Brussels News in Brief - June 2020
Commission publishes second report on impact of coronavirus on EU trade
The European Commission has published a report which is an attempt at predicting the impact of the COVID19 outbreak on trade flows, with a focus on the EU.
The Commission estimates a decrease in global trade for 2020 between 10%-16%. For the EU27, the predicted reduction is expected to be between 9%-15% for extra-EU27 exports and 11%-14% for extra-EU imports.
The full report is available here on the EU website
Official controls: electronic documentation controls and the period of application of temporary measures
Some Member States have experienced serious disruptions in the functioning of their control systems linked to COVID-19. The difficulties to perform official controls and other activities will persist beyond 1 June 2020.
In order to address these serious disruptions and help with the planning and the performance of official controls during the crisis, the period of application of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/466 will be prolonged until 1 August 2020.
The new regulation is available here on the EU website
Animal Welfare: evaluation roadmap of the EU legislation
The European Commission has published a roadmap for the evaluation of the EU legislation on the welfare of farmed animals.
The Commission’s objective is to assess the relevance of its current legislative framework composed by five EU Directives and two EU Regulations. Stakeholders are invited to give their feedback, by 29 July, to help define the further details of the Fitness Check.
More information can be found here on the EU website
Commission sends letter of formal notice to MALTA over compliance with Bluefin tuna rules
The Commission has sent a letter of formal notice to Malta over its failure to comply with the Control Regulation, the Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing Regulation and the Bluefin Tuna Regulation.
Malta also failed to comply with two recommendations by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
The country now has four months to address the shortcomings raised. Otherwise, the Commission may decide to send a reasoned opinion.
For more details read the story on the EU website
International trade data: EUMOFA webinar video and presentation available
A webinar on international trade data was held by the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture products (EUMOFA).
The webinar focused on how to extract import and export volumes, values and prices of each species traded by the nearly one hundred countries covered by EUMOFA. It also included tips on how to use the database to view trade flows between countries and understand market phenomena.
View the webinar on the EUMOFA website