2001R2561 — EN — 03.01.2004 — 002.001 — 1
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►B COUNCILREGULATION(EC)No2561/2001
of17December 2001
aimingtopromotetheconversionoffishingvesselsandoffishermenthatwere,upto1999,depen-
dentonthefishingagreement withMorocco
(OJ L 344, 28.12.2001, p. 17)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Council Regulation (EC) No 2372/2002 of 20 December 2002 L 358 81 31.12.2002
►M2Council Regulation (EC) No 2325/2003 of 17 December 2003 L 345 25 31.12.2003
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COUNCILREGULATION(EC)No2561/2001
of17December 2001
aiming to promote the conversion of fishing vessels and of fish-
ermen that were, up to 1999, dependent on the fishing agreement
withMorocco
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, andin particular Articles36 and 37 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (
1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (3),
Whereas:
(1)The Agreement on the relations as regards sea fishing between
the European Community and the Kingdom of Morocco (herein-
after referred to as‘the fis heriesagreement with Morocco’),
became null and void on 30 November 1999. Consequently, asignificant number of Community vessels that operated withinthis framework were forced to stop their fishing activities atthat date.
(2)The fishermen and owners of the vessels concerned benefited inthisconnection from the allowancesprovided for in Article16(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999 (
4) with the assistance
of the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG), underthe derogation conditionslaid down by Regulation (EC) No
1227/2001 (
5).
(3)It is justified to encourage, by appropriate measures at the
Community level, the implementation of the conversion plansof the fleets concerned as approved by the Commission on 18
October 2000.
(4)It is necessary to facilitate the permanent cessation activity of
the vessels, whether by demolition or by transfer to a third
country, including within the framework of joint enterprises. It
is also appropriate to facilitate the replacement of fishing gearfor the permanent conversion towards other fishing activities,whatever the age of the vessel and even if it were the subjectof public aid for construction.
(5)Consequently, there is a need for derogations from certain provi-sions of Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999.
(6)Moreover, in the spirit of the conclusions of the European
Council of Nice, the European Union should signal its solidarity
with the Member Statesconcerned, by meansof an additionalfinancial effort, over and above the amountsmade availableinside heading 2 of the financial perspectives for the budget ofthe European Union, asfixed at the European Council of Berlinon 25 March 1999.2001R2561 — EN — 03.01.2004 — 002.001 — 2
(1) OJ C 270 E, 25.9.2001, p. 266.
(2) Opinion delivered on 15 November 2001 (not yet published in the Official
Journal).
(3) Opinion delivered on 18 October 2001 (not yet published in the Official
Journal).
(4) Council Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999 of 17 December 1999 laying down
the detailed rules and arrangements regarding Community structural assis-
tance in the fisheries sector (OJ L 337, 30.12.1999, p. 10). Regulation aslast amended by Regulation (EC) No 1451/2001 (OJ L 198, 21.7.2001, p. 9).
(
5) Regulation (EC) No 1227/2001 of 18 June 2001 derogating from certain
provisions of Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999 laying down the detailed rules
and arrangements regarding Community structural assistance in the fisheries
sector (OJ L 168, 23. 6.2001, p. 1).
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(7)Consequently, a specific measure of the Community should be
instituted to execute the appropriations in question in order to
implement part of the conversion plans, on the understandingthat the other partsof the aforementioned planswill have to becarried out with the assistance of FIFG appropriations.
(8)The complementary appropriationsavailable s hould be devoted
to the specific measure, on the one hand to the restructuring of
the fleet, and on the other hand to the fishermen's early retire-ment or retraining, away from sea fishing, under individual orcollective social plans.
(9)The specific measure must be consistent with the general princi-
ples of the structural policy in the fisheries sector. In particular,
distortions must be avoided with the provisions in force for theimplementation of the FIFG appropriations. An operationalmechanism of management must also be envisaged as close aspossible to that in force for the Community Structural Funds, asfixed by Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 (
1).
(10)The vessels due to operate in international waters or in waters ofthird countries must fully respect international law with regard tothe conservation of fishing resources and in particular the UnitedNationsConvention on the Law of Seasaswell asthe Code ofConduct of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United
Nations.
