33 seafood consignments rejected during Jan-June

As many as 33 seafood consignments were rejected during January-June period this year on reasons like presence of antibiotics, Parliament was informed today.
In 2015, the total number of consignments refused was 43.
"Main reasons for such import refusals/rejections are presence of pathogenic bacteria and banned veterinary drug residues (antibiotics) in aqua cultured shrimp," Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sithraman said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.
She said the ministry has taken remedial measures to bring down the rejections and the steps include operating a nationwide network of ELISA labs and sophisticated quality control labs.
Replying to a separate question, she said India has demanded special and differential (S&D) treatment in fishery subsidy disciplines being negotiated at the WTO so that small and marginal fisherman get exempted.

In the negotiations, she said: "India and some of the WTO member countries have reiterated the need for S&D provisions as an integral part of fishery subsidy discipline."

Replying to another question, the minister said the intellectual property right chapter in the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement has not yet been finalised.
The 16-member bloc RCEP comprises 10 ASEAN members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and their six free trade agreement partners -- India, China, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
RCEP negotiations were launched in Phnom Penh in November 2012. The 16 countries account for over a quarter of the world's economy, estimated to be more than USD 75 trillion.