EU imposes labelling rules on caviar trade
The European Union today said it would impose new rules to prevent the trade in illegal caviar due to the decline of the sturgeon fish population in the Caspian Sea.
The new law, which will come into force across the 25-nation bloc over the next few weeks, will force importers of all caviar products into the EU to put new labels to certify the product is “legally sourced caviar”, the European Commission said in a Brussels statement.
“The new regulation requires that all caviar containers, no matter their size and no matter whether the caviar is imported, packaged or be exported, bear a specific label specifying the source of the caviar and the year of harvest,” it said.
The labelling is meant to curb the illegal harvesting of caviar from sturgeon fish, which is listed as an endangered species by the UN ’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora or CITES.