(11)The socio-economic diversification of the coastal areas depen-
dent on fishing naturally fits into the context of the integratedoperational regional development programmesand multi-regional programmes arising from the Community support
frameworksof the Objective 1 of the Structural Fundsfor Spain
and for Portugal, with the financial assistance of the EuropeanRegional Development Fund, of the European Social Fund andof the European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee Fund,Guidance Section. Under these conditions, it is not justified toenvisage a specific intervention devoted to this diversification,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
CHAPTER I
GENERAL
Article 1
1. The fishermen and the vessel owners to whom, during 2000 and
2001, compensation was granted under Article 16(1)(b) of Regulation
(EC) No 2792/1999, owing to the non-renewal of the fishing agreementwith Morocco, for at least a six-month cumulative period of temporarycessation of activity, can benefit from exceptional supporting measures,under the conditionsand within the limitsenvis aged by thisRegula-tion.
2. At the latest three months after the entry into force of this Regu-
lation, Member States shall communicate to the Commission the list of
vessels, indicating their internal numbers, as well as the list of names
of the fishermen meeting the conditions referred to in paragraph 1 ofthe Regulation.2001R2561 — EN — 03.01.2004 — 002.001 — 3
(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down
general provisions on the Structural Funds (OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 1).
Regulation aslas t amended by Regulation (EC) No 1447/2001 (OJ L 198,
21.7.2001, p. 1).
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CHAPTER II
DEROGATIONMEASURES
Article 2
1. By derogation from the provisions referred to below of Regula-
tion (EC) No 2792/1999, public aid to the owners of the vessels and
the fishermen referred to in Article 1(1) shall be granted according tothe following rules:
(a) where public aid is granted for the demolition of a vessel:
(i) the scales referred to in Article 7(5)(a) shall be increased by
20 %;
(ii) the provisions of Article 10(3)(b)(ii) and those of Annex III,
point 1.1(a) shall not be applicable;
(b) where a premium is granted for the permanent transfer of a vessel
to a third country, including in the case of a joint enterprise:
(i) the scales referred to in Article 7(5)(a) shall be increased by
20 %;
(ii) the provisions of Article 10(3)(b)(ii) as well as those of Annex
III, point 1.1(a), shall not be applicable;
(iii) the minimum age of the vessels referred to in Article 7(2)
shall be reduced to five years; for 5 to 9-year-old vessels,however, the reference premium, asreferred to in Article7(5)(a), shall be that applicable to vessels of 10 to 15 years
old. Thispremium s hall be reduced by part of the amount
previously received in cases of aid granted for constructionand/or modernisation; this part shall be calculated pro rata
temporis of the 10-year period (in the case of aid for construc-
tion) or 5-year period (in the case of aid for modernisation)
preceding the permanent transfer;
(c) in the event of permanent conversion of a vessel to another fishing
activity requiring the change of fishing technique, the replacementof the fishing gear may be the subject of public aid as a modernisa-tion of the vessel, under the following derogation conditions:
(i) the last subparagraph of Annex III, point 1.4, shall not be
applicable;
(ii) the scales referred to in Article 9(4)(b) shall be increased by
30 %;
(iii) the provisions of Article 10(3)(a) shall not be applicable;
(d) in the case of an individual lump sum payment to a fisherman:
(i) the maximum eligible cost referred to in Article 12(3)(b) and
(c) shall be increased by 20 %;
(ii) the requirement laid down in Article 12(3)(b) that beneficiaries
must have been employed on a fishing vessel which haspermanently ceased its activity within the meaning of Article
7 shall not apply;
(iii) the period of less than one year referred to in Article 12(4)(c)
shall run from 1 January 2002.
2. The derogation ruleslaid down in paragraph 1 s hall apply only to
premiumsand public aid that have been granted under an adminis tra-tive decision by the authorities referred to in Article 6, taken between
1 July 2001 and 30 June 2003. Thisperiod s hall be extended to 30 June
2004 for the premiumsreferred to in Article 12(3)(a), (b) and (c).
