with a remote likelihood to hurt sea mammals during commercial fishing.

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.