PURPOSE: to amend Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the common fisheries policy (CFP) with a view to temporarily extending the Commission's empowerment to adopt discard plans.
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.
BACKGROUND: in principle, the details of the implementation of the landing obligation are to be defined in regional multi-annual management plans adopted through codecision.
Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 provides that, in the absence of multiannual plans or management plans, the Commission may adopt discard plans on a temporary basis and for a period of no more than three years.
Experience has demonstrated that the preparation and adoption of multiannual or management plans that include discard plans takes longer than was envisaged at the time of the adoption of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013.
The first Commission delegated regulations establishing discard plans entered into force on the 1 January 2015 and are expiring at the end of 2017. To date, only the Baltic multiannual plan is in place, whereas two Commission proposals for a multiannual plan for demersals in the North Sea and for small pelagics in the Adriatic are currently under negotiation between the co-legislators.
It is therefore appropriate to set the period for which the Commission may adopt discard plans in the absence of multiannual or management plans.
CONTENT: the proposal contains only one substantive provision, which amends Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 in order to temporarily extend the Commission's power to adopt discard plans by means of delegated acts for an additional period of three years, provided that there are no multi-annual plans in place for the sea basins concerned.