Trade agreements and seafood tariffs | Seafish

Trade agreements and seafood tariffs

Brexit could see changes to trade agreements and tariffs. We have published the potential changes for seafood products from 1 January 2021.



Trade agreements made by the EU with other nations and trading blocs will cease to apply in the UK on 1 January 2021. The UK has negotiated its own set of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and continuation agreements as it seeks to reproduce the effects of the EU agreements.

A list of existing UK trade agreements with non-EU countries is maintained on the gov.uk website.

The UK Global Tariff

The UK Global Tariff is the schedule of UK tariffs that will apply to goods entering the UK from 1 January 2021. The UK announced a trade agreement with the EU on 24 December meaning there will be zero tariffs on seafood of EU or UK origin traded between the UK and EU. We will publish the details once they are known. 

The tariffs in the UK Global Tariff are the UK’s ‘Most Favoured Nation’ (MFN) tariffs, and they replace the EU’s Common External Tariffs. The tariffs apply to goods where there is no Free Trade Agreement, preferential tariff regime or other agreement. If the UK and the EU fail to arrive at an agreement on tariffs, the UK Global Tariff will apply to imports from EU member states.

Compared to the EU’s Common External Tariff, the tariffs in the UK schedule are identical or slightly reduced for the same commodities. Tariffs that are reduced have been rounded down compared to the EU’s schedule. The rounding down is to align them with simplified tariff bandings. The tariff reductions range between 0 and 4% over all seafood product descriptions, with an average reduction of 0.7%.

The table below shows how the UK tariffs compare with the EU tariffs on a range of imported seafood.

Commodity code Product description Current EU Tariff UK Global Tariff
03025110 Fresh or chilled cod Gadus morhua 12.0% 12.0%
03034985 Frozen tunas of the genus Thunnus (excl. tunas for industrial processing or preservation and Thunnus alalunga, Thunnus albacares, Thunnus obesus, Thunnus thynnus, Thunnus orientalis and Thunnus maccoyii) 22.0% 20.0%
03047500 Frozen fillets of Alaska pollack Theragra chalcogramma 13.7% 12.0%
03047190 Frozen fillets of cod Gadus morhua, Gadus ogac 7.5% 6.0%
03047200 Frozen fillets of haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus 7.5% 6.0%
03063590 Cold-water shrimps and prawns "Pandalus spp.", whether in shell or not, live, fresh or chilled 12.0% 12.0%
03061792 Frozen shrimps of the genus Penaeus, even smoked, whether in shell or not, incl. shrimps in shell, cooked by steaming or by boiling in water 12.0% 12.0%
03071190 Oysters, even in shell, live, fresh or chilled (excl. live flat oysters "Ostrea" weighing "incl. shell" <= 40 g) 9.0% 8.0%
16041991 Frozen raw fish fillets, coated with batter or breadcrumbs, whether or not pre-fried in oil (excl. salmonidae, herrings, sardines, sardinella, brisling or sprats, tunas, skipjack and Atlantic bonito, bonito "Sarda spp.", mackerel, anchovies, fish of species Euthynnus and fish of species Orcynopsis unicolor) 7.5% 6.0%
16052190 Shrimps and prawns, prepared or preserved, in immediate packings of a net content of > 2 kg (excl. merely smoked, and in airtight containers) 20.0% 20.0%

You can check all of the UK trade tariffs that apply from 1 January 2021 on Gov.uk.

Get in touch

If you're looking for advice and information on tarrifs or trade agreements, email our Regulation experts at regulation@seafish.co.uk