Assessing the effects of regulatory measures on the fisheries and aquaculture sectors: the SUCCESS approach.

In general, regulatory measures are expected to establish the conditions for the proper development of economic activities, e.g. by providing confidence to the consumers (standards), ensuring environmental sustainability (environmental regulations) and achieving economic efficiency (competition laws). However, regulatory measures also generate some impacts on the economic activities, which sometimes might even hamper their development. Moreover, some regulatory measures might be considered as excessive, especially in a globalized economy where the law differs from one place to the other.

The paper presents the approach which is developed within the H2020 European funded project SUCCESS to address the effects of the regulatory measures on fisheries and aquaculture sectors in Europe.

The paper first provides a general overview of the regulatory environment prevailing in the seafood sector in Europe, and in particular in the European Union. Based on preliminary information from case studies, the paper then shows how some specific regulatory measures are likely to affect the competitiveness of fisheries and aquaculture companies. Last, the paper will discuss how the H2020 research project SUCCESS intends to develop a generic framework to assess the impacts of regulatory measures.