The Sustainable Eel Group has today announced the launch of a two-week public consultation on a proposed amendment to Criterion 1.3 of the SEG Standard. The consultation runs until Friday 19 December and invites feedback from all stakeholders, which includes members of our certificate holder community: fishers, traders, eel farmers, restockers and processors; NGOs, trade associations, conformity assessment bodies, governments and their agencies.

Criterion 1.3 was significantly strengthened in late 2023 with the publication of Version 7.0 of the SEG Standard. That revision raised the requirement for certified organisations to demonstrate that 95 to 100% of the eels they trade are sourced from SEG-certified glass eel fisheries, a major increase from the previous 50% threshold. This change reflected the strong uptake of certification by French glass eel fisheries, which supply much of the EU market, and SEG’s long-term ambition for the sector to reach full alignment with sustainability best practice.

However, SEG notes in the consultation paper that feedback from supply-chain participants over the past year has highlighted unforeseen outcomes of the higher threshold. These include reduced flexibility for operators who handle both certified and non-certified products, challenges for organisations newly entering the certification system, and reduced choice for each sellers and customers. SEG has responded to this feedback by considering re-evaluating the requirement in the short to medium term to ensure the system remains accessible and supportive of sector-wide progress.

The consultation document sets out several threshold options, including maintaining the current 95% or revising it to 90%, 75%, or 60%, and provides an analysis of the potential risks and benefits associated with each. SEG emphasises that any lower threshold would be temporary, acting as a transition step while continuing to push the sector toward long-term goals of 95 to 100% certified sourcing.

All relevant stakeholders, including certificate holders, trade associations, NGOs, conformity assessment bodies, governments, their agencies and the wider public, are encouraged to review the paper and submit their comments before the consultation closes on 19 December.

The consultation paper and response form are available here.