Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2007)330 - Authorisations for fishing activities of Community fishing vessels outside Community waters and the access of third country vessels to Community waters - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2007)330 - Authorisations for fishing activities of Community fishing vessels outside Community waters and the access of third country ... |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2007)330  |
| date | 18-06-2007 |
- Grounds for and objectives of the proposal
The proposal follows the proposal laid down in 2006-08 Action plan for simplifying and improving the Common Fisheries Policy i. With regard to the changed circumstances for fisheries outside Community waters since the adoption of Council Regulation (EC) No 3317/94 of 22 December 1994 laying down general provisions concerning the authorization of fishing in the waters of a third country under a fisheries agreement i and in order to comply with international obligations, it is necessary to introduce a general Community system for authorisation of all fishing activities of Community vessels outside Community waters.
The rules for access of vessels flying the flag of a third country to Community waters, as currently laid down in several different legal texts, should also be redefined and, as far as appropriate, aligned with the rules applicable to Community fishing vessels.
Introducing electronic exchange of data in the administrative process, where possible, will allow the speed up of the procedures, ensure higher quality output of the process, allow to inform all concerned administrations to get feed-back on-line or via e-mail and increase the overall efficiency of the administrative process.
- General context
The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) covers not only the fishing activities in Community waters, but also fishing activities of Community fishing vessels outside those waters. Fishing activities in international waters and in the waters of third countries are to a large extent covered by bilateral or multilateral agreements to which the Community is party. In order to comply with the obligations deriving from those agreements as well as to serve the objectives of the CFP it is important that there is a clear set of rules concerning the authorisation of fishing activities and the control on those activities by the Member States and the Commission.
The Community fishing fleet is active in the territorial waters of around 20 third countries, under the scope of bilateral agreements between those countries and the Community. Most of these agreements are agreements with a financial contribution for the Community, in particular this is the case for the agreements with African and South American states, like for example Gabon, Cap Verde, Senegal, Mauritania, Madagascar, Mozambique, Mauritius, São Tomé et Principe, Seychelles, Kiribati, Micronesia and Salomon Islands but also for example for the agreement with Greenland. The other Northern agreements however, concluded with Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, as well as with French Guyana, do not entail a financial contribution for the Community and are mainly based on the trading of fishing rights.
In the international waters the Community fleet engages in fishing activities under the scope of the various Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (RFMO) agreements: Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO), International Convention for the conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), Indian Ocean tuna Commission (IOTC), Northeast Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC), Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) and the Southeast Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (SEAFO).
Apart from the activities regulated under those agreements, Community fishing vessels engage in fishing activities on high seas, not covered by any specific agreement.
The management of the fishing activities takes place through the granting of authorisations to the vessels concerned. The types of authorisations to be issued as well as the procedures differ between the various agreements.
For bilateral agreements, the third country is responsible for issuing authorisations. After concluding the agreement and the repartition of rights between the Member States by the Council, the Commission will transmit requests to the third country and will consequently inform the Member States of the authorisation that have been issued. The administrative procedures relating to those types of agreements both within the Member States as well as the Commission are often heavy and require the compositions of detailed files for each vessel concerned. Where the agreement involves a financial contribution from the Community, further administrative work is necessary for calculation of fees, inventories of errors etc. Approximately 400 Community fishing vessels share 1,600 authorisations yearly to fish under such agreements. As regards the agreements without financial contribution, quota transfers are usual to occur and require that new authorisations are requested. Around 850 Community Fishing vessels share 1600 authorisations under such type of agreements.
Authorisation of fishing activities under the RFMO agreements is usually being coordinated by the secretariat of the RFMO. The procedures are generally simpler. For most cases authorisation takes place by establishing lists of authorised vessels, which are sent to the RFMO secretariat. There is however no harmonisation of the procedures applicable under the various RFMOs. Currently, around 8,000 Community fishing vessels have been authorised (13,000 authorisations) to fish under the scope of the RFMO agreements.
Vessels flying the flag of a third country can be granted access to Community waters. Currently authorisations are granted for 250 vessels, the majority being Norwegian vessels authorised to fish in Community waters under the scope of the yearly agreement between Norway and the Community. The procedure for authorising third country vessels to fish in Community waters is of a different character that the activities mentioned above. For these types of authorisations, the Commission is the authority authorised to issue the authorisation and the rules and procedures are established in Community legislation rather than based on provisions following from the agreements in question.
- Existing provisions in the area of the proposal
The existing provisions relating to the authorisation of fishing activities of Community fishing vessels outside Community waters are currently laid down in several different legal texts. Regulation (EC) No 3317/94 contains the general rules concerning the procedure for transmitting applications to third countries.
Apart from these procedural provisions, there exist various specific rules with regard to the authorisation of fishing activities under certain bilateral fisheries agreements and under Regional Fisheries Management Organisations, such as for example in Council Regulations (EC) No 2847/1993 of 12 October 1993 establishing a control system applicable to the common fisheries policy i (EC) No 41/2007 of 21 December 2006 fixing for 2007 the fishing opportunities and associated conditions for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Community waters and, for Community vessels, in waters where catch limitations are required i and several Council Regulations adopting provisions regarding bilateral fisheries agreements and RFMO agreements.
Moreover, as regards the fishing activities of third country fishing vessels in Community waters is regulated in Title VI of Regulation (EC) No 2847/93 as well as in the yearly TAC and Quota Regulation.
