us seafood import monitoring programme in october 2016 china raised its concern regarding the us seafood import monitoring program simp published by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration noaa in february 2016. china praised us efforts to combat illegal unreported and unregulated iuu fishing and seafood fraud. however china considered the proposed rule to be inconsistent with a number of key principles of the wto such as transparency national treatment scientific justification and least trade restrictiveness. china urged the united states to notify the measure as soon as possible and to provide members with at least a 60-day comment period and a 6-month transition period. china also noted that us traceability requirements and catch certification for at-risk species applied only to imported fish and fish products and not to domestic products. additionally the measure was not based on science as it would finally apply to all imported aquatic products regardless of risk levels and making no distinctions between aquaculture products and wild capture fisheries. china indicated that the regulation required more information than necessary and overlapped with other rules including the international trade data system itds which increased costs and generated unnecessary market access delays. china added that the rule would do little to combat illegal fishing. china requested more information and expressed its availability to work closely with the united states with a view to combating iuu fishing and seafood fraud in a wto consistent manner. china looked forward to seeing the us notification for this measure. chile shared chinas concern indicating that it would follow this issue closely and hoped that the measure would be notified soon. the united states noted that this issue did not fall under the sps agreement. the objective of the proposed rule was to combat iuu fishing and seafood fraud. the proposed rule would require importers to report certain information upon entry into the united states to hel trace back the shipment to the catch or harvest point. the united states further explained that the rule had been developed through a transparent process of public notice and comments involving domestic and foreign stakeholders as well as exporting authorities. the noaa had received many comments including from china which were being considered in the first phase of the programme covering a reduced list of species. the rule would eventually cover all seafood species in subsequent phases. the united states finally highlighted its common objective with china to combat iuu fishing and seafood fraud and expressed its interest in a continued engagement on this issue. in march 2017 china raised its concern regarding the us seafood import monitoring program simp published by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration noaa in february 2016 which had entered into effect in january 2017 without being notified to the wto for comments by members. china stated that the proposed rule was inconsistent with a number of key wto principles such as transparency national treatment scientific justification and least trade restrictiveness. china also noted that the united states traceability requirements and catch certification for at-risk species applied only to imported fish and fish products and not to domestic products. additionally the measure was not based on science as it would apply to all imported aquatic products regardless of risk levels and without distinction between aquaculture products and wild capture fisheries. china indicated that the regulation required more information than necessary and overlapped with other rules including the international trade data system itds which increased costs and generated unnecessary market access delays. china added that the rule would do little to combat illegal fishing and urged the united states to postpone its implementation until members comments were sought and taken