Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2002:652
Date: 2002-11-14
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Fisheries policy
Concepts: General;Community rules
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - successful
Origin: United Kingdom

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Actions for failure to fulfil obligations — Proof of such failure — Obligations with 
regard to managing fishing quotas — Member State's failure to fulfil obligations 
established by detailed data showing significant and repeated overfishing — Whether 
permissible 
(Art. 226 EC) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-454/99 
2. Fisheries — Conservation of the resources of the sea — Fishing quotas — Control 
measures — Obligations of Member States — Practical difficulties — Not relevant 
(Council Regulations No 2057/82, Art. 10(2), and No 2241/87, Art. 11(2)) 
3. Fisheries — Conservation of the resources of the sea — Fishing quotas — Control 
measures — Obligation of Member States to notify the Commission of data concern­
ing landings — Scope — Obligation to verify the accuracy of data 
(Council Regulation No 2241/87, Art. 9(1) and (2)) 
4. Fisheries — Conservation of the resources of the sea — Fishing quotas — Control 
measures — Obligation of Member States to impose penalties — Practical difficulties 
irrelevant 
(Council Regulations No 2057/82, Art. 1, and No 2241/87, Art. 1) 
1. The Commission proves that a 
Member State has not adopted appro­
priate detailed rules for monitoring 
utilisation of the fishing quotas allo­
cated to it and has failed to comply 
with its monitoring obligations, with­
out making any assumptions, when it is 
able, on the basis of the data gathered 
under the system put in place by the 
Member State, to point to cases of 
significant overfishing which have 
occurred repeatedly and can be 
ascribed to vessels with access to its 
quotas. 
(see paras 29-31) 
2. A r t i c l e 10(2) of R e g u l a t i o n 
No 2057/82 establishing certain con­
trol measures for fishing activities by 
vessels of the Member States and 
A r t i c l e 11(2 ) of R e g u l a t i o n 
No 2241/87 establishing certain con­
trol measures for fishing activities 
require the Member States to take 
binding measures in order pro­
visionally to prohibit all fishing activ­
ities even before quotas have been 
exhausted. It follows from those provi­
sions that Member States are required 
to take all the necessary measures in 
time to prevent the quotas in question 
being exceeded, in order to ensure 
compliance with the quotas allocated 
to them for the purpose of conserving 
fishery resources. 
A Member State cannot rely on prac­
tical difficulties in order to justify its 
failure to adopt in time appropriate 
measures to prohibit fishing. On the 
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COMMISSION v UNITED KINGDOM 
contrary, it is required to overcome 
those difficulties by adopting such 
measures. It follows that a Member 
State may not cite landings in another 
Member State and fluctuations in the 
amounts landed in other Member 
States or in third countries. 
(see paras 36, 38-39) 
3. Under Article 9(1) and (2) of Regu­
lation No 2241/87 establishing certain 
control measures for fishing activities 
the Member States are required to 
ensure that all landings of stocks or 
groups of stocks subject to total allow­
able catches or quotas are recorded and 
to notify that information to the Com­
mission. Those provisions cannot be 
interpreted as merely laying down an 
obligation to provide, within the time-
limit set, the information which the 
Member States have gathered. On the 
contrary, the Member States must 
ensure that the information notified is 
correct. 
(see paras 47-48) 
4. Where Community legislation relating 
to the conservation and control of 
fishery resources has been infringed, 
the competent authorities of a Member 
State are required to take penal or 
administrative action against the 
master of the vessel concerned or any 
other person responsible, in accordance 
with Article 1 of Regula t ion 
No 2057/82 establishing certain con­
trol measures for fishing activities by 
vessels of the Member States, in its 
original version and as amended, and 
Article 1 of Regulation No 2241/87 
establishing certain control measures 
for fishing activities. If the competent 
authorities of a Member State were 
systematically to refrain from taking 
action against the persons responsible 
for such infringements, both the con­
servation and management of fishery 
resources and the uniform application 
of the common fisheries policy would 
be jeopardised. In that regard, a 
Member State cannot plead provisions, 
practices or situations in its internal 
legal system to justify non-compliance 
with obligations arising from rules of 
Community law. 
(see paras 59-63) 
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