A catch certificate is required as a key part of Regulation EU 1005/2008, which aims to prevent, deter and eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing activity, with the objective of guaranteeing the legal origin of fisheries products entering the entering the EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary regulatory zone from third countries. A catch certificate provides information, which proves that the fishery product/s have been caught under a legal fishing regime.

A catch certificate includes (but is not limited to) the following information:

• that the boat is licensed by the fishing authority
• that the boat has permission to catch the species that has been caught when and where the fish was caught
• the species and ccommodity code, also known as product code
• that the amount of fish being exported is not more than the original landed weight
• information on the transportation journey

How can create an export catch certificate?

To complete a catch certificate on the Fish Ministry and need documents as below:

• a Government Gateway user ID and password
• the company name and address of the exporter
• the name of the person responsible for the export
• the species or HS code 
• it’s state and it’s presentation
• the names or Port Letters and Numbers (PLNs) of the vessels that caught the species
• the landing dates for each species
• the export weights of each product
• to specify whose waters the species were caught in - the FAO area
• transport details for how the export will leave the UK and where it will leave from
• the identification numbers of the containers used to export the product (if applicable)
• You will then get a PDF which will need to be sent to the importer in Northern Ireland.
• This will be uploaded in TRACES along with your other import documentation