Considerations on COM(2016)273 - Proposal for a regulation defining characteristics for fishing vessels (recast)

Please note

This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.

 
 
table>(1)Council Regulation (EEC) No 2930/86 (3) has been substantially amended (4). Since further amendments are to be made, that Regulation should be recast in the interests of clarity.
(2)In the framework of the Common Fisheries Policy, reference is made to the characteristics of fishing vessels, such as length, breadth, tonnage, date of entry into service and engine power.

(3)It is essential that identical rules for determining the characteristics of fishing vessels be used in order to unify the conditions for the pursuit of the activity in the Union. Those rules should be in line with the standards of the Common Fisheries Policy.

(4)The definitions laid down in this Regulation should be based upon initiatives already taken by specialist international organisations.

(5)Therefore, account should be taken of the United Nations Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources of the High Seas, signed in Geneva on 29 April 1958, the International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships, signed in London on 23 June 1969 (the ‘1969 Convention’) and the International Convention for the Safety of Fishing Vessels, signed in Torremolinos on 2 April 1977.

(6)For fishing vessels with a length overall of less than 15 metres, the methodology laid down in Annex I to the 1969 Convention is in certain cases inappropriate. Therefore, for those vessels a simpler definition of gross tonnage is desirable.

(7)The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has drawn up standards on internal combustion engines which are widely applied in Member States.

(8)In order to adapt the reference to the relevant ISO International Standard setting out the requirements for the determination of the continuous engine power to technical progress, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of the adoption of the necessary amendments to the reference to the relevant ISO International Standard. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (5). In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts,