Exporting canned fish and seafood to Poland

Is your plant allowed to export to the EU?

Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and India are on the EU list of countries allowed to export fishery products. That is not enough: each processing plant, freezer vessel and cold store in the chain must be on the EU list of approved establishments for your country, which the European Commission publishes. Your national inspection authority (the body that issues export health certificates) audits the plant and proposes it for listing. Farmed fish and shrimp also require your country to run an EU-approved residue monitoring plan for aquaculture.

At the border

1. Your authority issues the official health certificate (EU model for fishery products) for each consignment.
2. The Polish importer creates the CHED-P entry in TRACES before the goods arrive.
3. The container is checked at an EU border control post, for example at the ports of Gdańsk or Gdynia: documents for every consignment, identity and physical checks at a set frequency, with lab sampling.
4. Only after release by the veterinary inspection can customs clear the goods.

If the goods enter the EU in Rotterdam or Hamburg, the border check happens there and the goods then move freely to Poland.

Catch certificate for wild-caught fish

To keep illegally caught fish out of the EU, wild-caught fishery products (including canned tuna, sardines and mackerel) need a catch certificate validated by the flag state of the fishing vessel. Since 10 January 2026 catch certificates must be submitted through the EU's digital CATCH system. Aquaculture products, freshwater fish and a few other products are exempt. If your tuna was caught by vessels of another country, you need their catch certificates plus a processing statement from your plant.

Product limits and names

• Histamine. Tuna, mackerel, sardines and other fish rich in histidine are tested for histamine (Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005). It rises when fish is not chilled fast enough after catch.
• Heavy metals. EU limits for mercury (higher for tuna and swordfish), cadmium and lead apply (Regulation (EU) 2023/915).
• Veterinary drug residues in farmed shrimp and fish (for example antibiotics or malachite green) are the most common reason for EU alerts on Asian seafood.
• Names. EU marketing standards decide which species may be sold as “sardines” and as “tuna” or “bonito”. Canned fish from other species must use other names.
• Sulphites used on shrimp must stay within limits and be declared as an allergen above 10 mg/kg.

Label

Canned fish follows the general EU label rules in Polish: name (for example „Tuńczyk w oleju słonecznikowym”), ingredients, allergens (fish, crustaceans, molluscs), nutrition table, drained weight as well as net weight, best before, lot and the Polish importer's details. The extra labelling of catch area and fishing gear required for fresh and frozen fish does not apply to canned products, but many buyers ask for it anyway for traceability.

Duty

Canned tuna is one of the most protected EU products, with a high standard duty. Vietnam has a duty-free quota for canned tuna under the EU–Vietnam agreement; Thai canned tuna pays the standard duty until an EU–Thailand agreement applies. Look up your code (HS 1604 for prepared fish, 1605 for crustaceans and molluscs) in Access2Markets.

What Poland imports: latest figures