Marine Stewardship Council

The Marine Stewardship Council is an international non-profit organisation which has set credible standards, epitomised with the blue tick logo, for sustainable fishing and supply chain traceability.

The MSC standard is designed to promote ecological sustainability of fisheries resources and associated ecosystems.

In January 2018 MSC announced key changes to MSC certification requirements include strengthening labour requirements. In recognition of growing concern about labour abuses in the global seafood supply chain, the MSC will extend its existing provisions to address forced labour in fisheries and supply chain companies. Currently, fishing and supply chain companies and their subcontractors that have been successfully prosecuted for forced labour violations in the past two years are not eligible to participate in the MSC program. The MSC proposes to extend this provision to require that high risk supply chain companies pass an audit against the forced and child labour provisions of credible third party social standards such as SEDEX, BSCI and SA8000. Fisheries and at-sea chain of custody holders will be required to complete a self-disclosure document that reports on the measures, policies and practices that are in place to ensure absence of forced and child labour. Fisheries and supply chain companies will need to comply with these new requirements from 2019. For high risk fisheries, MSC will extend these requirements to an audit when appropriate third party social standards relevant to at-sea operations have been developed.

New measures introduced to combat forced and child labour in seafood businesses. 28 March 2019.

The MSC announced new requirements for seafood suppliers and processers. They include the introduction of independent audits of labour practices for supply chain companies if a risk of forced or child labour practices is established. Introduced as part of an update made to the MSC’s Chain of Custody Standard, the new rules require all MSC certificate-holders to undergo an audit of their labour practices and policies, unless they can demonstrate that they are at “lower risk” of practising forced or child labour.  The audit requirement will come into effect on 28 September 2019, with companies given a 12-month grace period to implement a labour audit.