Regulatory and legal constraints for European aquaculture European Union

European Parliament - Project Dates:
January 2009 - May 2009

Description of Project:
The Committee on Fisheries of the European Parliament requested a study on the legal issues related to aquaculture at European and national level.

The objective was to develop the potential of European aquaculture by improving its legislative framework.
The aim of the study was to analyse the scope to improve the governance of European aquaculture by modification of the legislative and regulatory framework.

Services Provided:
The study gave a thorough description of the European legal framework governing the aquaculture industry, its activities and products at the European and national level.

The legal and administrative obstacles hindering the development of aquaculture production in Member States were identified, as were the best practices in aquaculture regulation in third countries, namely Norway and Chile, focusing on technical regulations.

An analysis of the implementation of these best practices in the context of European legislation was carried out.
The study identified, described and analysed the possibilities of improvement and simplification of the European regulations in order to unlock the potential of European aquaculture.