According to the officials the main purpose of the visit was to verify that the actions proposed in February by Uruguay’s Competent Authority (CA), the National Directorate of Aquatic Resources (DINARA), were carried out. Complying with this requirement automatically empowers the country to recommend new plants and vessels to the European Commission’s (EC) Consolidated List of entities allowed to export to the European Union (EU).
According to the inspection officials they have evaluated all the inspection procedures, corrective follow-up actions, and laboratory. They also verified controls carried out by authorised facilities and two non-authorised facilities – proposed by DINARA – and building infrastructure improvements, which was one of the main remarks made during the inspections carried out by the Mission in November 2007.
The Mission inspected 8 out of 11 listed facilities and two plants proposed by DINARA that were in the process of adopting EC standards at the time, one of the latter is among the largest facilities of its kind in the country. Uruguayan fisheries authorities stated that the results of the inspection were extremely positive as the FVO inspectors were able to verify the improvement in CA procedures and in plant and vessel infrastructure, which involved in some cases a significant investment by part of the private sector.
According to the Uruguay officials the final report of the inspection will pave the way for the industry to regain its previous exporter status only five months after negative observations were made by the previous mission visiting in November.
