The Market Organisation Act 2007 forms the national legal basis of the IUU Fisheries Ordinance. In accordance with the Ordinance of the Federal Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management on implementation measures to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU Fisheries Ordinance, Federal Law Gazette II No. 382/2009), the Federal Office for Food Safety (BAES) is responsible for the implementation of Ordinance (EC) 1005/2008 Regulation (EC) 1010/2009.

These EC Regulations are EU acts establishing a Community system to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

This means fishing activities on fish, crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates from marine waters with the exception of (exemplary list) fishery products caught before 1.1.2010, ornamental fish, freshwater fishery products, oysters (live), aquaculture - products derived from juveniles and/or larvae, mussels, etc. (all derogations can be found in Annex I of Regulation (EU) No 86/2010).

Fishery products subject to the Regulation must be accompanied by a catch certificate indicating the transport and, where appropriate, by a declaration in the case of processing in a third country or by a re-export certificate in the case of re-export. The document templates can be found in the annexes of the EC regulations mentioned above and should only correspond in content and chronological order to the documents submitted. Electronic traceability systems may also replace catch certificates in some countries.

After submission to the e-mail address vermarktungsnormen@baes.gv.at, BAES checks the documents submitted as part of the import or re-export process. The submission itself should be made as early as possible in order to allow BAES sufficient time for review.

Reporting and submission deadlines and further details can be found in the leaflet of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management under Guidelines/Recommendations/Explanations.

If the examination of the documents does not reveal any objections, the catch certificate shall be endorsed with a release check and sent to the importer. In the event of incorrect information on the catch certificate, the importer shall be given the opportunity to make improvements. If this is not possible, the import shall be refused. The BAES has been notified of the further use of the consignment.

If the importer has an APEO certificate, he must report the import in due time and keep the relevant documents available. The APEO certificate is only awarded to recognised economic operators within the meaning of Articles 16 et seq. of Regulation (EC) No. 1005/2008. After completion of a test procedure, this certificate may be awarded by BAES.

The fees in connection with official activities are published in the Fee Tariff of the Federal Office for Food Safety, Market Organisation Fish - MOFT 2020.