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Vietnam moves towards developing sustainable, responsible fisheries
On October 23, 2017, the EC officially issued a “yellow-card” warning for Vietnam’s seafood exports
to the EU market. The EC also proposed nine recommendations that Vietnam should immediately
implement in six months (from October 23, 2017 to April 23, 2018). The “yellow card” is followed by
a “green card” if the problem is resolved or a “red card” if it isn’t. A “red card” can lead to a trade ban
on fishery products.
With the aim of getting back the “green card”, Vietnam has made efforts to implement recommenda-
tions of the EU and has taken drastic actions to prevent, and combat illegal, unreported and unregulated
(IUU) fishing.
Vietnam has issued a number of urgent solutions, including supplementing anti-IUU fishing regula-
tions to legal documents, enforcing the issued regulations, and the most important outcome is the
amended Law on Fisheries (approved by the National Assembly on November 21, 2017) incorporated
the EC recommendations as much as possible. Regulations relevant to IUU fishing are featured in
almost all chapters and articles of the law, from the chapter on general regulations to the ones on fish-
40 iF Magazine | August 2018