Claims of Logo Misuse Under Investigation

Claims of the intentional misuse of an Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certificate are currently under investigation.

The ASC has become aware that a company operating under the name of Langenes AS has posed as an ASC certified seafood business using the certificate ASC-DNV-281453. This is the rightful and valid ASC certificate of Nova Sea AS. The ASC understands the certificate has been altered by inserting the name and address of Langenes AS, a legitimate Norwegian company which does not operate within the seafood industry and, as such, the matter has been referred to Norwegian police.

Langenes AS is not an ASC certified seafood business and the ASC advises anyone who comes into contact with this entity to proceed with caution. We advise businesses to always check ASC certificate numbers and the name of suppliers with the certifying body and against the ASC website before entering into formal negotiations. The transparency of the ASC programme means it can be quickly proven if a certificate is valid and matches the supplier name, ensuring cases such as this are rare.

If any business has been affected or approached by Langenes AS, they should contact law enforcement authorities in the jurisdiction in which they operate and file a complaint. If possible, they should also notify the third-party Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) who issued the certificate.

To ensure the misuse of ASC certificates remains a rare occurrence, each company in the supply chain handling or selling an ASC certified product must have a valid Chain of Custody (CoC) certificate issued by an independent CAB following a successful audit of the company. This assures consumers and seafood-buyers that ASC labelled products come from a certified responsible farm.