Considerations on COM(2022)263 - Authorisation of Poland to ratify the amendment to the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Pollock Resources in the Central Bering Sea

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dossier COM(2022)263 - Authorisation of Poland to ratify the amendment to the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Pollock Resources in ...
document COM(2022)263 EN
date March  9, 2023
 
(1) The European Union (‘Union’) is a Contracting Party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 7 , which requires all members of the international community to cooperate in conserving and managing the biological resources of the sea.

(2) The Union is also a Contracting Party to the Agreement on the implementation of the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982, relating to the conservation and management of straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks 8 .

(3) Under Article 3(1)(d) and 3(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Union has exclusive competence in the field of conservation of marine biological resources under the Common Fisheries Policy. The powers thus conferred on the Union on the internal level also include the Union´s power to cooperate in international organisations, including in the framework of regional fisheries management organisations.

(4) The Republic of Poland is a Contracting Party to the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Pollock Resources in the Central Bering Sea (‘the Convention’). The Union is not a party to the Convention. By virtue of Article 6(9) of the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the European Union is founded 9 , as from the date of accession, fisheries agreements concluded by the new Member States with third countries are to be managed by the Union. Any decisions established under the said Convention should be implemented in the legal order of the Union

(5) It is in the Union's interest to play an effective role in the implementation of the Convention. Such course of action will also promote consistency in the Union's conservation approach across oceans and reinforce its commitment to the long-term conservation and sustainable use of fisheries resources globally.

(6) A Council Decision 10  authorised the Republic of Poland to negotiate, in the interest of the European Union, an amendment to the Convention that would allow the participation of the European Union as a full party to the Convention. To that end, the Republic of Poland was to propose an amendment to the Convention in order to allow participation of regional economic integration organisations and to allow for the European Union to become party to the Convention. 

(7) The Republic of Poland proposed the aforesaid amendment to the Convention to the Depositary of the Convention in October 2016. 

(8) The Republic of Poland should therefore be authorised to ratify the amendment to the Convention.