Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera will travel to Brussels on Monday, to seek postponement of the ban on imports of Sri Lankan fisheries products into the European Union.
“We will try to see if we can get a postponement of this ban for at least for six months till we rectify whatever was not correct at ground level,” the Mr Samaraweera told The Sunday Times.
The new government presented a bill in parliament last Tuesday, to amend the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act to comply with measures to get the ban.
The European Commission announced the ban on imports of fisheries products from Sri Lanka, its second biggest importer in the sector, last October, with the measure coming into effect last week.
A spokesperson said the commission would continue to work with the government to support it in implementing a better system to adhere to regulations.
“For de-listing it must be demonstrated that the situation that warranted its listing has been rectified and concrete measures have been taken. The Commission is constantly monitoring the process of implementation of the recommendations made for Sri Lanka. So far, a number of measures have already been implemented; however other important actions have not yet been implemented,” a spokesperson for the EU said.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has written to the EU seeking a postponement to implement the EU recommendations, assuring that the requirements would be met within 6 months.
Sri Lanka promises to comply with fishing rules after UK complaint (13 May 2012)
EU bans fisheries imports from Sri Lanka (14 Oct 2014)
Greenpeace welcomes European ban on Sri Lankan fish (16 Oct 2014)
EU suspends fish imports from Sri Lanka (16 January 2015)