3. The vessel owners shall no longer be eligible for the compensa-
tion for temporary cessation of activity mentioned in Article 1 as fromthe date of the administrative decision granting a premium for thepermanent cessation of activity or a public aid for the modernisationof the vessel concerned, which has been taken pursuant to the modal-itiesprovided for in paragraph 1.2001R2561 — EN — 03.01.2004 — 002.001 — 4
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In the case of advance payment of this compensation, any amount
overpaid will be deducted from the premium for permanent cessationor from the public aid for modernisation, granted for the boat
concerned.
CHAPTER III
SPECIFICMEASURE
Article 3
1. A specific action of the Community is hereby instituted (hereafter
named ‘thisaction’) aiming to s upplement actionstaken in the context
of the interventionsof the Structural Fundsin the Member States
concerned due to the non-renewal of the fisheries agreement withMorocco.
2. Thisaction:
(a) shall be exclusively reserved for the vessel owners and for the fish-
ermen referred to in Article 1(1);
(b) coversres pectively:
(i) measures of permanent cessation of vessels' fishing activities
within the meaning of Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No2792/1999;
(ii) measures of modernisation of vessels within the meaning of
Article 9(1) of the same Regulation; and
(iii) measures of a socio-economic nature, within the meaning of
Article 12(3)(a), (b) and (c), of the same Regulation;
(c) shall be subject to the conditions referred to in Article 12 of Regu-
lation (EC) No 1260/1999.
3. The amount of the Community assistance allocated to the various
measures of this action shall be as follows, expressed as a percentageof the global amount referred to in Article 5(1):
(a) scrapping of vessels and permanent reassignment of vessels for
purposes other than fishing: minimum of 40 % of the globalamount;
(b) permanent transfer of vessels to a third country, including within
the framework of a joint enterprise, and modernisation of vessels:maximum of 28 % of the global amount;
(c) socio-economic measures: minimum of 32 % of the global amount.
Article 4
1.Mutatis mutandis , the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 2792/
1999 shall apply for the implementation of this action, under the provi-sions and the derogation conditions laid down in Chapter II of thisRegulation, in particular with regard to:
(a) the date limit of the administrative decision to grant the assistance;
(b) the notification of the aid schemes;
(c) the criteria of eligibility of the fishermen and of the vessels;
(d) the maximum amount of the premium for a fisherman or for a
given vessel;
(e) the maximum amount of expenditure eligible for the granting of
public aid for the modernisation of a given vessel;
(f) the limitsof the financial contribution of the Community and of all
the public financial contributions(national, regional and other) ofthe Member State concerned.
2. However, in case of the granting of a premium for the creation of
a joint enterprise within the framework of this action, the managementauthority shall pay the whole premium to the applicant when the vesselis transferred to the joint enterprise, after the applicant has providedproof that a bank guarantee for an amount equal to 40 % of thepremium hasbeen lodged.2001R2561 — EN — 03.01.2004 — 002.001 — 5
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3. The premiums for permanent cessation of fishing activities and
the public aids for the modernisation of vessels, paid under this action,shall be regarded as public aid within the meaning of Article 6(1) of
Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999.
The fishing capacity withdrawn pursuant to this measure shall contri-
bute to the adjustment of the fishing effort of the Member Statesconcerned, within the meaning of Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No2792/1999.
Public aid for the modernisation of vessels, paid under this action, is
subject to Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999.
For the purposes of the implementation of this action, the compensa-
tion referred to in Article 1 is intended to have the same end result asthe socio-economic measures referred to in Article 12(3)(a), (b) and (c)of Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999.
4. Premiumsor public aid granted under thisaction may not be
cumulated with another premium or public aid having the same
purpose, and in particular that granted, in the context of the Structural
Funds, in the Member States concerned.
The Member States concerned shall take all the measures necessary to
conform to thisparagraph, and at the lates t three monthsafter the entryinto force of thisRegulation, they s hall communicate them to theCommission.
