EN 17988-4:2024

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
oSIST prEN 17988-4:2023
01-september-2023
Krožna zasnova ribolovnega orodja in opreme za akvakulturo - 4. del: Okoljske in
krožne zahteve ter smernice
Circular design of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment - Part 4: Environmental and
circularity requirements and guidelines
Kreislaufwirtschaft von Fischfanggeräten und Aquakulturausrüstungen - Teil 4: Umwelt-
und Kreislaufanforderungen und Leitlinien
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: prEN 17988-4
ICS:
13.020.20 Okoljska ekonomija. Environmental economics.
Trajnostnost Sustainability
65.150 Ribolov in ribogojstvo Fishing and fish breeding
oSIST prEN 17988-4:2023 en,fr,de
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

oSIST prEN 17988-4:2023
oSIST prEN 17988-4:2023
DRAFT
EUROPEAN STANDARD
prEN 17988-4
NORME EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
July 2023
ICS
English Version
Circular design of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment
- Part 4: Environmental and circularity requirements and
guidelines
Kreislaufwirtschaft von Fischfanggeräten und
Aquakulturausrüstungen - Teil 4: Umwelt- und
Kreislaufanforderungen an und Leitlinien für
Fischfanggeräte und Aquakulturausrüstungen
This draft European Standard is submitted to CEN members for enquiry. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee
CEN/TC 466.
If this draft becomes a European Standard, CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations
which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.

This draft European Standard was established by CEN in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other
language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC
Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and
United Kingdom.
Recipients of this draft are invited to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patent rights of which they are
aware and to provide supporting documentation.

Warning : This document is not a European Standard. It is distributed for review and comments. It is subject to change without
notice and shall not be referred to as a European Standard.

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION

EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG

CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2023 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. prEN 17988-4:2023 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

oSIST prEN 17988-4:2023
prEN 17988-4:2023(E)
Contents Page
European foreword . Error! Bookmark not defined.
Introduction . Error! Bookmark not defined.
1 Scope . Error! Bookmark not defined.
2 Normative references . Error! Bookmark not defined.
3 Terms and definitions. Error! Bookmark not defined.
4 Principles . Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1 General . Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.2 Modular design using standardized components . Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.3 User (customer) requirements and needs . Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.4 Environmental conditions during use . Error! Bookmark not defined.
5 Design criteria throughout the different steps in the life cycleError! Bookmark not
defined.
5.1 Selection/ sourcing of materials and components/ parts or productsError! Bookmark
not defined.
5.2 Design for manufacture/assembly. Error! Bookmark not defined.
5.3 Design of placement/ installation/ deployment of the gear/ equipment . Error!
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5.4 Design for use and maintenance . Error! Bookmark not defined.
5.5 Design for end-of-use stage. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Bibliography . Error! Bookmark not defined.

oSIST prEN 17988-4:2023
prEN 17988-4:2023(E)
European foreword
This document (prEN 17988-4:2023) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC “466”, the
secretariat of which is held by NEN.
This document is currently submitted to the CEN Enquiry.
EN 17988 consists of the following parts, under the general title Circular design of fishing gear and
aquaculture equipment:
— Part 1: General requirements and guidance
— Part 2: User manual and labelling
— Part 3: Technical requirements
— Part 4: Environmental and circularity requirements and guidelines
— Part 5. Circular business models
— Part 6. Digitalization of gear and components
oSIST prEN 17988-4:2023
prEN 17988-4:2023(E)
Introduction
Directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the reduction of the
impact of certain plastic products on the environment lays down rules on different plastic products,
including fishing gear containing plastics, and sets requirement to the Member States to establish
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes. It also contains rules on minimum national annual
collection rates and report fishing gear placed on the market and waste fishing gear collected in ports.
In 2021 the Commission Implementing Decision M/574 on a standardization request to the European
Committee for Standardization as regards circular design of fishing gear in support of Directive (EU)
2019/904 was approved, which forms the basis for this document and the series it belongs to.
The purpose of this series of documents is to provide the stakeholders to address the different
aspects of circular design of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment.
In this part the environmental and circularity requirements and guidelines are addressed, which will
enable the reader of this document to more efficiently use materials and resources and reduce the
amount of plastics lost as waste.
oSIST prEN 17988-4:2023
prEN 17988-4:2023(E)
1 Scope
This document specifies the environmental and circularity requirements for the components of
fishing gear and aquaculture equipment which contain plastics. It will establish sustainability
principles that minimize the negative impact of the plastic components of fishing gear and
aquaculture equipment on the environment, taking into account the impact on its performance (e.g.
catchability or life span). The circular and environmental design of fishing gear and aquaculture
equipment focuses on:
— selection/ sourcing of materials and components
— manufacture/assembly
— placement/ installation/ deployment of the gear/ equipment
— use and maintenance repair
— end-of-use stage
Transport, storage and distribution are taken into account at the different stages, where applicable.
Excluded: Design aspects related to fishing or aquaculture techniques or management.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments)
applies.
IEC 62430, Environmentally conscious design (ECD) — Principles, requirements and
guidance
EN 17988-2, Circular design of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment - User manual and
labelling
EN 17988-3, Circular design of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment - Technical
requirements
3 Terms and definitions
No terms and definitions are listed in this document.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
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4 Principles
4.1 General
Figure 1 — Stages in product life, Linear flow/schematic (Elements in schematic are
differently organized than in Figure B.1 of IEC 62430).

