{"id":3384,"date":"2026-04-08T23:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T23:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/?p=3384"},"modified":"2026-04-13T08:06:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T08:06:57","slug":"eu-citizens-file-complaint-for-delays-in-response-to-anti-shark-fin-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/?p=3384","title":{"rendered":"EU citizens file complaint for delays in response to anti-shark fin campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The organizers of a campaign against shark finning in the European Union have filed a formal complaint against the EU Commission, accusing it of mishandling their case and missing deadlines.<\/p>\n

The European Citizens\u2019 Initiative (ECI) is an EU tool that allow citizens to participate in policy-making. The ECI known as \u201cStop Finning \u2013 Stop the Trade\u201d calls for legislative action by the European Commission to completely ban the shark fin trade in the EU.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Commission made concrete commitments in July 2023 \u2014 including launching an impact assessment by year-end \u2014 and then simply stopped communicating,\u201d Katharina Loupal, an organizer of the initiative, told Mongabay via email.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the EU banned shark finning for all EU- flagged vessels and all vessels in EU waters. However, loose shark fins can still be legally traded \u2014 imported, exported or transited \u2014 in European countries.<\/p>\n

Worldwide, shark populations have plummeted<\/a> since the 1970s and they continue to be among the most threatened species on the planet.<\/p>\n

Shark fins are in high demand in China and other Asian markets, often passing through transit hubs first. Despite international protections for several species, illegal trade is rife, often involving organized crime<\/span><\/a>. However, there is also a thriving legal trade in shark fins.<\/p>\n

The EU is a major fin exporter and transit hub, with Spanish and Portuguese fleets most commonly fishing for sharks in international waters. According to a 2022 International Foundation for Animal Welfare report, 45% of shark fin-related products imported into Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan in 2020 originated from EU member states. <\/span><\/p>\n

In 2022, the ECI collected more than 1.1 million signatures from EU residents, meeting the 1 <\/span>million threshold necessary to trigger legislative action. <\/span><\/p>\n

A July 2023 letter from <\/span><\/a>the European Commission stated that that it would \u201c<\/span>launch, by the end of 2023, an impact assessment on the environmental, social and economic consequences of applying the <\/span>\u2018<\/span>fins naturally attached<\/span>\u2019<\/span> policy to the placement on the market of sharks in the EU<\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Loupal said the impact assessment was initiated but the follow-up process has been slow and unclear. <\/span>She added <\/span>that the EU Commission failed to adhere to the <\/span>EU Charter of Fundamental Rights<\/span> and the ECI regulation, which requires the body to \u201cact within a reasonable timeframe and to keep organizers transparently informed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Once a complaint with the European Ombudsman, the EU\u2019s accountability mechanism, has been accepted, the body assesses whether an EU institution has acted unlawfully and can open a formal inquiry. <\/span><\/p>\n

A<\/span> European Commission <\/span>spokesperson told Mongabay via email that the impact assessment is expected to be finalized by the end of 2026. She said the <\/span>c<\/span>ommission is committed to \u201c<\/span>improving statistics on shark trade, stepping up the enforcement of EU traceability measures and engaging with international partners.<\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n

Mongabay has reported<\/a> on a similar situation in Brazil where the environment ministry has banned export of shark fins detached from the carcass , however, industry groups indicated they would challenge the new rule._<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Banner image<\/span>:<\/em><\/strong><\/span> Shark fins and a dead hammerhead shark. Image courtesy of Earth League International (ELI).<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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The organizers of a campaign against shark finning in the European Union have filed a formal complaint against the EU Commission, accusing it of mishandling their case and missing deadlines. The European Citizens\u2019 Initiative (ECI) is an EU tool that allow citizens to participate in policy-making. The ECI known as \u201cStop Finning \u2013 Stop the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nature-biodiversity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3386,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3384\/revisions\/3386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}