The European Commission has decided to remove a special derogation in place since 2012 that allowed for the weighing of fish at factories. The reason given by the European Commission for removing the concession was that Irish authorities “can’t guarantee that fraud will be detected”, according to the Irish Examiner.
The European Commission carried out an extensive audit before making their ruling. The audit found widespread fraud including manipulation in weighing systems and misreporting the size of catches, the commission has now ruled that fish must be weighed at the point of landing.
Fish catches must now be weighed at the point of landing and not at the fish factories.
The ruling states that the factory operators did not have a “weighing system fit for purpose … and the audit identified manipulation of weighing systems. Moreover, although aware of these shortcomings, Ireland did not take appropriate measures to address such non-compliance, in particular by withdrawing the permission to weigh after transport.”
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