WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (2022)
The Agreement was adopted by consensus at the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in Geneva on 17 June 2022. It is the first WTO agreement whose primary focus is environmental sustainability, and only the second standalone multilateral agreement concluded at the WTO since its establishment in 1995 — the first being the Trade Facilitation Agreement (2013). It entered into force on 15 September 2025, after two-thirds of the WTO's 166 members (111 members) deposited their instruments of acceptance, crossing the threshold required under the WTO's amendment procedure.
- Adopted: 17 June 2022 (MC12, Geneva); entered into force: 15 September 2025
- Three core prohibitions: (i) subsidies to IUU fishing, (ii) subsidies to fishing of overfished stocks, (iii) subsidies for fishing on the unregulated high seas
- Members must notify an annual list of vessels/operators engaged in IUU fishing to the WTO
- A second, more contentious set of disciplines — covering subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing generally — remains under negotiation ("Fish 2" talks) and is not yet part of the binding text
● Tracked since July 20, 2026 · last seen July 27, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes
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