French tuna association Orthongel has called on the Council of the European Union to reject the European Commission's proposed renewal of the autonomous tariff quotas (ATQs) for tuna loins in 2027 on an identical basis.
Orthongel said these ATQs allow 35,000 tonnes of tuna loins to enter the European market each year duty-free. These will thus enable producing countries, mainly in Asia, to export large quantities of their tuna loins to the EU.
According to EU fishing sector association Europêche, nearly 88 per cent of tuna loins imports from the main ATQ supplier countries are estimated to have gone to China and Indonesia in January during the 2024–2026 period.
Orthongel said further evidence of the "harmful" nature of this measure is that the 35,000-tonne quota is systematically exhausted within the first few days of January. It thus affords low cost Asian tuna loins massive and immediate duty-free access to the European market, "contributing to a lasting distortion of competition within the EU market."
The association said that these ATQs are in addition to the duty-free allowances provided for under the numerous free trade agreements (FTAs) concluded or negotiated by the EU, even though the volumes included in the FTAs were supposed to be deducted from the ATQs. The FTA between the EU and Indonesia thus adds a duty-free quota of 5,000 tonnes of tuna loins. The FTA between the EU and Mexico, which has recently been modernised, provides for an additional 6,000 tonnes per year for three years.
"Other agreements with India, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia are paving the way, or could do so, for new preferential tariff arrangements," said Orthongel.
"These tariff concessions by the EU encourage a massive influx of imported tuna onto the EU market, without these products being subject to the same sustainability requirements as those imposed on European producers. They directly favour the lowest-cost fisheries, to the detriment of European fishing companies, and at the same time condemn European consumers to a growing supply of low-cost tuna."
The Council of the EU still has the opportunity to reconsider the renewal of the TACs for tuna loins. Orthongel said that with this in mind, it supports the proposals put forward by Europêche at European level to: eliminate the 35,000-tonne ATQ for tuna loins in the next ATQ regulation; publish without delay the independent sustainability study and the results of the public consultation; introduce robust sustainability criteria from 2027 for products benefiting from ATQs; and assess the cumulative impact of existing and future tuna trade concessions rather than considering each agreement in isolation.