Commission Regulation (EC) No 1438/2003 of 12 August 2003 laying down implementing rules on the Community Fleet Policy as defined in Chapter III of Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002

• Coming into Force: 20 August 2003,01 January 2003
• End of Effective Date: 30 November 2010
• Celex Number: 32003R1438
• ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2003/1438/oj
• Published date: 13 August 2003
• Date: 12 August 2003
• Official Gazette Publication: Official Journal of the European Union, L 204, 13 August 2003

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Commission Regulation (EC) No 1438/2003 of 12 August 2003 laying down implementing rules on the Community Fleet Policy as defined in Chapter III of Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002

Official Journal L 204 , 13/08/2003 P. 0021 - 0029

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1438/2003

of 12 August 2003

laying down implementing rules on the Community Fleet Policy as defined in Chapter III of Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 of 20 December 2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy(1), and in particular Article 11(5), Article 12(2), Article 13(3) and Article 14(2) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) The adjustment in fishing capacity of the Community fishing fleet should be monitored closely to bring it into line with the available resources. To that end, Chapter III of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 sets out a number of specific measures.

(2) Rules should be laid down to ensure the correct implementation of Chapter III of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 by the Member States, taking into account all relevant parameters for the management of fleet capacity, in terms of tonnage (GT) and power (kW), provided for in that Regulation and also in Council Regulation (EC) No 2369/2002 of 20 December 2002 amending Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999 laying down the detailed rules and arrangements regarding Community structural assistance in the fisheries sector(2).

(3) Reference levels for fishing capacity should be fixed at 1 January 2003 for the fleet of each Member State, with the exception of its fleet registered in the outermost regions.

(4) It is necessary to establish rules for the adjustment of the reference levels to take account of Article 11(4) and (5), Article 13(2) and, for reasons of transparency, Article 13(1)(b)(ii) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 and of the re-measurement of the Community fleet which is to be completed by the end of the year 2003 in accordance with Council Regulation (EEC) No 2930/86 of 22 September 1986 defining characteristics for fishing vessels(3), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 3259/94(4).

(5) It is necessary to establish rules to assess whether Member States who grant renewal aid after 1 January 2003 comply with the obligation to reduce their reference level of 1 January 2003 by 3 % on 1 January 2005.

(6) Requests by Member States submitted to the Commission before 31 December 2002 to increase their objectives in the Fourth Multiannual Guidance Programme (MAGP IV), as provided for in Article 6(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999(5), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 179/2002(6), and Article 3 and Article 4(2) of Council Decision 97/413/EC(7), as amended by Decision 2002/70/EC(8), are to be taken into account where appropriate for the determination of reference levels.

(7) It is necessary to establish a calculation method in order to assess whether Member States manage entries into and exits from their fleet of fishing vessels in compliance with Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002.

(8) For the calculation of the overall fishing capacity of the fleet at 1 January 2003 special treatment should be given to entries into the fleet of vessels for which an administrative decision was taken between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2002 in conformity with the legislation applicable at that time and in accordance with the national entry/exit regime notified to the Commission under Article 6 of Decision 97/413/EC, provided that those vessels enter the fleet not later than three years after the date of the administrative decision by the concerned Member State.

(9) Implementing rules are needed for decisions by Member States on the eligibility of modernisation works to improve safety, working conditions, product quality and hygiene on board vessels as referred to in Article 11(5) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002, in order to ensure a transparent assessment and an equal treatment of the requests, while preventing any increase in fishing effort as a result of such works.

(10) Increases in enclosed volume over the main deck do not affect the tonnage of vessels under 15 m in length overall, in accordance with Regulation (EEC) No 2930/86. Therefore, the modernisation of these vessels above the main deck is not taken into account when adapting the reference levels according to Article 11(5) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002.

(11) It is necessary to lay down implementing rules to ensure that clear rules and procedures are set for the way Member States transmit data to the Community fishing fleet register and new validation rules are needed to guarantee the quality and the reliability of such data.

(12) The annual reports and the summary thereof made by the Commission in accordance with Article 14 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 should give a clear picture of the equilibrium between fleet fishing capacity and fishing opportunities.

(13) The Management Committee for Fisheries and Aquaculture has not issued an opinion on the measures provided for in this Regulation within the time limit set by its chairman,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

CHAPTER I SCOPE AND DEFINITIONS

Article 1

Scope

This Regulation lays down the implementing rules for the Chapter on Fleet Policy of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002. It shall apply to the fishing capacity of Community fishing vessels with the exception of vessels which are:

(a) exclusively used in aquaculture as defined in Annex III, 2.2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999, or

(b) registered in the outermost regions of France, Portugal and Spain as indicated in Article 299(2) of the Treaty.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purpose of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply:

1. "GTa" or "the total tonnage of vessels leaving the fleet with public aid after 31 December 2002": means the total tonnage of vessels that left the fleet with public aid between 1 January 2003 and the date for which GTt is calculated. In the formula concerning the reference level in tonnage in Article 4 this value is only taken into account for the amount of capacity that went beyond the tonnage reduction necessary to comply with the reference levels under Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002;

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