NMFS: Jan. 1 Still Start Date for Requiring Certifications of Admissibility From 240 Countries

Starting Jan. 1, 240 fisheries across 46 countries will be subject to new import restrictions under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) which "seeks to prohibit fish imports from nations with unsustainable marine mammal bycatch," according to NMFS. The import restrictions, implemented via the submission of the COA, prevent the importation of fish or fish products that have been caught with commercial fishing technology that also results in seriously harming or killing ocean mammals in excess of U.S. standards (see 2509020014).

The COA certifies that an incoming shipment includes fish or fish products that are not subject to an import restriction, nor is the shipment derived from fisheries that are subject to import restrictions.

For example, Ecuador may harvest yellowfin tuna using two catch methods, where one is deemed admissible under the MMPA and the other is not. The tariff code doesn't differentiate the catch methods, so NMFS will need to rely on the COA to confirm the admissibility of the shipment, according to Rachael Confair, branch chief of the trade and commerce division at NOAA Fisheries, another name for NMFS.

Import restrictions are currently in place for certain fisheries in the Upper Gulf of California in Mexico, but "we are working with CBP to utilize the same procedures for the current import restrictions for the additional restrictions starting in January," Confair said.

Those CBP procedures include implementing the MMPA through a user-defined rule, or UDR, where the combination of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule code and the country of origin will trigger the import restriction, Confair said. After that, the shipment will be admissible only with the assigned COA form, she said.

But the COA requirements will not be incorporated into the Automated Broker Interface, or ABI, Confair said.

An entry may also require multiple COAs, depending on the species of the final product and the origin of the products within the shipment, she said.

"So, for instance, if a shipment contains shrimp from Indonesia and then mackerel from Vietnam, a COA will be required for the shrimp from Indonesia and then the mackerel from Vietnam," Confair said. "And so NOAA Fisheries is looking for the COA form to be uploaded" in CBP's document imaging system (DIS) or via a paper copy that accompanies the shipment at the port that will be uploaded after the fact, she said.

While federal agencies will continue to abide by the Jan. 1 implementation date for the COA, there still are some outstanding issues that NMFS will continue to work on.

For starters, NMFS is still working on developing procedures for intermediary nations, or nations that process or transship seafood products before they are exported to the U.S., according to Confair. NMFS hopes to work with nations in early 2026 to put the procedures in place, Confair said. Following that, NMFS will move on to implement the import restrictions as they relate to exporting nations, she continued.

Also, for now, the COA won't be required from swimming crab fisheries in Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, as the U.S. Court of International Trade stayed the Jan. 1 implementation date pending NOAA Fisheries' reconsideration of the comparability findings for these fisheries that target swimming crabs (see 2510310035), according to Confair.

Resources on the NMFS website are available for companies to determine whether a product is subject to an import restriction, NMFS staff said.

They also said during the webinar that they are trying to respond to questions about the upcoming deadline, acknowledging that the six-week shutdown impeded their efforts to respond in a more timely fashion. Staff urged importers and other trade stakeholders to go to NMFS' website for additional information on the new import compliance requirement. They also said questions may be directed to the COA support line at trademonitoring.support@noaa.gov.