PURPOSE: to extend until 31 December 2009 the deadline for the entry into the fleet of the fishing vessels receiving national State aid for renewal and amending Regulation (EC) No 639/2004.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Regulation.
CONTENT: Regulation (EC) No 639/2004 on the management of fishing fleets registered in the Community outermost regions (“OR's”) lays down derogations from the entry/exit scheme provided by Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the CFP and from the prohibition to use public funds to modernise or renew the fleet set out in Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999 on Community structural assistance in the fisheries sector.
The deadline for such derogations had been extended for one year following the political agreement reached in the Council on 19 June 2006 concerning the European Fisheries Fund (EFF). However, the late adoption of the Commission's legal instrument allowing Member States concerned to grant State aid, together with the limited capacity of shipyards, has made it impossible to comply with the deadline for the entry into the fleet of the fishing vessels receiving national State aid for renewal by 31 December 2008, as stipulated in Regulation (EC) No 639/2004.
The purpose of this proposal is to extend this deadline by one year (i.e. until 31 December 2009) with a view to allowing the Member States concerned make full use of the agreement reached in 2006.