Commercial Information Circulars
24-hour hotline : 23 922 922
e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk
Ref. : EIC 111/2
20 November 2023
Dear Sirs,
Commercial Information Circular No. 839/2023
US : Further Extension of Exemption Period to 31 December 2025 for Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) Import Provisions
Further to Commercial Information Circular (CIC) no. 928/2022 of 25 November 2022, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced the extension of the exemption period to 31 December 2025 for implementing the import provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).
DETAILS
2.Under the original timeline and subsequent extensions of the exemption period, 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 2024 and failure to comply may result in import prohibitions for fish and fish products. For details, please refer to CICs no. 648/2021 and 928/2022 of 14 September 2021 and 25 November 2022 respectively.
3.On 17 November 2023, the US issued a Federal Register (FR) notice announcing that it would further extend the exemption period by two years to 31 December 2025 for implementing the MMPA import provisions as additional time is necessary to complete its evaluation process for applications for comparability findings2 from its trading partners. This extension would allow time to ensure that comparability determinations are fairly and consistently applied across harvesting nations and their fisheries.
4.For further details, please refer to the FR notice of 17 November 2023 at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-11-17/pdf/2023-25399.pdf.
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 A comparability finding is a finding by US NOAA that the harvesting nation /economy has met the applicable conditions specified in the US regulation.
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.