Friend of the Sea is the first certification scheme for products from sustainable fisheries and aquaculture to have achieved official endorsement by an EU National Accreditation Body. This is the highest possible recognition of consistency and integrity that any certification program could aim at.<\/p>\n
\nOnly EU National Accreditation Bodies can carry out accreditation activities in the EU, according to the regulation of the European Parliament and Commission n° 765 of July 9, 2008. Any other private accreditation would thus be not compliant with EU Accreditation rules and possibly in infringement.<\/p>\n
\nFriend of the Sea is now working only with those Certification Bodies that have applied for this official EU accreditation.<\/p>\n
\n“EU National Accreditation positions Friend of the Sea above any other sustainable fisheries certification program, as far as independence and credibility are concerned”, comments Paolo Bray, Director and Founder of Friend of the Sea. “We are disappointed to learn that the new GSSI benchmark will accept application of schemes not compliant with the EU Accreditation rules as this surely weakens the validity of the GSSI assessment, with a potential to mislead companies and consumers.”<\/p>\n