Article 5
1. The amount of the Community participation allocated to this
action shall be EUR 197 million, distributed according to the following
percentages:
(a) Spain: 94,6 %;
(b) Portugal: 5,4 %.
Within the allocation for Spain, an amount not exceeding EUR 30
million shall be reserved for the measures defined in Council Regula-tion (EC) No 2372/2002.
2. The payment of the Community participation referred to in para-
graph 1 shall be carried out by the Commission in accordance with the
budgetary commitments and shall be addressed to the paymentauthority referred to in Article 6.
As from 1 January 2002, the Commission shall carry out the commit-
ment of the appropriationsentered in the 2002 budget, at the lates tthree monthsafter the adoption of thisRegulation.
The commitment of the appropriationsentered in the 2003 Budget s hall
in principle be undertaken before 30 April 2003.
3. Subject to the budgetary resources, the Commission shall carry
out the paymentsasfollows :
(a) an instalment, representing at most 20 % of the amounts referred to
in paragraph 1, shall be paid at the time of the commitmentreferred to in paragraph 2, second paragraph;
(b) the intermediate payments shall be carried out at the request of the
Member State to refund the expenditure actually paid and certifiedby the payment authority referred to in Article 6.
The cumulated total of the paymentsreferred to in point (a) and the
present point shall amount at most to 80 % of the amounts referredto in paragraph 1.
(c) The payment of the balance shall be carried out at the request of
the Member State, after completion of thismeas ure, if;
(i) the payment authority has submitted to the Commission a
certified statement of expenditure actually incurred;2001R2561 — EN — 03.01.2004 — 002.001 — 6
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(ii) the final implementation report hasbeen s ubmitted to the
Commission and has been approved by it;
(iii) the Member State has sent to the Commission the statement
referred to in Article 38(1)(f) of Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999.
4. The expenses actually paid by the final beneficiary from 1 July
2001 shall be eligible for the Community contribution under thismeasure. The deadline for eligibility of the expenditure shall be 31December 2003. That date shall be 31 December 2004 for thepremiumsreferred to in Article 12(3)(a), (b) and (c).
The last date for submission to the Commission of the request for
payment of the balance shall be 30 June 2004. That date shall be 30
June 2005 for the premiumsreferred to in Article 12(3)(a), (b) and (c).
5. The requests for intermediate payments and for payment of the
balance have to be drawn up in accordance with the model appearingin Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 438/2001 (
1).
They have to be supported by the production of progress reports, in
electronic form, in accordance with the model appearing in Annex I
to Regulation (EC) No 366/2001 (2).
Article 6
For the purposes of implementation of this action, the management
authoritiesand the payment authoritiesoperating in the context ofstructural funds interventions in favour of fisheries in Spain and inPortugal during the period 2000 to 2006 shall fulfil the functions attrib-uted to them by the relevant provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999.
Except in the case of contrary provisions arising from this Regulation,
the provisions of Articles 31 and 33 to 39 of Regulation (EC) No 1260/
1999, and derived legislation, shall apply.
Article 7
If necessary, the detailed rules for the application of this title shall be
adopted by the Commission according to the procedure referred to inArticle 23(2) of Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999.
For this purpose the Commission is assisted by the committee on struc-
tures for fisheries and aquaculture established by Article 51 ofRegulation (EC) No 1260/1999.
CHAPTER IV
FINALPROVISIONS
Article 8
ThisRegulation s hall enter into force on the third day following that of
itspublication in the Official Journal of the European Communities .
It shall apply as from 1 July 2001.
ThisRegulation s hall be binding in itsentirety and directly applicable
in all Member States.2001R2561 — EN — 03.01.2004 — 002.001 — 7
(1) Commission Regulation (EC) No 438/2001 of 2 March 2001 laying down
detailed rulesfor the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 as regards the management and control systems for assistance granted
under the Structural Funds(OJ L 63, 3.3.2001, p. 21).
(
2) Commission Regulation (EC) No 366/2001 of 21 February 2001 laying
down detailed rulesfor implementing the meas uresprovided for in Council
Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999 (OJ L 55 of 24.2.2001, p. 3)▼M2
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