Mandatory use of the EU CATCH system for fish imports from January 10, 2026
From January 10, 2026, the competent authorities of the EU Member States and economic operators will be obliged to use CATCH for the import of fishery products on the basis of Regulation (EU) 2023/2842.The CATCH system is a digital information management system of the European Union that was developed as part of the TRACES NT platform. It is intended to enable a simplified and paperless exchange of documents (such as catch certificates for fishery products) and information between all parties within and outside the EU.
The aim is to identify and prevent the import of fishery products from IUU fishing into the EU. CATCH can also be used by authorities and economic operators from non-EU countries to ensure a fast and digital document flow from the place of origin of the fishery products to their delivery to the EU.To import consignments of fishery products into the EU, importers must submit the required documents and the information contained therein to the competent authorities of the EU Member States via CATCH. The authorities of the Member States process this submission via CATCH.
DG SANTE's step-by-step guide to registering for TRACES NT
To register for the use of CATCH, you must first create an EU Login Account. To do this, follow the EU Login User Guide and then use the step-by-step instructions from DG SANTE to register for the TRACES NT (basis for using CATCH).
Instructions for using CATCH
DG SANTE currently offers written instructions on how to use CATCH. In addition, several video tutorials are available, which have also been provided by DG SANTE. Both the written instructions and the videos are in English.
Training offer
The training sessions are conducted online. Economic operators can try out CATCH in the test version by logging in with the following access data:
- User: fish.importerXX@ec-traces.eu (please replace XX with 01 or 02 or 03.....)
- Password: Welovetnt2025.0