Council Regulation (EC) No 2846/98 of 17 December 1998 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 establishing a control system applicable to the common fisheries policy

• Published date: 31 December 1998
• Subject Matter: Fisheries policy
• Official Gazette Publication: Official Journal of the European Communities, L 358, 31 December 1998

1998R2846 — EN — 31.12.1998 — 000.001

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This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents

►B COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2846/98 of 17 December 1998 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 establishing a control system applicable to the common fisheries policy (OJ L 358, 31.12.1998, p.5)

Corrected by:

►C1 Corrigendum, OJ L 105, 22.4.1999, p. 32 (2846/98)

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▼B

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2846/98

of 17 December 1998

amending Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 establishing a control system applicable to the common fisheries policy

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 43 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ( 1 ),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament ( 2 ),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee ( 3 ),

Whereas practice in fisheries and in the transport and marketing of fishery products has evolved; whereas monitoring measures should therefore be adapted accordingly; whereas various shortcomings in Council Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 of 12 October 1993 establishing a control system applicable to the common fisheries policy ( 4 ) should therefore be remedied;

Whereas one of the basic requirements on masters of fishing vessels for control purposes is to record the amounts of different species held on board; whereas this requirement should be simplified; whereas specific characteristics of fisheries operations in the Mediterranean have to be taken into account; whereas, therefore, Article 6 of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 should be amended and Article 5 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2241/87 of 23 July 1987 establishing certain control measures for fishing activities ( 5 ), should be repealed;

Whereas it is appropriate that the existing exemptions of the provisions of Articles 6 and 8 of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 for fisheries operation in the Mediterranean Sea be extended for one year to coincide with the entry into force of the amended logbook requirements;

Whereas Member States may adopt stricter measures in accordance with this Regulation, including for controlling landings; whereas to that end Member States may designate ports for landings;

Whereas controls on fishery products after landing should be reinforced; whereas the information about fishery products referred to in Article 9 of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 should be available from the moment of landing until the final marketing stage; whereas sales notes and take-over declarations should contain this information for the purposes of control;

Whereas transhipment operations and, in general, operations involving joint action by several vessels in Community waters have caused considerable control problems in some fisheries; whereas such operations should be subject to prior authorisation by Member States and made conditional on compliance with control procedures laid down;

Whereas application of the new provisions on transhipments and other joint fishing operations involving several fishing vessels should be postponed until the entry into force of the detailed implementing rules;

Whereas it should be ensured that the Commission has remote access to information contained in the relevant computer files in the databases updated by the Member States so that it can efficiently carry out the control tasks entrusted to it pursuant to Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93;

Whereas, according to the principles of Community law, any decision taken in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 36 of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 will have to respect existing Community law, and in particularrules on confidentiality, professional secrecy and data protection as laid down in Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data ( 6 );

Whereas the means for control of each Member State include interventions at sea, on landing as well as after landing, whilst taking into account the specificities of each Member State, the relative importance of the risk of different types of fraud, and, for control after landing, the control provisions prior to landing and on landing;

Whereas the monitoring, inspection and surveillance measures in Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 applicable to fishing vessels flying the flag of a third country which carry out fishing activities in the Community fishery zone should be amplified; whereas, in particular such vessels exceeding a stipulated length operating in this zone should be subject to continuous satellite surveillance from the date on which the ‘Vessel Monitoring System’ (VMS) applies to all Community fishing vessels; whereas it is necessary to intensify the inspection and surveillance of landings by vessels flying the flag of a third country and particularly, following the steps taken by certain regional fisheries organisations to increase the effectiveness of measures for the conservation of fishery resources on the high seas, catches taken in the zones concerned;

Whereas, to enable the Commission to fulfil its role effectively, observation procedures should be introduced to allow inspectors acting for the Commission to verify the application of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93; whereas to this end Community inspectors should have access to all relevant places and documentation in accordance with the rules of procedure of the national law and be accompanied by national inspectors;

Whereas, in order to strengthen and facilitate cooperation between all the authorities in the Community involved in the monitoring, inspection and surveillance of activities in the fisheries sector, a general framework should be set up under which all the authorities concerned can request mutual assistance and the exchange of relevant information, and specific monitoring programmes should be introduced; whereas it is appropriate to provide for the adoption of specific monitoring programmes in cases of serious and unforeseen upheaval;

Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 should therefore be amended,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 is hereby amended as follows:

1. the heading of Title I shall be replaced by the following:

‘TITLE I

Monitoring, inspection and surveillance’

;

2. Article 2 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 2

1. In order to ensure compliance with all the rules in force, each Member State within its territory and within maritime waters subject to its sovereignty or jurisdiction shall monitor, inspect and maintain surveillance of all activities in the fisheries sector, particularly fishing itself, transhipment, landing, marketing, transport and storage of fisheries products and the recording of landing and sales. The Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure the best possible control within their territory and within maritime waters subject to their sovereignty or jurisdiction, taking into account their particular situation.

2. Each Member State shall ensure that the activities of its vessels outside the Community fishery zone are subject to proper monitoring and, where such Community obligations exist, to inspections and surveillance, in order to ensure compliance with Community rules applicable in those waters.’

;

3. the last sentence of Article 3(2) shall be deleted;

4. Article 5 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 5

Detailed rules for the application of this Title shall be adopted as necessary, without prejudice to the national competences, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 36, in particular as regards:

(a) the identification of officially designated inspectors and inspection vessels, aircraft and such other means of inspection as may be used by a Member State;

(b) the procedure for the inspection and surveillance of activities in the fisheries sector;

(c) the marking and identification of fishing vessels and their gear;

(d) the certification of the characteristics of fishing vessels which relate to fishing activities.’

;

5. Article 6(2) shall be replaced by the following:

‘2. From 1 January 2000 any amount greater than 50 kg of live-weight equivalent of any species retained on board, must be recorded in the logbook in areas other than the Mediterranean. For the fisheries operations in the Mediterranean Sea any amount greater than 50 kg of live-weight equivalent retained on board of any species indicated on a list adopted under this Article must be recorded in the logbook.’

;

6. Article 6(8) shall be replaced by the following:

‘8. Detailed rules for the implementation of this Article shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 36, including:

— another geographical basis other than the ICES statistical rectangle, in certain specific cases, and

— recording of catches taken with small meshed gear and kept on board unsorted,

— the list referred to in paragraph 2.’

;

7. Article 7(1) shall be replaced by the following:

‘1. The Master of a Community fishing vessel who wishes to utilise landing locations in a Member State other than the flag Member State shall comply with the requirements of any designated port scheme established by that Member State in accordance with Article 38, or if that Member State does not operate such a scheme, he must inform the competent authorities in that Member State at least four hours in advance of:

— the landing location(s) and estimated time of arrival there,

— the quantities of each species to be landed.’

;

8. in Article 9:

(a) paragraph 1 and 2 shall be replaced by the following:

‘1. Auction centres or other...