COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2021/2235

of 15 December 2021

operating deductions from fishing quotas available for certain stocks in 2021 in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 on account of overfishing of other stocks in the previous years and amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1420

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 of 20 November 2009 establishing a Union control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the common fisheries policy, amending Regulations (EC) No 847/96, (EC) No 2371/2002, (EC) No 811/2004, (EC) No 768/2005, (EC) No 2115/2005, (EC) No 2166/2005, (EC) No 388/2006, (EC) No 509/2007, (EC) No 676/2007, (EC) No 1098/2007, (EC) No 1300/2008, (EC) No 1342/2008 and repealing Regulations (EEC) No 2847/93, (EC) No 1627/94 and (EC) No 1966/2006 (1), and in particular Article 105 (1), (2), (3) and (5) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Fishing quotas for the year 2020 have been established by: — Council Regulation (EU) 2018/2025 (2), — Council Regulation (EU) 2019/1838 (3), — Council Regulation (EU) 2019/2236 (4), and — Council Regulation (EU) 2020/123 (5).

(2) Fishing quotas for the year 2021 have been established by: — Council Regulation (EU) 2020/1579 (6), — Council Regulation (EU) 2021/90 (7), — Council Regulation (EU) 2021/91 (8), and — Council Regulation (EU) 2021/92 (9).

(3) Pursuant to Article 105(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009, when the Commission has established that a Member State has exceeded the fishing quotas which have been allocated to it, the Commission is to operate deductions from future fishing quotas of that Member State.

(4) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1420 (10) has established deductions from fishing quotas available for certain stocks in 2021 on account of overfishing in the previous years.

(5) For certain Member States, namely Denmark, Spain, Estonia, France and the Netherlands, certain deductions could not be operated by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1420 from quotas allocated for the overfished stocks because quotas for these stocks are not available for those Member States in the year 2021.

(6) Article 105(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 provides that, if it is not possible to operate deductions on the overfished stock in the year following the overfishing because the Member State concerned has no available quota for that stock, deductions may be operated on other stocks in the same geographical area or with the same commercial value, following consultations with the Member States concerned. According to Commission Communication 2012/C 72/07 containing Guidelines for deduction of quotas under Article 105(1), (2) and (5) of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 (11) (‘the Guidelines’) such deductions should be preferably operated in the following year or years from quotas allocated for stocks fished by the same fleet as the fleet that overfished the quota.

(7) The Member States concerned have been consulted in relation to the operation of certain deductions from quotas allocated for stocks other than those which have been overfished. It is therefore appropriate to operate deductions from those fishing quotas allocated to those Member States in 2021.

(8) Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1420 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(9) Further updates or corrections may still occur following the detection, for the current or previous exercises, of errors, omissions or misreporting in the catch figures declared by the Member States pursuant to Article 33 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1 The fishing quotas fixed for the year 2021 in Regulations (EU) 2020/1579, (EU) 2021/90, (EU) 2021/91, and (EU) 2021/92, referred to in Annex I to this Regulation, shall be reduced by applying the deductions on the alternative stocks set out in that Annex.

Article 2 The Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1420 is replaced by the text set out in Annex II to this Regulation.

Article 3 This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Brussels, 15 December 2021. For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(1) OJ L 343, 22.12.2009, p. 1.

(2) Council Regulation (EU) 2018/2025 of 17 December 2018 fixing for 2019 and 2020 the fishing opportunities for Union fishing vessels for certain deep-sea fish stocks (OJ L 325, 20.12.2018, p. 7).

(3) Council Regulation (EU) 2019/1838 of 30 October 2019 fixing for 2020 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in the Baltic Sea and amending Regulation (EU) 2019/124 as regards certain fishing opportunities in other waters (OJ L 281, 31.10.2019, p. 1).

(4) Council Regulation (EU) 2019/2236 of 16 December 2019 fixing for 2020 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in the Mediterranean and Black Seas (OJ L 336, 30.12.2019, p. 14).

(5) Council Regulation (EU) 2020/123 of 27 January 2020 fixing for 2020 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Union waters and, for Union fishing vessels, in certain non-Union waters (OJ L 25, 30.1.2020, p. 1).

(6) Council Regulation (EU) 2020/1579 of 29 October 2020 fixing for 2021 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in the Baltic Sea and amending Regulation (EU) 2020/123 as regards certain fishing opportunities in other waters (OJ L 362, 30.10.2020, p. 3).

(7) Council Regulation (EU) 2021/90 of 28 January 2021 fixing for 2021 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in the Mediterranean and Black Seas (OJ L 31, 29.1.2021, p. 1).

(8) Council Regulation (EU) 2021/91 of 28 January 2021 fixing, for the years 2021 and 2022, the fishing opportunities for Union fishing vessels for certain deep-sea fish stocks (OJ L 31, 29.1.2021, p. 20).

(9) Council Regulation (EU) 2021/92 of 28 January 2021 fixing for 2021 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Union waters and, for Union fishing vessels, in certain non-Union waters (OJ L 31, 29.1.2021 p. 31).

(10) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1420 of 30 August 2021 operating deductions from fishing quotas available for certain stocks in 2021 on account of overfishing in the previous years (OJ L 305, 31.8.2021, p. 10).

(11) Communication from the Commission – Guidelines for deduction of quotas under Article 105(1), (2) and (5) of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 (2012/C 72/07) (OJ C 72, 10.3.2012, p. 27) as amended by Communication 2019/C 192/03 (OJ C 192, 7.6.2019, p. 5).