PURPOSE : to lay down certain control measures for fishing in the NEAFC area.
COMMUNITY MEASURE : Council Regulation 2791/1999/EC laying down certain control measures applicable in the area covered by the Convention on future multilateral cooperation in the north-east Atlantic fisheries.
CONTENT : the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC), of which the Community is a Contracting Party, has as its main task to ensure the rational conservation and management of fishery resources in the area defined by the Convention.
At its annual meeting in November 1998, the NEAFC adopted 2 recommendations aiming to :
- establish a scheme of control and enforcement applicable to fishing vessels operating in areas beyond the limits of the national jurisdiction of the Contracting Parties in the Convention area ;
- establish a programme aiming to promote the respect, by the vessels of non-Contracting Parties, of recommendations laid down by the NEAFC regarding conservation and management measures. The programme provides for the mandatory inspection of non-Contracting Party vessels where they enter the ports of the Contracting Parties voluntarily and a prohibition on the landing and transshipment of catches if, during such inspection, it is established that they have been taken in breach of the conservation measures adopted by the NEAFC.
These 2 recommendations enter into force on 01.07.1999 and become binding on the Contracting Parties ; the Community should apply these recommendations via this Regulation.
It should also be noted that at its 22.11.1999 session the Council examined the difficult question on the sharing out of charges and the costs between the Commission and the Member States for the implementation of regulatory measures adopted by the regional fishery organisations.
Unlike under the system in force within the NEAFC framework, according to which the control and enforcement measures are financed from the Community budget, the Commission believes that it will be incumbant on Member States to assume the implementation of the NEAFC scheme (provide for an inspector and inspection vessels, take responsibility for investment and operational costs, etc.).
As a large number of delegations were opposed to this solution, it was decided to only make applicable the provisions of the Decision relating to the inspection and control for the year 2000.
The key question of cost allocation will be dealt with in the framework of a new proposal that the Commission will present before September 2000 and which shall aim to reach a decision on a permanent solution to the problem of cost allocation.
ENTRY INTO FORCE : the Regulation shall enter into force on 06.01.2000, although some of its provisions will only be applicable for a transitional phase (the year 2000). The definitive regime will have to be adopted by the Council by 31.12.2000 at the latest.