Figure 2 — Stages in product life, Circular paradigm
This document will provide the reader with guidance, recommendations and requirements for
changing from a linear product life economy (Figure 1) to a circular one (Figure 2) focusing on
environmental and circular design but also respecting the technical requirements for fishing gear
and aquaculture equipment, EN 17988-3 and general principles described in IEC 62430.
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prEN 17988-4:2023(E)
This document will focus on the principles for retaining fishing gear and aquaculture equipment or
parts thereof in the circular economy for as many cycles as feasible, together with minimizing the
negative impact of the plastic components on the environment. It will provide design criteria for
achieving this goal while balancing it with the impact on its performance (e.g. catchability or life
span); it can be expected that there are trade-offs between the different criteria which will need to
be evaluated for their impact on the product.
— The characteristics of materials/ parts/ components shall be preserved as much as possible
(durability, longevity)
— Materials/ parts shall be collected when damaged to be repaired and prepared for reuse, and at
their end-of-use
— Transport, weight and packaging dimensions (including stack ability) of parts/ kits, etc. shall be
taken into account
— EPR schemes shall be taken into account where available
It is important to consider the technical requirements for the specific type, size and use of the fishing
gear and/or aquaculture equipment.
Issues like traceability and materials identification (e.g. via a product circularity data sheet) are
important, but will not be covered in detail in this document. Here the reader is referred to
EN 17988-2.
Concerning fishing gear, the issue of selectivity towards (aquatic) marine species and the size (which
is linked to the age) for a given species is very important. For one, unwanted species add unnecessary
and useless weight to the catch. For another, there are national and regional regulations concerning
unwanted catch, as well as forbidding catching of protected species or younger fish. While this is an
important environmental as well as commercial issue, it is not a focus in this document and is
addressed by applicable legislation.
4.2 Modular design using standardized components
In modular design one uses standardized components/ parts to assemble the product in a way that
(1) the individual components/ parts can be exchanged and that (2) the product can be dismantled/
disassembled into the individual components again.
As a consequence, modular design and the use of standardized components/ parts allow for more
efficient manufacture and assembly (5.2), repair, refurbishing and replacing of components (5.4) as
well as dismantling/ disassembly and re-use of components (5.5).
Modular design also allows for use of the same standardized components/ parts in different
products, allowing more efficient use of these components/ parts, a more efficient management of
the stock, which ensures better availability of spare parts for gear/ equipment.
4.3 User (customer) requirements and needs
User (customer) requirements and needs will depend on the specific intended use of the fishing gear
and aquaculture equipment, the environment and/ or vessel it will be used in/ on and the personal
preferences of the individual fisher or fishing company.
As a result, the current products in the fishing gear and aquaculture sector show a very high degree
of diversification. This may seem to be in contradiction to the modular concept described in section
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prEN 17988-4:2023(E)
4.2. but does not necessarily have to be the case. Correct modular design may allow for a high degree
of diversification in final product design.
To ensure that the user (customer) requirements are taken into account during the design phase of
the net, it needs to be ensured that the net producers receive the correct information from the users
(customers) and also that the users (customers) receive up to date information on nets/ net materials
and their performance. Usually, this information flow passes via the gear producers, and it must
therefore be ensured that there is no information lost or altered when passed on.
4.4 Environmental conditions during use
Fishing gear and aquaculture equipment will be used in very diverse aquatic (including marine)
environments, with specific combinations of parameters including not only the water temperature,
pressure and salinity, but also the weather (atmospheric conditions) and the specific location (high
sea, coastal area etc.). With exception of the specific location these conditions may be subject to
variations in time, and it will be important to know the limits between which these variations occur.
When designing the fishing gear or aquaculture equipment the location as well as the limits of the
other parameters will need to be taken into account. Care shall be taken to neither under nor over
design the gear/ equipment. Under designing will result in premature failure while over design
...