COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 2018/93 of 30 June 1993 on the submission of catch and activity statistics by Member States fishing in the Northwest Atlantic
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 43 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,
Whereas the Convention on future multilateral cooperation in the Northwest Atlantic fisheries approved by Regulation (EEC) No 3179/78(1) , and establishing the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), requires the Community to supply the NAFO Scientific Council with any available statistical and scientific information requested by the Scientific Council in the performance of its work;
Whereas timely catch and activity statistics have been identified by the NAFO Scientific Council as essential to the performance of its work in evaluating the state of the fish stocks in the Northwest Atlantic;
Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 3881/91 of 17 December 1991 on the submission of nominal catch statistics by Member States fishing in the Northwest Atlantic(2) does not fully meet the requirements necessary for the Community to supply the NAFO Scientific Council with all statistical information as stated under Article 6 (3) of the NAFO Convention; whereas it is necessary to repeal the said Regulation;
Whereas, in order to facilitate the implementation of the provisions of this Regulation, close cooperation between the Member States and the Commission should continue, in particular via the Standing Committee for Agricultural Statistics set up in Decision 72/279/EEC(3) ,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Each Member State shall submit to the Commission data on the catches by vessels registered in, or flying the flag of, that Member State fishing in the Northwest Atlantic, with due regard to Council Regulation (Euratom, EEC) No 1588/90 of 11 June 1990 on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities(4) .
The nominal catch data shall include all fishery products landed or transhipped at sea in no matter what form but shall exclude quantities which, subsequent to capture, are discarded at sea, consumed on board or used as bait on board. Aquaculture production shall be excluded. The data shall be recorded as the live weight equivalent of the landings or transshipments, to the nearest tonne.
Article 2
1. The data to be submitted shall be of two types:
(a) the annual nominal catches, expressed in tonnes live weight equivalent of the landings, of each of the species listed in Annex 1 in each of the statistical fishing regions of the Northwest Atlantic listed in Annex 2 and defined in Annex 3;
(b) the catches as specified under 1 (a) and the corresponding fishing activity, subdivided by calendar month of capture, fishing gear, vessel size and main species sought.
2. The data referred to in 1 (a) shall be submitted by 31 May of the year following the reference year and may be preliminary data. The data referred to in 1 (b) shall be submitted by 31 August of the year following the reference year and shall be definitive data.
The data referred to in 1 (a) and submitted as preliminary data should be clearly identified as such.
No submissions shall be required for species/fishing region combinations for which no catches were recorded in the reference period of the submission.
Should the Member State not have fished in the Northwest Atlantic in the preceding calendar year, it shall inform the Commission thereof by 31 May of the following year.
3. The definitions and codes to be used in submitting information on fishing activity, fishing gear method of fishing and vessel size are given in Annex IV.
4. The list of species and statistical fishing regions and the descriptions of these regions, as well as the measures, codes and definitions applied to fishing activity, fishing gears, vessel sizes and methods of fishing may be amended in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 6.
Article 3
Except where provisions adopted under the common fisheries policy dictate otherwise, a Member State shall be permitted to use sampling techniques to derive catch data for those parts of the fishing fleet for which the complete coverage of the data would involve the excessive application of administrative procedures. The details of the sampling procedures, together with details of the proportion of the total data derived by such techniques, must be included by the Member State in the report submitted pursuant to Article 7 (1).
Article 4
Member States shall fulfil their obligations to the Commission pursuant to Articles 1 and 2 by submitting the data on magnetic medium, the format of which is given in Annex 5.
With the prior approval of the Commission, Member States may submit data in a different form or on a different medium.
Article 5
Within 24 hours of receipt of the reports, whenever possible, the Commission shall transmit the information contained therein to the Executive Secretary of NAFO.
Article 6
1. Where the procedure laid down in this Article is to be followed, the chairman shall refer the matter to the Standing Committee on Agricultural Statistics, hereinafter referred to as the 'Committee' either on his own initiative or at the request of the representative of a Member State.
2. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the Committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit which the chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter. The opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid down in Article 148 (2) of the EEC Treaty in the case of decisions which the Council is required to adopt on a proposal from the Commission. The votes of the representatives of the Member States within the Committee shall be weighted in the manner set out in that Article. The chairman shall not vote.
3. (a) The Commission shall adopt the measures envisaged if they are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee.
(b) If the measures envisaged are not in accordance with the opinion of the Committee, or if no opinion is delivered, the Commission shall without delay submit to the Council a proposal relating to the measures to be taken. The Council shall act by a qualified majority.
If on the expiry of three months from the date of referral to the Council, the Council has not acted, the proposed measures shall be adopted by the Commission.
Article 7
1. Within 12 months of the entry into force of this Regulation, Member States shall submit a detailed report to the Commission describing how the data on catches and fishing activity are derived and specifying the degree of representativity and reliability of these data. The Commission, in collaboration with the Member States, shall draw up a summary of these reports.
2. Member States shall inform the Commission of any modifications of the information provided under paragraph 1 within three months of their introduction.
3. Where the methodological reports under paragraph 1 show that a Member State cannot immediately meet the requirements of this Regulation and that changes in survey techniques and methodology are necessary, the Commission may, in cooperation with the Member State, set a transitional period of up to two years during which the programme of this Regulation is to be achieved.
4. Methodological reports, transitional arrangements, data availability, data reliability and other relevant issues connected with the application of this Regulation shall be examined once a year within the competent Working Group of the Agricultural Statistics Committee.
Article 8
Regulation (EEC) No 3881/91 is hereby repealed.
Article 9
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
It shall apply from 1 January 1994.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Luxembourg, 30 June 1993.