The MSC Labour Eligibility Requirements consolidate existing MSC labour requirements into a single document.
Fishery and Chain of Custody applicants and certificate holders must comply with MSC's labour eligibility requirements before being audited or certified to the MSC’s Fisheries or Chain of Custody standards.
Chain of Custody requirements extend to all applicants and certificate holders with processing or packing in their scope.
The document is organised into three main parts:
- Requirements for all applicants and certificate holders
- Requirements for applicants and certificate holders at sea
- Requirements for applicants and certificate holders on land
The MSC Labour Eligibility Requirements came into effect on 01 May 2023.
Requirements for all MSC applicants and certificate holders
Exclusion for entities convicted of forced or child labour violations
The MSC requires that fishery or Chain of Custody applicants or certificate holders shall not include any entity convicted for a forced or child labour violation in the last two years.
This applies to any of the following if they are implicated in a conviction for forced or child labour violations:
- Individual vessels or sites
- Groups of vessels or sites
- Individual members of an MSC certificate holder and/or client group.
The offence resulting in the conviction does not need to have occurred within the Unit of Assessment.
Requirements for at-sea applicants and certificate holders
Public reporting of policies and measures
All MSC certified fisheries and at-sea supply chain businesses are required to complete and submit the MSC At Sea Labour Eligibility Requirements Reporting Template.
The Reporting Template allows certified fisheries and at-sea supply chain businesses to detail the policies, practices and measures in place to ensure the absence of forced and child labour.
Reports for every fishery certified to the MSC Fisheries Standard can be found on Track a Fishery.
Requirements for land-based Chain of Custody applicants and certificate holders
The Labour Eligibility Requirements document extends existing requirements to all certified supply chain businesses that undertake processing and packing of certified seafood in all countries.
From 01 May 23 all applicants or certificate holders in all countries with processing or packing in their scope must submit a self-assessment of practices and measures in place their Conformity Assessment Body.
