COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 493/96 of 20 March 1996 amending Regulation (EC) No 109/94 concerning the fishing vessel register of the Community

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3760/92 of 20 December 1992 establishing a Community system of fisheries and aquaculture (1), as amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, and in particular Article 13 (1) thereof,

Whereas pursuant to Article 19f of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 of 12 October 1993 establishing a control system applicable to the common fisheries policy (2), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2870/95 (3), the Commission is to ensure that the Member States responsible for control have available the data concerning the identification of vessels having access to their waters;

Whereas the implementation of new arrangements for the management of fishing effort in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 685/95 of 27 March 1995 on the management of the fishing effort relating to certain Community fishing areas and resources (4) and Council Regulation (EC) No 2027/95 of 15 June 1995 establishing a system for the management of fishing effort relating to certain Community fishing areas and resources (5) highlights the need to adopt new provisions to ensure that the data relating to lists of named fishing vessels are communicated without delay; whereas Commission Regulation (EC) No 109/94 (6) provides an appropriate procedural framework for that purpose;

Whereas the procedures for communicating information about the characteristics and identification features of Community fishing vessels to be used in connection with Community legislation under, in particular, Council Regulation (EC) No 3690/93 of 20 December 1993 establishing a Community system laying down rules for the minimum information to be contained in fishing licences (7) and Council Regulation (EC) No 1627/94 of 27 June 1994 laying down general provisions concerning special fishing permits (8) should be harmonized and rationalized; whereas that can be achieved by Regulation (EC) No 109/94 whose provisions will be regarded for that purpose as a reference;

Whereas it is also necessary to ensure that the reporting procedures are updated and simplified and that the quality and usefulness of the information communicated is improved;

Whereas, therefore, Regulation (EC) No 109/94 should be amended;

Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Fisheries and Aquaculture,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 109/94 is amended as follows:

1. Article 3 is replaced by the following:

'Article 3

Information relating to events required by Annexes I, II, III, IV and V shall be communicated as follows:

- until 31 December 1996, before the 15th of each month for events recorded during the previous month, and for the first time before 15 April 1996,

- in 1997, the last working day of each week,

- from 1 January 1998, by electronic mail at the same time as the event is recorded by the authorities.`

2. The following Article 3a is inserted:

'Article 3a

Pursuant to Article 19f of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 Member States shall transmit to the Commission the list of vessels authorized to fish in the fisheries listed in Annex I to Council Regulation (EC) No 685/95 (*) in accordance with the procedures laid down in Annex VII hereto.

Amendments to the lists of vessels shall be reported to the Commission in accordance with the same procedures at the latest four working days before the entry of vessels into the fishing area. The Commission shall acknowledge receipt of amendments to lists by electronic mail not later than two days before the entry of vessels into the fishing area.

(*) OJ No L 71, 31. 3. 1995, p. 5.`

3. The introductory words of Article 4 are replaced by the following:

'For each segment or homogenous group of vessels for which the Member States submit to the Commission a programme of fishing effort limitation incorporating regulatory measures pertaining to fishing activity adopted pursuant to Article 11 of Regulation (EEC) No 3760/92 the following procedures shall be adopted:`

4. The following Article 5a is inserted:

'Article 5a

Pursuant to Article 19i of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93, Member States shall transmit to the Commission aggregated data on fishing effort in accordance with table C of Annex VI to this Regulation:

- before the 15th of each month for the previous month in the case of demersal species, and for the first time before 15 April 1996;

- before 15 April 15 July, 15 October and 15 January for the previous quarter in the case of pelagic species.`

5. The following Article 8a is inserted:

'Article 8a

Member States shall have access without delay to data concerning the identification of vessels engaged in fishing activity in the fisheries listed in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 685/95 under their jurisdiction or sovereignty in accordance with the procedures laid down in Annex VIII hereto.`

6. Article 9 is replaced by the following:

'Article 9

Member States shall communicate information to the Commission by electronic mail in accordance with the detailed rules and codes set out in Annexes I to VIII.

The Commission shall acknowledge receipt of messages as soon as they have been validated in the data base.

However, by way of exception, for a period not extending beyond 31 December 1997, Member States shall be authorized to communicate such information by other computerized means.`

7. The following Article 9a is inserted:

'Article 9a

The data communicated pursuant to this Regulation, and in particular those relating to the characteristics and identification features of a fishing vessel, shall be regarded as reference data for all uses in connection with Community legislation.

The link between such uses and the database on the Community register of fishing vessels shall be the internal number referred to in Annex I.

Any registration of new data or correction of erroneous data concerning the characteristics and/or identification features of a vessel must be in accordance with the procedures laid down in this Regulation.`

8. Annexes I to VI are replaced by the Annex hereto.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 20 March 1996.

For the Commission

Emma BONINO

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ No L 389, 31. 12. 1992, p. 1.

(2) OJ No L 261, 20. 10. 1993, p. 1.

(3) OJ No L 301, 14. 12. 1995, p. 1.

(4) OJ No L 71, 31. 3. 1995, p. 5.

(5) OJ No L 199, 24. 8. 1995, p. 1.

(6) OJ No L 19, 22. 1. 1994, p. 5.

(7) OJ No L 341, 31. 12. 1993, p. 93.

(8) OJ No L 171, 6. 7. 1994, p. 7.

ANNEX

'ANNEX I

DEFINITION OF THE DATA TO BE COMMUNICATED AND DESCRIPTION OF A RECORD

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Table 2 - Codes for type of fishing gear

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ANNEX II

DATA TO BE COMMUNICATED ACCORDING TO DECLARATION TYPE

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ANNEX III

SPECIAL VALUES ACCORDING TO DECLARATION TYPE

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ANNEX IV

REPRESENTATION OF THE SPECIAL VALUES

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ANNEX V

DEFAULT VALUES ACCORDING TO DECLARATION TYPE

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ANNEX VI

FISHING EFFORT

DEFINITION OF DATA TO BE COMMUNICATED AND DESCRIPTION OF A RECORD

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ANNEX VII

LIST OF VESSELS BY FISHERY

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ANNEX VIII

RULES ON ACCESS TO DATA FOR COASTAL STATES

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