NOAA Lifts Trade Restrictions on Tuna from Bolivia, Georgia

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is issuing a final rule lifting the trade restrictions on importing bigeye tuna from Bolivia and Georgia, it said in a Federal Register notice scheduled for Aug. 29. The action implements a recommendation from the 2011 meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas. It also changes the regulations containing species-specific harmonized tariff codes to be consistent with recent changes adopted by the U.S. International Trade Commission, effective Sept. 28. The earlier prohibited imports were to address illegal, unreported, and unregulated catches of tuna by large-scale Bolivian and Georgian longline vessels. At its 2011 annual meeting, ICCAT decided Bolivia and Georgia vessels were no longer diminishing the effectiveness of conservation and management measures.

Because there were no imports of Atlantic bigeye tuna from these countries prior to the prohibitions, and because the National Marine Fisheries Service does not expect imports in the future, NMFS does not expect that lifting the prohibitions will result in socioeconomic impacts on U.S. traders. Importers, exporters and re-exporters of tuna must obtain an International Trade Permit consistent with regulations at 50 CFR 300, subpart M. Permit holders must include the species-specific harmonized tariff codes on the necessary trade documentation. The chapter of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule pertaining to fish, including Highly Migratory Species (HMS), is (here).