Date of issue: 27 August 2026
Date of effect: 3 September 2026
Reference Number: MAA2026-08
Attention
- Industry bodies – Seafood Industry Australia, Seafood Export Consultative Committee
- Seafood Product Export Establishments
- Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry – Central and Regional offices
- Exporters, AEPI and NEXDOC users
Purpose
This Market Access Advice (MAA) notifies stakeholders that the European Union (EU) will prohibit the use of antimicrobials for growth promotion or yield enhancement in animals for all imports entering the EU supply chain from 3 September 2026. Antimicrobials, substances that act on micro-organisms, must only be used only for therapeutic purposes e.g. to treat a disease or medical condition.
These requirements apply regardless of the exporting country and will affect Australian commodities, such as beef, dairy and seafood exported to the EU.
There is no practical effect of this antimicrobial use prohibition, on the production of fish and fish products for export to the European Union. For these products, it is an administrative change affecting health certificates.
Key points
From 3 September 2026, the EU fish and fish products health certificates will include a new animal health attestation.
Finfish and crustaceans of aquaculture origin and their products
For Certificates to export non-viable aquaculture finfish and crustaceans (EUFXA3) and live aquaculture crustaceans (EUFXA4) the attestation reads in part as follows:
… the aquaculture animals from which the products have been derived have not been administered medicinal products for growth promotion or yield increase or antimicrobial medicinal products containing an antimicrobial that is included in the list of antimicrobials reserved for the treatment of certain infections in humans laid down [by the] Commission …
Hence, the attestation will apply [be ticked] for the non-viable aquaculture finfish and crustacean and live aquaculture crustacean certificates used to export aquaculture sourced product:
- EUFXA3: For the export of aquaculture origin frozen, chilled, dried and canned non-viable finfish and crustaceans that are packaged for retail sale e.g., Frozen yellowtail kingfish, fish oil from aquaculture species, frozen tuna
- EUFXA4: For the export of aquaculture origin live crustaceans packaged and labelled for human consumption
Molluscs, echinoderms and tunicates of aquaculture origin and their products
For Certificates to export molluscs, echinoderms and tunicates, the attestation applies to on-land aquaculture production only. It reads in part as follows:
… that [the live bivalve molluscs] [live echinoderms] [live tunicates] [live marine gastropods] of on-land aquaculture origin and the products of animal origin derived therefrom described in Part 1 …. have not been administered medicinal products for growth promotion or yield increase or antimicrobial medicinal products containing an antimicrobial that is included in the list of antimicrobials reserved for the treatment of certain infections in humans laid down [by the] Commission…
The attestation will apply [be ticked] only for certificates used to export live and non-viable gastropod molluscs when sourced from on-land aquaculture establishments. These are:
- EUFXB1 For the export of live AQUACULTURE marine gastropod molluscs
- EUFXB3 For the export of non-viable AQUACULTURE non-viable marine gastropods, echinoderms and tunicates ready for direct human consumption e.g. Frozen, chilled, canned
Due to the change to EUFXB3, one new certificate template for products sourced from the wild will be made available, on a date to be announced in a further Market Access Advice, as follows:
- EUFXB6 For the export of non-viable WILD ORIGIN marine gastropods, echinoderms and tunicates ready for direct human consumption e.g. sea urchin roe, canned abalone and abalone sauce.
To view the health certificates, please see FISH-CRUST-HC model set out in Chapter 28 of Annex III and MOL-HC model set out in Chapter 31 of Annex III: EUR-Lex - 02020R2235-20260312 - EN - EUR-Lex. The EU does not publish these health certificates as stand-alone documents.
Certificate issuance
Export registered establishments and exporters do not need to do anything about this change to certificates. The health certificates will continue to be issued via the EU Trade Control and Export System (TRACES-NT) as an eCert and through the department's Next Export Documentation (NEXDOC) system.
If your template to export fish and fish products to the EU has not been mentioned in this MAA, it is unaffected by the new antimicrobial rules.
Micor
The Manual of Importing Country Requirements (Micor) will be updated to reflect this MAA. The department encourages users of Micor to subscribe to the Micor update service for a commodity-specific email that lists changes that have been made the preceding week.
Further information
Contact exportstandards@aff.gov.au if you have any queries.
The information provided in this advice is current at the time of writing and is intended for use as guidance only and should not be taken as definitive or exhaustive. The Commonwealth endeavours to keep information current and accurate, however, it may be subject to change without notice. Exporters are encouraged to verify these details with their importers prior to undertaking production/exports. The Commonwealth will not accept liability for any loss resulting from reliance on information contained in this notice.