Common fisheries policy (CFP): landing obligation

PURPOSE: to implement the landing obligation envisaged under the Common Fisheries Policy reform (Omnibus Regulation).

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Regulation (EU) 2015/812 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 amending Council Regulations (EC) No 850/98, (EC) No 2187/2005, (EC) No 1967/2006, (EC) No 1098/2007, (EC) No 254/2002, (EC) No 2347/2002 and (EC) No 1224/2009, and Regulations (EU) No 1379/2013 and (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards the landing obligation, and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1434/98.

CONTENT: one of the objectives of the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is the gradual elimination of discards through the introduction of a landing obligation for all catches.

Since this landing obligation conflicts with several EU regulations currently in force, this ‘Omnibus’ regulation amends seven regulations in parallel so as to bring them into line with the basic Common Fisheries Policy regulation. It contains several measures that aim to simplify the rules and reduce the administrative burden for fishermen and monitoring organisations.

The Regulation provides for, inter alia:

• separate recording of data on catches below the minimum conservation reference size; 
• a pragmatic solution for the storage of fish on board fishing vessels;
• postponing for 2 years the application of the rules on serious infringements as regards infringements of landing obligations;
• a mechanism for preventing the development of parallel markets for undersized fish (catching marine organisms that are below the minimum conservation reference size for uses other than human consumption);
• alignment of the minimum marketing sizes to the minimum conservation reference sizes;
• not applying the landing obligation to catches of fish which have been damaged by predators, which should be immediately disposed of at sea;
• ensuring that the master of each Union fishing vessel of 10 metres' length overall or more shall keep a fishing logbook of operations, indicating specifically, for each fishing trip, all quantities of each species caught and kept on board above 50 kg of live-weight equivalent.

Annual report: by 31 May 2016, and by 31 May of each subsequent year up to and including 2020, the Commission shall submit an annual report on the implementation of the landing obligation, based on information transmitted by the Member States, the Advisory Councils and other relevant sources.

Annual reports shall contain, inter alia: (i) steps taken by Member States and producer organisations to comply with the landing obligation; (ii) steps taken by Member States regarding control of compliance with the landing obligation; (iii) information on the socioeconomic impact of the landing obligation.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 1.6.2015. The Regulation is applicable from 1.1.2017.

DELEGATED ACTS: the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts that consist of technical measures. The power to adopt delegated acts shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of 5 years from 1 June 2015. The European Parliament or the Council may raise objections to a delegated act within two months of the date of notification (this may be extended by two months.) If Parliament or Council raise objections, the delegated act will not come into force.