CATCH – NEW EU SYSTEM
The use of CATCH will be compulsory for EU importers for the submission of the catch certificates and related documents for the import of fish or fishery products listed under Chapter 3 and Headings 1604/1605 subject to IUU controls from the 10th January 2026.
CATCH is an EU IT system for the management of all procedures linked to the EU catch certification scheme. It is a web-based digital environment that is part of TRACES NT. It allows the submission of all catch certificates and related documents accompanying the fishery products to be imported into the EU in accordance with the EU IUU Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008) as amended by Art 4 of 2023/2842. Article 4 provides a legislative basis for the establishment and functioning of the CATCH system.
The main objective of CATCH is to streamline the catch certification process and all linked procedures and to offer a fully digitised and paperless workflow. It facilitates the exchange of data, information and documents between all involved parties and control authorities and therefore simplifies and speeds up the administrative procedures.
CATCH is intended to improve the effectiveness of the EU IUU catch certification scheme by ensuring a centralised digital management environment with the objective to identify and prohibit importation into the EU of fishery products obtained from IUU fishing. CATCH offers the possibility to generate, validate and submit catch certificates and/or related documents by non-EU countries’ operators and authorities. CATCH enhances cooperation and coordination between the competent authorities of the EU Member States and between economic operators and their competent authorities.
The main objectives of CATCH are:
• to allow for the detection of fraudulent catch certificates;
• to prevent overuse of catch certificates through quantity management when catch certificates are used several times in relation to different consignments destined to the EU market;
• to support risk management applied to official controls;
• to harmonise the documentary workflows.
From 10 January 2026 the importers of fishery products in the EU will have to submit the catch certificates and related documents to the authorities in the Member States through CATCH.
Please note the use of the new CATCH system will be used in addition to the existing import process. The new system is only to be used for wild caught produce subject to the catch certification scheme, there is no change to the process for imports of exempt produce listed under EC Reg 202/2011 (aquaculture, freshwater species).
The EU Commission has provided training material and webinars that can be accessed here:
CATCH training webinars