The U.S. MMPA import ban is about to take effect, with tuna being the first to bear the brunt.

Officials from the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, under NOAA Fisheries) made it clear at an importer network briefing on December 16 that all seafood products from fisheries deemed non-compliant with the "comparability" requirements of the MMPA must be accompanied by a government-issued "Certificate of Authorization" (COA) upon entering the U.S. If the goods cannot provide a valid COA upon entry, they will be directly refused clearance. NMFS estimates that the ban will affect approximately $3.6 billion in seafood trade, a significant proportion of the approximately $25.8 billion annual seafood imports to the U.S. According to the plan, the ban covers about 240 fisheries in 46 countries, involving partial or full import prohibitions. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will screen incoming goods by matching the commodity tariff number (HTS code) with the country of origin information and trigger the COA requirement. NOAA has released a complete list of ...