Notice description
As of April 8, 2026, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has been accepting Catch Certificate Signatory Requests through the National Online Licensing System (NOLS). The amended European Union (EU) Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) regulations, which came into force on January 10, 2026, require that certain fish and seafood products imported into the EU be accompanied by a catch certificate signed by the licence holder or vessel master—or by their duly authorized representative.
The EU requirement for a licence holder or vessel master to verify and sign the catch information on each catch certificate is intended to ensure that the information has been confirmed at its source by the harvester. In Canada, however, harvesters do not typically use the Fisheries Certificate System (FCS), which is designed as a traceability tool to support export certification. Because Canadian catch certificates for the EU are issued at the point of export, it is generally not feasible for all licence holders to sign each certificate prior to shipment—particularly during busy fishing seasons.
To address this, licence holders must formally authorize the applicant manager of the company that buys their catches, to sign catch certificates on their behalf. Applicant managers must be duly authorized by the licence holder to enter catch reports into catch certificate applications based on information they receive from the licence holder, and then to sign-off on these catch reports confirming that the information is a true representation of the licence holder’s catches. Foreign officials will only accept catch certificates if the signature appearing next to a licence holder’s catch report is the signature of the individual authorized to sign on their behalf.
When a fisher authorizes an applicant manager from a buyer company, the authorization applies only to the act of signing the catch certificate. It does not grant any additional authority, permissions, or decision making rights to the applicant manager.
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