The proposal is intended to align these existing provisions and to repeal Regulation (EC) No 3317/94 and some of provisions of the Regulations mentioned above. Specific conditions, applicable under the various agreements, not directly linked to the procedure and conditions for the authorisation of fishing will remain to be in force.
- Consistency with other policies and objectives of the Union
The proposal will serve the objectives of the CFP as well as allow the Community to better ensure compliance with its international obligations.
- Consultation of interested parties
Consultation methods, main sectors targeted and general profile of respondents
The Commission has held several meetings with National Administrations. The Advisory Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture (ACFA) has also been consulted.
The parties consulted have supported the proposals from the Commission to clarify, simplify and improve the procedures for the management of fishing authorisations.
Broad support was received on the proposal to ensure better compliance with international obligations. Some ACFA members expressed concerns on the application of sanctions with regard to less serious infringements as well as on the powers granted to the Commission for refusing transmission of requests.
- Collection and use of expertise
Scientific/expertise domains concerned
Managers of fishing authorisations in National Administrations and the Commission.
Several meetings with the experts concerned have been held.
Managers of fishing authorisations: Member States and Commission Administrators.
All available expertise has been taken into account to determine the content of the proposed Regulation.
The experts' opinion and advice concerned administrative tasks. They have not been made available to the public.
- Impact assessment
The aim of this Regulation is to simplify and improve the procedures related to the management of fishing authorisations.
Its application will have a great impact in the simplification of the daily work of National Administrations and of the Commission. The Regulation introduces clear rules and a single procedure to be applied for the management of all fishing authorisations and fixes the general division of responsibilities between the Commission and the Member States.
It will reduce the workload not only on administrators but on fishermen also, in particular through increased use of computerisation and automation of certain procedures. Given the vast amount of authorisations for Community fishing vessels yearly dealt with by the national administration and Commission, this will allow for better coordination of the work and significantly simplify the daily tasks of those administrations.
The application of the Regulation will facilitate a better compliance of rules by fishermen and a better enforcement of the CFP rules by the introduction of eligibility criteria, sanctions and the reinforcement of reporting of catches and fishing effort.
Contents
- LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE PROPOSAL
- 2. CONSULTATION OF INTERESTED PARTIES AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT
- Summary of responses and how they have been taken into account
- Methodology used
- Main organisations/experts consulted
- Summary of advice received and used
- Methods used to make the results of these expert opinions available to the public
- 4. BUDGETARY IMPACT
- Summary of the proposed action
The proposed Regulation sets up general rules and conditions to be applied for all transmissions of the requests for authorisations. This will not only create clarity for the Member States and fishermen on what conditions need to be fulfilled, but will also help the Commission to manage the transmissions in a more effective and efficient way. Its application will simplify the daily work of National Administrations and of the Commission. The Regulation introduces clear rules and a single procedure to be applied for the management of all fishing authorisations and fixes the general division of responsibilities between the Commission and the Member States.
The proposal will also provide the necessary legal framework for the application of simplified and uniform electronic transmission of data and to enhance reporting. Such an exchange is not only necessary in order to keep up with the technical evolution, but needed to facilitate a speeding up of procedures, whilst decreasing the risks of mistakes being made throughout the process. Such a system will allow Commission and Member States and, where appropriate, fishermen to get feed-back on-line or via e-mail at every stage of the process and increases the overall efficiency of the administrative process.
Apart from the changes with regard to the administrative process, the proposal will better ensure compliance of rules by fishermen and a better enforcement of the CFP rules by the introduction of eligibility criteria, sanctions and the reinforcement of reporting of catches and fishing effort. The regulation excludes for authorisations, all vessels that have not complied with their obligations during the preceding year, or that have been listed by a RFMO as 'IUU vessel', being a vessel involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Moreover, compliance with international obligations under the various agreements is strengthened by introducing measures obliging Member States to prohibit fishing for a vessel which has been involved in a serious infringement or has been placed on an IUU list.
In order to ensure compliance of the Member States with their reporting obligations regarding fishing activities falling under the scope of agreements, enforcement of those rules by the Commission is enhanced, by allowing the Commission to refuse transmission of requests for a Member State as long as it has not fully complied with those reporting obligations.
Moreover, in order to avoid over utilisation of fishing rights, the Commission needs to be enabled to refuse the transmission of request for fishing authorisations in case the fishing possibilities available to a Member State concerned are clearly not sufficient for the number of authorisations requested.
Finally, in order to ensure that fishing opportunities available to the Community will be made use of in the fullest extent possible, it would be necessary to introduce some sort of measures allowing for temporary reallocation of fishing authorisations in the case of underutilisation of fishing opportunities.
- Legal basis
Article 37 of the Treaty is taken as the legal basis, with regard to the broad scope of the Regulation and given the importance of this text for the functioning of the CFP in the international context.
- Subsidiarity principle
This proposal falls within the ambit of the CFP, which is the exclusive competence of the Community. Therefore, the subsidiarity principle does not apply.
- Proportionality principle
The proposal complies with the proportionality principle for the following reason(s).
- The proposal allows the Community to comply with its international obligations;
- The proposal reflects a fair distribution of the financial and administrative burden between all actors.
- Choice of instruments
As it concerns a field of exclusive competence for the Community and seen the need for rules to be applied directly and similarly by all actors concerned, the legislation is proposed in the form of a Regulation.
There is not impact for the Community budget.